well it’s a long way from Star, Mississippi
to the big stage I’m Singin’ on tonight
and sometimes the butterflies still get me
when I’m in the spotlight
and some people seem to think that I’ve changed
that I’m different than I was back then
but in my soul I know that I’m the same way
that I’ve really always been
…
Mississippi Girl (mp3) in the album Fireflies

Star, Mississippi is a small rural town. But it has been blessed to secretly enjoy a great voice for eighteen years. Now all over the country is resounding with the town’s name. Thanks to its proud daughter Faith Hill.

Faith Hill dropped out of college at the age of 19 to realize her dream in Nashville, TN. After several miscellaneous jobs and a brief marriage with Dan Hill (who gave her the last name), she was finally discovered by a Warner Brothers representative. Her first album Take Me as I Am, released in 1993, was an instant success and was sold more than 2 million copies.

Since then, Faith Hill has been working hard to make her name. Her next two albums, It Matters to Me and Faith, were also warmly welcomed by country fans. They were sold multiple million copies each. Faith’s fame was firmly solidified.

To Faith, a country music stardom is not enough, and Shania Twain has paved the road to the pop world. Even in the album Faith, she had tried to mix country and pop music. Her This Kiss winded up number two at the pop music list. In the biggest blockbuster album, Breathe (mp3), the mixing was more evident. The music was pop music oriented with banjo and mandolin juggling together. Breathe reached number 1 in the top pop music list. These albums also won her numerous awards.

The fifth album Cry (mp3) went even further. In the Breathe, you can still notice a strong country music flavor, while in the Cry, that flavor becomes merely a trace. Faith’s voice was still superb but the album Cry disappointed many pure country fans.

Although the crossover was commercially successful, Faith realized that her root was the country music. That was the purpose of the autobiographic song—Mississippi girl.

In this new album, Faith apologized for her trance and assured her fans that she was still the old one. Besides the Mississippi Girl , Faith returned to the country tradition by telling interesting life stories. There was the Dearly Loved (lyric) which poked fun on unwanted marriage. There was the We’ve Got Nothing but Love to Prove (lyric) to comment on the Iraq war. There was even the Lucky One (lyric) about public transportation. The album title Firefliers clearly suggested its country culture.

Once a beauty, Faith is now more a mature woman rather than a sexy vixen. After all, being a mother of three and with the age of 38, life has left quite some markers on her body. Fortunately, her voice is still able to relentlessly cut your nerves, pierce your heart, and knock you down.

PS: Faith Hill married to Tim McGraw after the Spontaneous Combustion Tour (what a coincidence!) in 1996. She has three daughters with Tim.