I wanted it to be looked at as a courageous step to work with Joe Henry. Interiors, Houston Kid, that’s what I was aiming for. But unlike Cash, whose self-penned, often uncomfortably introspective chronicle of her own crumbling marriage to Rodney Crowell formed the basis for that collection, Wright, who lives with her wife and sons in New York City, tempers the darker themes on her album with character-driven story songs, whether inspired by her years as a touring musician or springing from her vivid imagination. One of the obvious templates for I Am the Rain was Rosanne Cash’s extraordinary career-shifting 1990 album Interiors. The LP, driven by raw, emotional lyrics and a refreshingly experimental approach to country music, was produced by Joe Henry, who previous projects include Grammy-winning works by Solomon Burke and Carolina Chocolate Drops and LPs by Bonnie Raitt, Teddy Thompson and Allen Toussaint. Beyond its impressive chart action, however, the real triumph of I Am the Rain is the creative growth the artist demonstrates throughout. Released last month, I Am the Rain scored a Top Ten Americana debut and landed at Number 13 on the country chart, her second-best peak behind 2001’s decidedly mainstream Never Love You Enough. While it took six years, during which time she and her girlfriend, music executive Lauren Blitzer, were married and Wright gave birth to twin sons, Wright has finally re-emerged with I Am the Rain, the follow-up to Lifted Off the Ground. With her 2010 LP Lifted Off the Ground, accompanying memoir Like Me and subsequent documentary film Wish Me Away chronicling her coming out as a lesbian, Chely Wright – more accurately, country radio – effectively closed one chapter of her musical career.

Chely wright memoir