Faith Hill has sold nearly 30 million records worldwide since her arrival on the Country scene in 1993. Much of that commercial success came from the Country-to-pop crossover hits she recorded between 1999 and 2002. After taking a few years off from recording, the Mississippi native is back on the charts with an album that takes Hill back to her Country roots. The new CD is called Fireflies.
"Mississippi Girl" was the first single released from Faith Hill's latest album Fireflies. The autobiographical song was written by John Rich, a former member of Lonestar. Rich is now one-half of the new Country duo Big and Rich. Faith explains what inspired John to write the track.
"John Rich, he does a better job at telling a story than I do, and he said he basically stalked me for about two weeks because he had this image of me," she said. "I'm not sure exactly what it was, maybe that I was a monster or something. But he said after spending time [with me], he thought everyone should know the story of my life."
"Mississippi Girl" entered Billboard's Country Singles chart at Number 27 to become the highest debut of Hill's career. It took only nine weeks to reach the Top 5 on that list.
Faith and her husband, Country star Tim McGraw, are raising three young daughters while trying to juggle the demands of their busy careers. But, Faith says the long delay of her new album was due to artistic reasons.
"It was because of a songwriter by the name of Lori McKenna who has the title track on the album Fireflies, and a couple of other ones that are on the album." she said. "I just heard a song of hers and said 'I have to hear everything she's ever written.' [I] included it and went back in and delayed the process, but it was well, well worth it."
Fireflies sold 329,000 copies its first week of release and debuted at Number One on both the Country Albums and all-genre Billboard 200 charts. Her previous two albums, 1999's Breathe and 2002's Cry, also entered in the top spot on both charts. Faith describes her reaction to the success of Fireflies.
"I feel relieved because I feel great about this album," she said. "It's a labor of love. It's very acoustic and rootsy, and I'm just excited. I can't wait to get out and play it.
Faith has no tour plans set for 2005, but she recently performed two concerts in Los Angeles, which marked her first shows there since 2000. The concerts were taped for an upcoming television special that will air November 23.
The latest single from Fireflies is a duet Faith recorded with her husband called "Like We Never Loved At All."
