For Whitney Duncan, it's always been about the right relationships. They he… Read Full Bio ↴For Whitney Duncan, it's always been about the right relationships. They helped shape her as a young girl nurturing her passion for music in a small Tennessee town. They were there to support her efforts to break into the upper reaches of the music business as a teenager. And, not long ago, when her path seemed uncertain, she knew she would find them again.
"There were times when I wondered, 'Is this going to work?’” she says, "and times when I was frustrated, but I realized a lot of people go through this. 'I'm young,' I thought. 'I still have time. I don't need to freak out and get impatient. Eventually the time will be right.'"
Her patience paid off, and the breakthrough came, as it often does, from a serendipitous introduction.
"My booking agent introduced me to Mark Bright and said, 'He's a guy who will totally get what you're wanting to do,'" says Whitney. Her first meeting with Bright, whose production credits include Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts and Sara Evans, would be a major career turning point, although at the time it felt more like a therapy session.
"I met with Mark and he was the coolest guy," she says, "so I just spilled everything. I told him about the struggles I'd been through and what I hoped to accomplish.' We totally connected and he got it. He said, 'I'm on board. Let's do it.'"
“Everything about her screams greatness and makes me want to share her with everyone,” says Bright, explaining his affinity for her. “She’s been able to attain a depth in her writing that is rare for an artist so young. This woman is just awesome.”
The two kindred spirits had recorded three sides when the final piece of the relationship puzzle fell into place in the form of John Shanks, known for his work with Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban and Kelly Clarkson. Shanks was working at the time with Bon Jovi, and had stopped to visit Bright at his offices. Bright, says Whitney, "went on like a proud parent" to Shanks, who asked if he could write with her then and there.
"What are the chances?" she says with a laugh.
The three-way combination--with Shanks and Bright co-producing--resulted in Right Road Now, a debut album that introduces Whitney as an intriguing new voice in contemporary country music, a woman who matches her vocal prowess with songwriting of real depth and breadth. She wrote every song on the CD, in conjunction with Both Bright and Shanks, as well as top-drawer Nashville tunesmiths like Hillary Lindsay, Brett James, Chris Tompkins and Gordie Sampson. It finds Whitney celebrating love, both new, in the steamy "Kinda Crazy," and well established, in the joyfully sensual "Fireflies"; chronicling love's failure in the self-assured "When I Said I Would" and the moody "Burn It Down"; and doing justice both to pure sass, in "The Bed That You Made," and to the raw pathos of "God Close Your Eyes." With the title song, Whitney and co-writers Shanks and James perfectly encapsulate the roses-from-thorns dynamic that infuses both the relationship in the song and the musical rebirth Whitney has experienced.
"I've been down a few wrong roads musically," she says, "but it all feels right now--the right writers, the right songs, the right producers, the right team--the right road. It's really the perfect title for this record."
Through it all, Whitney displays the maturity and self-assurance of a woman who has found her voice, something that has come after a lifelong journey. She was born in Scotts Hill, Tennessee, a town of about 900--"There was just one four-way stop," she says. Her father is a state environmentalist and her mother a schoolteacher. It was her grandfather, though, who helped introduce her to music.
"I was a grandaddy's girl," she says. "I remember being at their house when I was four or five, sitting in front of the TV watching Elvis videos with him. I knew when I first watched Elvis, 'That's what I want to do!”
She had the talent to go with the drive, and after gaining confidence by performing for her family she began singing in church. Soon, she was performing at fairs and festivals.
"I dragged my parents everywhere, every weekend almost," she says. "There was always a strawberry festival or a barbecue festival, and we would take trips to Kentucky, Missouri, and wherever else I could for a chance to perform."
Whitney sang at school events, including both her kindergarten and eighth-grade graduations, placed third in an all-age talent competition at Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Hurricane Mills, and got the chance to sing with a group of promising singers her vocal coach worked with, both at Euro Disney and at Paris's Notre Dame cathedral. Then, in her early teens, she began traveling to Nashville.
