Deana Carter has slated at March 8 release for her next album, “The Story of My Life.” The country singer/songwriter’s debut for Vanguard Records, the set is described as an intimate and personal album.
“I’m a big fan of ’70s records where artists could draw on whatever influences they wanted,” Carter says of the 11-track set. “I wanted this album to sound like a big crocheted blanket — to be warm yet have a lot of space.”
The album follows a period where Carter has allowed unprecedented access to her personal life through the CMT reality series “In the Moment.” The show, which premiered last week, documented the trials of a performer pregnant with her first child, Gray Hayes Hicky, who was born on Sept. 15.
“Story” follows last year’s “I’m Just a Girl” (Arista Nashville). That set debuted at No. 6 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart and No. 58 on The Billboard 200. Although the album spawned a hit single in “There’s No Limit,” which reached No. 14 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, it has sold just 82,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
That’s quite a disappointment, considering that her 1996 debut, “Did I Shave My Legs for This?,” has sold 3.3 million. That set reached No. 2 and spawned four No. 1 singles (“Strawberry Wine,” “How Did We Get There From Here,” “Count Me In,” and “We Danced Anyway”). Carter’s sophomore 1998 album “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” bowed at No. 6 and has sold 370,000.
Carter seems to believe that “The Story of My Life” marks the beginning of a new era in her career. “Vanguard has given me an opportunity to express myself as a total artist,” she says, “and I am very gratified that they so fully support my creative vision.”
And it is Carter’s singular vision that created “Story,” as she wrote, produced and performed all of the 11 tracks on the album. “No one at the record label heard a note until the album was finished,” she says.
