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Bridgette Tatum Is Country With A Capital “C”

Spend any amount of time with newcomer Bridgette Tatum and the word energy will come to mind. She’s definitely an artist who leaves nothing to chance, and that’s why the skies in Music City are opening up to the singer/songwriter. “I love to be energetic,” she tells LimeWire Music Blog. “Music makes me that way. I can have my calm moments when I need to have those, but music makes me that way. It’s like under my skin. It’s one of those things that make me breathe in a way, just like God. Not on that level, but it helps me to breathe.”

You probably aren’t familiar with Tatum—yet. However, her very first cut as a songwriter, “She’s Country,” is one of the biggest records to hit country radio in some time. Recorded by Broken Bow’s Jason Aldean, the song became a multi-week chart-topper, and served as the warm-up song for several high school softball players in the south. Whether you’re 18 or 40, Tatum thinks the song struck a chord. “I really think that song represented myself as a country girl, and a million others who have never had that song,” she says. “Looking back over the music and the history of it, we don’t really have that many songs that give a shout-out to country girls. So, fortunately, I got the idea, and was able to write it, and it went to number one for two weeks. I really think that Jason Aldean and his crew did a really great job with it.”

Tatum admits to keeping an eye on the song’s progress on the charts each week somewhat, but more so as the record continued to climb. “I didn’t scope the charts out like everyone around me,” she admits. “I didn’t have to look at them, because everyone would tell me what was going on with the song. I will say that when it got past #5—because his other more rockin’ stuff had gotten to about there, and then had stopped. When it got past there, I thought ‘We might be climbing a little bit further.’ Then, when you see it go past #3, you start to think that it might be headed for a number one. So, it was all surreal to even know that it happened. I’ve been writing since I was twelve years old, and been in Nashville for nine years, and then all of a sudden, it happens. You kind of want to pinch yourself.”

The singer / songwriter is pinching herself even more these days, as her own record climbs the charts. “I Like My Cowboys Dirty” is her first single, and it definitely sums up her own sentiments—and a few others that might not admit it, she says. “I think that’s the truth of a lot of women, and there might be some artists that shy away from saying that, but the song hit me in such a way that made me think ‘You know what? Yes! If that’s what I’m looking for, then that’s what I want to go find—a real guy who actually works, and has some ethic about him, and puts his sweat into it. I think that any woman gets turned on by that—you can’t help it.”

There’s nothing made up by the publicity department when it comes to Tatum’s story. She’s got the sensuality of a Shania Twain mixed with the tell-it-like-it is style of Loretta Lynn.

One startling fact about the record is that Tatum didn’t write the song. “I didn’t, and I think that surprises a lot of people—especially after ‘She’s Country,’ that I didn’t release something that I wrote. It’s something I would have written, I just didn’t get lucky enough to get that title. Fortunately, Danny Myrick—who I wrote ‘She’s Country’ with, and Kristi Manna, who wrote ‘Austin’ for Blake Shelton—they let me hang on to this song, and I’m really glad that’s the one we ended up going with as the first single. There’s a slew of them that came in behind that one that I had a hand in writing, but it was the right time to have that song.”

Her willingness to go with a song that doesn’t have her name listed as a writer is refreshing. There are quite a few artists that seem to almost refuse to record anything other than their own songs, but Tatum knows that building a long-term career means having many talented people from which to draw from. Emotionally, the well can run dry, and I think it’s great if you have fresh ideas around you, and new people to write with—even if it’s writers that nobody has ever heard of because you want to listen to their stuff, because you never know what’s going to be there. I’m not a person who closes myself off from songs. I want to hear everything that I can hear, and I want to select the right songs for the album that are going to represent me, and make sure I get to the emotion to the fans like it should be given to them.”

Her fans are looking forward to the release of her debut album, Sex, Church, and Chicken, which will come out later this spring. It’s definitely an unforgettable title, which combines three of her greatest loves, as she explains—starting with her first love, Gospel music. “It is, and it still is. That’s my roots. There’s a song on the album called ‘Hold On To Me,’ and it’s one of the more special songs on the album. I was asked that if you were going to die, and you could only hear one of the songs on your album, it would be that song. It takes me back to being twelve years old, and in the middle of a tent revival. It has the same feel as some of Elvis’ old gospel stuff. The ‘Chicken’ part of that has to do with the twang. When I think about country music, I think about chicken. I know that might sound simple, but chicken is a down-home thing. If you grew up in the south, then you’ve had fried chicken. It just kind of spattered out of my mouth, and it stuck. But, it really started making sense to me that the album should be titled Sex, Church, and Chicken.

Her faith served her well before she moved to Nashville. One night, while working at a motel in her home state of South Carolina, the singer had a life-changing experience. “I actually was in the middle of an attack. It was unfortunate. It was over change in a drawer, of all things, at a motel.” The disgruntled customer actually took a razor blade to Tatum’s face—forcing a lengthy recuperation period, one that made her focus on her future. “It taught me a lot about forgiveness, made me write a lot of deep forgiving songs, and I wish her well.” Granted, Tatum wouldn’t want to go through the experience again, but she knows where she wouldn’t be if it hadn’t happened. “I hope she’s doing good, but if she hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I would have never gotten to Nashville.”

It very well may be Nashville’s gain that she made it. There’s nothing made up by the publicity department when it comes to Tatum’s story. She’s got the sensuality of a Shania Twain mixed with the tell-it-like-it is style of Loretta Lynn. When asked about being compared to the “Coal Miners’ Daughter,” Tatum was humble, but added that kind of personality runs in the genes. “I guess like we say in the country, I ain’t scared…I told my grandmother one time that I grew up in a family of Annie Oakley’s. We carried our guns, and those were our words, and if we said them, that’s what we said…In a lot of ways, that’s like Loretta Lynn. I think that country music is missing that right now.”