"I played at Tootsie's a few times when I was 13 or so," she says. "I remember I couldn't stay around because of my age, but I loved being on that stage."
Someone who heard her sing at a competition offered to put together a three-song demo for them for what she and her parents considered a great deal of money. Her vocal coach recommended a Nashville attorney, who said, "Don't do it. There are other ways to go about it." He became a mentor and Whitney began traveling back and forth to Nashville to write songs. She set aside sports--she was a talented softball player who had been pitching for her high school team in eighth grade--as she began concentrating more on music.
"My father, who had to be at work by 8:00, would get up really early to take me halfway to Nashville to meet my manager, who took me the rest of the way in," she says. That changed when she got her own driver's license, although, she says, "They still took me in when they could--I wasn't that great a driver!"
Whitney, who needed just two classes her senior year to graduate and who was given latitude to pursue her career by her principal, would stay at her manager's house and use her days to write with some of Nashville's best. She began attracting label notice and by her senior year, she had landed a record deal. She cut several sides, including a duet with country legend Kenny Rogers, whom she joined on tour, but ultimately she and the label parted ways about the time she met Bright.
"I was really young and wasn't sure of the musical direction to take," she says. Her writing had been improving steadily, though, and that was key to her progress.
" I began writing with Chris Tompkins, who has become one of my best friends. He really influenced my writing a lot and helped make me better. In fact, it was some of the stuff we wrote together that helped get Mark interested."
It wasn't long after she joined forces with Bright and Shanks that she gained interest from Warner Bros., and an acoustic showcase helped seal the deal.
"Afterward, they said, 'Go make the record,'" she says. They began recording in the fall of 2007.
The result, Right Road Now, sums up the journey, and Whitney is certain it captures her essence.
"I can honestly say there's nothing I would change about it," she says.
Bright concurs, and adds, “Making the record with her felt like Christmas every day. We were honestly sad to finish it.”
If the right relationships, like the one she has developed with Bright, have provided the road, her own persistence has kept her moving along it. It's a trait she's had since she was tiny.
"I went to preschool with 13 little boys," she says with a laugh. "I was the only girl, so I acted like them. I would fight with them and I'd be in the naughty chair every day. Being stubborn and headstrong was a good thing when it came to music. You've got to know what you want to do in this business and hope eventually it will pay off."
For the young woman from Scotts Hill, it certainly has.
"There were times when I wondered, 'Is this going to work?’” she says, "and times when I was frustrated, but I realized a lot of people go through this. 'I'm young,' I thought. 'I still have time. I don't need to freak out and get impatient. Eventually the time will be right.'"
Her patience paid off, and the breakthrough came, as it often does, from a serendipitous introduction.
"My booking agent introduced me to Mark Bright and said, 'He's a guy who will totally get what you're wanting to do,'" says Whitney. Her first meeting with Bright, whose production credits include Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts and Sara Evans, would be a major career turning point, although at the time it felt more like a therapy session.
"I met with Mark and he was the coolest guy," she says, "so I just spilled everything. I told him about the struggles I'd been through and what I hoped to accomplish.' We totally connected and he got it. He said, 'I'm on board. Let's do it.'"
“Everything about her screams greatness and makes me want to share her with everyone,” says Bright, explaining his affinity for her. “She’s been able to attain a depth in her writing that is rare for an artist so young. This woman is just awesome.”
The two kindred spirits had recorded three sides when the final piece of the relationship puzzle fell into place in the form of John Shanks, known for his work with Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban and Kelly Clarkson. Shanks was working at the time with Bon Jovi, and had stopped to visit Bright at his offices. Bright, says Whitney, "went on like a proud parent" to Shanks, who asked if he could write with her then and there.
"What are the chances?" she says with a laugh.
