Claudia Church

Claudia Church Interview

(Claudia talks about her relationship with her husband Rodney Crowell.)

Claudia Church- I’ve know him for seven years and knowing him that long and being with him at so many things that he had to go to, I’ve had an insiders view about the world of country music and the business of country music.

I’ve seen first hand what the whole business is like and how people react, so I’ve kind of been like a little mouse in the corner being able to watch like and see what happens to an artist out there in the world. That’s a big advantage. Rodney would tell me,’ OK. did you see that? That’s how these things are here.’ Or. ‘These people said this. But what you may find out next week is that they’re going to say something different.’ It’s like getting a degree in the country music business. We have guitars sitting around the house, so there’s always music being played in our house somewhere. We are huge movie buffs. We go to see every movie that comes out. Then, while we’re at the movie, we’ll be watching it and one of us will say, ‘What if they’d take the story line in thus direction.? That would make for a great country song.’ We’re always getting ideas for songs whenever we’re at the movies.

(Claudia talks about the first time she saw a picture of herself as a model in a fashion magazine.)

Claudia Church-The first time I saw myself in a magazine was when I went to Japan. I was in the Japanese “Cosmopolitan” magazine as a model. I was on a train in Tokyo and this woman kept looking at me and staring at me who was sitting down on the train next to me. So I wondered why she was staring at me and then I looked down at the magazine and there my picture was in that magazine! I was so excited that I got off on the next stop and bought a copy of the magazine to see my picture(she laughs). Working as a model and moving to Japan really helped me to grow up. I mean I was really sheltered living with my grandparents and my mother growing up in North Carolina. Modeling really helped me to open up and not be so shy. Because I was really shy as a kid. I never had dates in high school or anything. So modeling really helped me to grow up and overcome my shyness. I mean when you’re walking down a runway with a tiny bikini on, it helps you get over your shyness really fast(she laughs). Actually the first show I ever did in Dallas, it was a swim suit fashion show and it didn’t even occur to me until we got to the show and were backstage and getting dressed for the show that we’d have to be naked between the clothing changes  (she laughs). So I had to dress and undress right next to the men who were also modeling and I was like, ‘Uh. OK. this will help me get over my shyness.’ (long loud laugh).

(Claudia talks about growing up.)

Claudia Church-In the late Sixties, when I was growing up in rural North Carolina, my grandparents took care of me during the day time while my mother worked at a hosiery mill. My father was gone away in the military. My grandmother loved music and she always listened to the radio and she’d tell me who the artist were and she would teach me about country music. So that’s where I received for my early education in country music. My mother’s name is Mary and my father’s name is Claude, I was named after him. Our family moved a lot because my father was in the military. We moved to Okinawa (Japan) when I was eight years old and when I was eleven, we moved back to Fort Bragg. I went junior high in Utah and we moved there. My dad and mother were huge country music fans, so we’d always be listening to country music whenever we’d be around the house together. My dad had a collection of country music and, you couldn’t watch TV all that much, because my dad was always turning on country music. I used to listen to country radio a lot when we lived in Utah and I would call in for radio contests and that’s how I won a lot of the country music I had in my own collection. I don’t think a lot of people where calling in to those contests back then because I called in all the time and won(she laughs). After high school, I went to a fashion school in Arlington, Texas. I chose that part(Dallas/Fort Worth) of Texas for two reasons, I heard that you could sing at the Opry circuit down there and I also could work on my career in modeling. I’m five foot eight, and for years people were telling me I should model, so I also wanted to go to school there for that. I thought,’ Maybe if I do go there and make a living modeling, then I could support myself and start my career singing country music until something happened with my singing career.

(Claudia talks about her record deal.)

Claudia Church- I was signed in March of 1996. Warner Brothers tends to do a development thing with their artist. We did a recording project of four songs and they really liked those songs so they said, ‘OK. Let’s do four more songs.’ Then I did about ten more songs and I eventually did a showcase (radio promotion). It was very important for me to pick the right songs for this album. Rodney(her husband) would say,’ Listen to this, this is great music.’ And, I’d give it a listen and then I’d realize It was not right for me and that I couldn’t imagine myself singing that particular song twenty years from now. The song really has to feel right to me before I’ll record it.

(Claudia talks about the fact that she didn’t fall into her record deal and her singing career “overnight”.)

Claudia Church-I did travel and get to know who I am as a person,. I have done so much “life living’ that it’s been really good for me whenever I have to decide what songs I want to record. It’s made me a lot more comfortable about the songs I choose to put out there. My own identity and what I want to say as a human and what message I want to put out there to the world. I really love fun, fast, feel good, songs. You know, there is a time when you have sad times and you want to listen to really sad stuff to get out your emotions, but I Wanted, for my first project, to have just real feel good, win, win, no male bashing kind of songs. I wanted the ballads to be real tender. Mainly I wanted something that would make people to sing along. Whenever they’re listening to the radio. So I took into consider what I as a consumer would want as well as what I as a songwriter would want.

(Claudia talks about how her career in modeling prepared her for a career singing and songwriting country music.)

Modeling really prepared me well for my career in country music in several ways. One of which is that, in this business as well as modeling, you’ll get your hopes up for something, only to watch it not come true for you. So many times when I was modeling, I’d get my hopes up for some really great job, like modeling in the Caribbean for two weeks with a really great fee (pay) and they would put so many people on how for a week and only one person would get that telephone call to get the job. Now, the parallel in country music is this. I’ve noticed that on certain important days, like ad day (the day singles are added to radio program play lists across the country) a lot of the artist I’ve been around with on that day,) are pacing the floor on that day. Where for myself, I want my single to do well at radio, but all those years of being a model have made me realize that, no matter how hard I have worked for something, sometimes things just don’t happen. Sometimes it’s just your destiny. I know it sounds cliched, but sometimes It’s your destiny to be Garth Brooks and sell millions and millions of records and then sometimes you’ll meet someone who is so talented and they can’t even get a record deal. So from all those times I was waiting for that phone call for that great modeling assignment and the cal never came through, because I didn’t get the assignment, that has prepared me for my career in country music. Because while I want to do well with my new record and I want to be successful, there are times that, no matter how hard myself and the team of individuals working with me do, it’s just not my destiny. That’s really important in being a country artist. There’s a lot of day to day situations you have to deal with and it’s how you handle those day to day situations that can make or break the longevity of your career as a country artist.