Deana Carter '97

AS PUBLISHED IN COUNTRY WEEKLY

There's something for everyone on DEANA CARTER's new album, Everything's Gonna Be All Right.

"There's something on there for the people that have my first album," Nashville-born Deana explains. "There's something on there for people who don't know anything about me, who have never heard of me. If you've never listened to country music, there's something on there for those people as well.

"By digging a little deeper, more of my different tastes have surfaced."

From the hard rock edge of the smouldering "You Still Shake Me," and the upbeat country funk of "Brand New Key," through the sweet ballad "Absence Of The Heart" and the angelically soulful "Angels Working Overtime," Deana says she's taking some risks.

"There's not one song that's alike or similar to anything else on the radio," says Deana. "We hope that's a good thing. But it's shedding more skin -- skin I didn't know I could shed. I thought the first album was as deep as I could go. This album came from a few more years of experience under my belt, and the different levels of life I've gone through."

Proud of the 13 songs that comprise Everything's Gonna Be All Right, Deana says she's hoping such tunes as "Ruby Brown" and "You Still Shake Me" wow country music listeners.

There's even something on there for father FRED CARTER JR. that makes the new album a family affair.

"Everything's Gonna Be All Right" was a song he wrote when Deana was a little girl, and she reveals she planned to surprise him by inviting him to the studio.

"He had no clue!" she says. "I told him to come down to the studio because I wanted him to play guitar with me.

"So we were upstairs in the studio, and I said, `Dad, I want you to come and hear this one track that we did because it's getting a little confusing. I just want to know what you think, because we don't know what to do with it.' But it was all done.

"He and Mom walked downstairs and we had the video camera going. It was very moving.

"We did it authentic to the original version that had a "Welcome Back Kotter" vibe to it. When he heard the first few beats, he turned around and looked at us and said, 'Wow!'

"It was neat!"

She says inspiration for most of the songs hit her at different times.

"When I first heard "Still Shaking " I was riding in a car as I was headed to work with students as part of the Grammy In The Schools program. The song reminded me so much of Z.Z. TOP, although we softened it a little bit because we didn't want to freak everybody out.

"But it's so Z.Z. Top that I loved it, from the tempo to the fact it just talks about things that I feel."

Deana say that "Still Shaking" is a song about dealing with past relationships.

"When you're not with someone anymore, something about them, like a whiff of their cologne, can take you right back in an instant," says Deana, snapping her fingers.

"There are elements of people that you carry with you your entire life, and that song is a neat way of saying that."

Deana also says the energy of "Still Shaking" starts the party early.

"I wanted to kick start the album with it because it's an exciting song. It's an eye-opener."

Another standout track is Deana's version of MELANIE's "Brand New Key," a song that wasn't initially her idea but was suggested by her record company Capitol Nashville.

"We had the album done in our mind, had a Grand Poobah meeting with the label, and they felt we were a song away from it being finished. It really wasn't what I wanted to hear," Deana admits.

"They felt we needed a light-hearted song.

"So I said, `Let me go home, sleep on it and think about this."

Deana says she was driving home reminiscing about her experiences surrounding her first hit "Strawberry Wine," the promo radio tour for the song and the fact that several radio programmers thought she sounded like 60's folk singer Melanie Safka.

"A light bulb went off," says Deana. "I figured we needed a Melanie song that would touch everyone, one that was a staple when I was a kid. So that's how `Brand New Key' came out, and for me it was different enough to take a swan dive on it.

"I listened to her version over a hundred million times before we did it, because I wanted to make sure that we kept it as authentic as possible."

One of Deana's biggest thrills during the Everything Is Gonna Be All Right sessions was the participation of Alabama rock band LYNYRD SKYNYRD playing along on "The Train Song." "Shower me with blessings! " she exclaims, looking to the ceiling. "I am the biggest Lynyrd Skynyrd fan! I love Skynyrd, and the ALLMAN BROTHERS, and all the Southern rock that is now missing. It's gone, and we need it back.

"I've always wanted to write a song that was kind of a Lynyrd Skynyrd meets LED ZEPPELIN in the country world, and I had the title written down in my car for about eight months -- just a line that said "I want to love you like a freight train." I had it up on my visor, and I kept looking at it."

Deana finally told songwriting partners CHRIS FARREN and CHUCK JONES about her vision for the song, and after an intense writing session, the tune was finished and the studio was booked.

"Lynyrd Skynyrd was booked in the studio the very same day finishing up their project. They came down to get autographs and stuff for their kids from me, and here I'm gherming them for autographs for me," says Deana, referring to Nashville slang for a mutual admiration society.

"It was this little ghermfest downstairs in the studio, and I was just loving it. So we asked them if they'd like to play on it and sing on it, and they said , `Yeah!' "

One of the sweetest moments on Everything's Gonna Be All Right is the addition of children on the chorus of "Angels Working Overtime."

"They're such a nice addition," she tells COUNTRY WEEKLY. "It's a representation of innocence, maybe in myself.

"It's very angelic to hear kids. Who doesn't like to go see a child's recital? C'mon! We all love it! I have no kids, and I'm a sap for that. I love the sound of children. So I just felt it was appropriate."

One thing for certain -- Deana Carter isn't about to rest on her laurels. Although her Everything's Gonna Be All Right tour is just getting underway, Deana says she's already thinking about her third album.

"To be done with your second record and to already be ready to go and do the third one, that's great! " she exclaims. "Most people are ready to go to the Bahamas for a year and kind of fall off the radar. But man, I am ready!"

For now, Deana is happy to concentrate on Everything's Gonna Be All Right.

"If I can grow this much through every album, that makes me feel good. You see women like BONNIE RAITT still growing, and there's security in knowing that you can write and be a musician and active for 30 years in this business," she tells COUNTRY WEEKLY.

"If I could do that, it would be incredible."

-- Nick Krewen

DISCOGRAPHY

1995 -- Did I Shave My Legs For This? -- Capitol

1998 -- Everything's Gonna Be All Right

COLLABORATIONS

1998 -- Various Artists, Touched By An Angel -- The Album -- Columbia

1998 -- Various Artists, Hope Floats

CONTRIBUTIONS

1999 -- Paul Brandt, That's The Truth

#1 HITS

1996 -- "Strawberry Wine" (2 weeks)