The three-way combination--with Shanks and Bright co-producing--resulted in Right Road Now, a debut album that introduces Whitney as an intriguing new voice in contemporary country music, a woman who matches her vocal prowess with songwriting of real depth and breadth. She wrote every song on the CD, in conjunction with Both Bright and Shanks, as well as top-drawer Nashville tunesmiths like Hillary Lindsay, Brett James, Chris Tompkins and Gordie Sampson. It finds Whitney celebrating love, both new, in the steamy "Kinda Crazy," and well established, in the joyfully sensual "Fireflies"; chronicling love's failure in the self-assured "When I Said I Would" and the moody "Burn It Down"; and doing justice both to pure sass, in "The Bed That You Made," and to the raw pathos of "God Close Your Eyes." With the title song, Whitney and co-writers Shanks and James perfectly encapsulate the roses-from-thorns dynamic that infuses both the relationship in the song and the musical rebirth Whitney has experienced.
"I've been down a few wrong roads musically," she says, "but it all feels right now--the right writers, the right songs, the right producers, the right team--the right road. It's really the perfect title for this record."
Through it all, Whitney displays the maturity and self-assurance of a woman who has found her voice, something that has come after a lifelong journey. She was born in Scotts Hill, Tennessee, a town of about 900--"There was just one four-way stop," she says. Her father is a state environmentalist and her mother a schoolteacher. It was her grandfather, though, who helped introduce her to music.
"I was a grandaddy's girl," she says. "I remember being at their house when I was four or five, sitting in front of the TV watching Elvis videos with him. I knew when I first watched Elvis, 'That's what I want to do!”
She had the talent to go with the drive, and after gaining confidence by performing for her family she began singing in church. Soon, she was performing at fairs and festivals.
"I dragged my parents everywhere, every weekend almost," she says. "There was always a strawberry festival or a barbecue festival, and we would take trips to Kentucky, Missouri, and wherever else I could for a chance to perform."
Whitney sang at school events, including both her kindergarten and eighth-grade graduations, placed third in an all-age talent competition at Loretta Lynn's Ranch in Hurricane Mills, and got the chance to sing with a group of promising singers her vocal coach worked with, both at Euro Disney and at Paris's Notre Dame cathedral. Then, in her early teens, she began traveling to Nashville.
"I played at Tootsie's a few times when I was 13 or so," she says. "I remember I couldn't stay around because of my age, but I loved being on that stage."
Someone who heard her sing at a competition offered to put together a three-song demo for them for what she and her parents considered a great deal of money. Her vocal coach recommended a Nashville attorney, who said, "Don't do it. There are other ways to go about it." He became a mentor and Whitney began traveling back and forth to Nashville to write songs. She set aside sports--she was a talented softball player who had been pitching for her high school team in eighth grade--as she began concentrating more on music.
"My father, who had to be at work by 8:00, would get up really early to take me halfway to Nashville to meet my manager, who took me the rest of the way in," she says. That changed when she got her own driver's license, although, she says, "They still took me in when they could--I wasn't that great a driver!"
Whitney, who needed just two classes her senior year to graduate and who was given latitude to pursue her career by her principal, would stay at her manager's house and use her days to write with some of Nashville's best. She began attracting label notice and by her senior year, she had landed a record deal. She cut several sides, including a duet with country legend Kenny Rogers, whom she joined on tour, but ultimately she and the label parted ways about the time she met Bright.
"I was really young and wasn't sure of the musical direction to take," she says. Her writing had been improving steadily, though, and that was key to her progress.
" I began writing with Chris Tompkins, who has become one of my best friends. He really influenced my writing a lot and helped make me better. In fact, it was some of the stuff we wrote together that helped get Mark interested."
It wasn't long after she joined forces with Bright and Shanks that she gained interest from Warner Bros., and an acoustic showcase helped seal the deal.
"Afterward, they said, 'Go make the record,'" she says. They began recording in the fall of 2007.
The result, Right Road Now, sums up the journey, and Whitney is certain it captures her essence.
"I can honestly say there's nothing I would change about it," she says.
Bright concurs, and adds, “Making the record with her felt like Christmas every day. We were honestly sad to finish it.”
If the right relationships, like the one she has developed with Bright, have provided the road, her own persistence has kept her moving along it. It's a trait she's had since she was tiny.
"I went to preschool with 13 little boys," she says with a laugh. "I was the only girl, so I acted like them. I would fight with them and I'd be in the naughty chair every day. Being stubborn and headstrong was a good thing when it came to music. You've got to know what you want to do in this business and hope eventually it will pay off."
For the young woman from Scotts Hill, it certainly has.
Come With Me
Whitney Duncan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Where the hard rain shatters like glass on an old tin roof
Where the screen door's slappin' in the wind, hinge comin' loose
And the moon rises up through the willow trees
Come with me back to Tennessee
Where the sirens don't scream out through the evil dark
And the city lights don't invade your sleepless heart
You can lie in my arms in a peaceful dream
Come with me back to Tennessee
Morning light, I gotta leave
But without you, it won't be complete
When we cross that Mississippi, we'll be home free
Come with me back to Tennessee
Where the blue skies sing the song of a brand new day
We can hide a blanket deep where the tall grass sways
You can lay me down like a southern breeze
Oh come with me back to Tennessee
Morning light, I gotta leave
But without you, it won't be complete
When we cross that Mississippi, we'll be home free
Come with me back to Tennessee
Where the screen door's slappin' in the wind, hinge comin' loose
And the moon rises up through the willow trees
Come with me back to Tennessee
Where the sirens don't scream out through the evil dark
And the city lights don't invade your sleepless heart
You can lie in my arms in a peaceful dream
Morning light, I gotta leave
But without you, it won't be complete
When we cross that Mississippi, we'll be home free
Come with me back to Tennessee
Where the blue skies sing the song of a brand new day
We can hide a blanket deep where the tall grass sways
You can lay me down like a southern breeze
Oh come with me back to Tennessee
Morning light, I gotta leave
But without you, it won't be complete
When we cross that Mississippi, we'll be home free
Come with me back to Tennessee
Whitney Duncan's song "Come With Me" paints a picture of a serene, idyllic life in Tennessee. The lyrics suggest that the singer is willing to leave behind the hustle and bustle of city life and return to a simpler, peaceful existence, one that is rich with natural beauty and the warm embrace of loved ones. The first stanza sets the tone for the song, with references to the sound of hard rain shattering like glass on an old tin roof and a screen door flapping in the wind. These stark images are contrasted with the beauty and tranquility of moonlight rising up through the willow trees. The singer invites her lover to "come with me back to Tennessee" in search of this idealized world.
Line by Line Meaning
Where the hard rain shatters like glass on an old tin roof
Come with me to a place where hard rain sounds like glass breaking on a tin roof.
Where the screen door's slappin' in the wind, hinge comin' loose
Come with me to a place where the screen door is flapping in the wind and the hinge is coming loose.
And the moon rises up through the willow trees
Come with me to a place where you can see the moon rising through the willow trees.
Come with me back to Tennessee
Join me on a journey back to Tennessee.
Where the sirens don't scream out through the evil dark
Come with me to a place where the sirens don't scream out in the dark.
And the city lights don't invade your sleepless heart
Come with me to a place where city lights don't penetrate your sleepless heart.
You can lie in my arms in a peaceful dream
Come with me and you can lie in my arms and have a peaceful dream.
Morning light, I gotta leave
I need to leave in the morning.
But without you, it won't be complete
It won't be complete without you.
When we cross that Mississippi, we'll be home free
When we cross the Mississippi River, we'll be free and at home.
Where the blue skies sing the song of a brand new day
Come with me to a place where blue skies sing the songs of a new day.
We can hide a blanket deep where the tall grass sways
We can safely keep a blanket deep in the tall swaying grass.
You can lay me down like a southern breeze
You can lay me down gently like a southern breeze.
Contributed by Emily T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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