Country music singer and songwriter Rebecca Lynn Howard grew up in Salyersville, Kentucky, a stone's throw from Loretta Lynn's beloved Butcher Holler. Like so many I've interviewed, she got her start singing in church and "for the lack of anything else to do."

"There wasn't a lot going on there. All my family was musically inclined. They either sang or played guitar, banjo, mandolin, or piano. Everyone gravitated toward music because what else was there to do?"

Howard used to sit on the piano bench in church while her older cousin, Lisa, played. She would give her mini piano lessons, and soon, Howard learned how to play on her own. Because they attended a Pentecostal church, the music was "lively."

Anytime they had church or family gatherings, music was always a part of it. Howard recalled, "Everybody would bring their guitars, and people sometimes would sit in lawn chairs in the yard, just sitting around playing and singing. It sounds like a storybook life, but that really is what happened."

Her family recognized her talent; from an early age, they took Howard back and forth to Nashville. By the time she was a sophomore in high school, they met Rising Tide Records' Emory Gordy, Jr., who told her to return after she finished high school.

Howard graduated from high school early, and at age 18, she signed her first record deal. Not long after, she got her first GRAMMY for her cover of "Softly and Tenderly, " which was part of Robert Duvall's The Apostle.

In 2001, Howard teamed up with Jim Brickman on piano, and "Simple Things" peaked at number one on the Adult Contemporary Chart.

Her single "Forgive" peaked at number 12 on the country music charts in 2002.

In 2004, Howard shared her second Grammy Award for "If I Could Only Win Your Love," a duet with Ronnie Dunn for Livin', Lovin', Losin': Songs of the Louvin Brothers.

Not only that, Howard has also been writing songs since she was seven years old. She has had cuts on albums from Clay Aiken, Martina McBride, Runaway June, Charles Esten, and the hard-rock band, New Medicine. Her most famous song that she wrote is Trisha Yearwood's "I Don't Paint My Into Corners," which Yearwood performed at the 2002 Country Music Awards.

Howard is known for her strong, yet vulnerable vocals and has backed numerous albums for major artists, including Dolly Parton, Patty Loveless, and Vince Gill. She has also toured extensively with Kenny Rogers, Alan Jackson, Blake Shelton, Gretchen Wilson, and Steven Tyler.

A few years back, when country music took a hard turn toward pop, Howard felt it was "far removed from what I grew up loving." In 2014, she, her husband, and some of her friends were sitting around harmonizing and doing all the stuff, and they decided to start a band called Loving Mary. Besides singing and writing songs for the band, Howard learned to play bass at age 32. At about the same time, Steven Tyler decided to record a country album. When he heard Loving Mary and their tight harmonies, he enlisted them as his backing band.

Now, with decades of experience under her belt, Howard's latest record, I'm Not Who You Think I Am, brings us 11 new tracks of homespun Appalachian wisdom.

Produced by Elisha Hoffman, Howard's husband, and executive produced by Lee Brice. I'm Not Who You Think I Am seamlessly blends country, roots, and soul and marks the respected vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Howard's first LP since 2008's No Rules. 

The first song on the new album is "How High," an upbeat tune featuring several members of the Loving Mary band. Its high-octane energy makes it the perfect song to start the record. She penned "Seventeen," a song written with Rachel Thibodeau nearly twenty years ago, was released in February of this year.  It has quickly become a fan favorite because it is relatable to many.

She shared, "This song has just the right amount of longing and nostalgia to fill my heart to the brim. I'm instantly transported to my youth…a more innocent time when my parents were always annoyingly right. It's humbling to reflect on how far I've come and how many ups and downs I've survived since then. They say you can't go back, oh but I do, every time I sing this song."

With a clever twist of the title, "Hoedown" is a fun mixture of Loretta Lynn's "Fist City" and Gretchen Wilson's "Homewrecker." Lyrics like She's gonna try to take your man from you/ And if she gets to messing with mine/ The earrings come out/ And the fist'll be flying/ Hold my beer while I take this cougar out/ And we'll have a hoedown are what made me embrace country music and with its brashness and honesty.

The twangy "Heart Still Does" was written alongside her husband as it explores not wanting to love someone, but your heart betrays you as it still does. The video of it is fun as it stars Howard and her husband.

The anthem "Strong" was written as a tribute to her mother, whom she wrote not long after her dad passed. The song communicates, "Strong is what happens when you run out of weak." "My mother is the strongest person I know. I wish I could have a fraction of her strength."

The most noteworthy song on the record, "I'm Not Who You Think I Am," is about alcohol, not a person. It's a song written about her uncle, who spent most of his adult life as an alcoholic. When he finally got clean, six months later, he was killed by a drunk driver. The irony of his life and death was the catalyst for the touching single.

Two songs in which Howard embraces her Appalachian heritage are the murder ballad "Flowerbed," as in a woman buys a house and finds much more than roses growing there, and "Holler," a song that fully embraces her roots with a modern twist. She wails, "Let me hear ya holler if you're down with the holler 'cause down in the holler we be getting' down."

On a more serious note, the song "Good Place To Turn Around" reminds us that just because you're going down a bad path, you don't have to stay on it. The song expresses how much the singer/songwriter personally relies on God to help her navigate life.

Howard wrote "I Am My Mother" for her mom in December 2019. She wrote it with her long-time writing partners, Rachel Thibadeau, Jamie Floyd, and Carolyn Dawn Johnson who had just lost her mother. They wanted to pay tribute to their mothers because a mother's love is unsurpassed. When her mother and father heard it, they cried.

The record concludes with the song "Mess Down Here." It was written about 15 years ago when they thought things were bad in the world. Now, the song is more applicable than ever. She stated, "Lord, have mercy, all the things that have happened in the last 15 years- and we thought it was bad then."

When they wrote the tune, they were like, "God, we need you down here." The song, like "Seventeen," was prophetic in a way.

I was privileged to hear Howard sing some songs off the new record at Nashville's The Listening Room. While she sounds great on the record, in person, her voice is strong, clear, and magical. Her colleague, Trisha Yearwood, kept remarking about it, to which Howard replied, "I learned to sing by listening to you."

I knew Rebecca Lynn Howard's songwriting expertise before I saw her in person, but her talent blew me away after seeing her sing live in an acoustic environment. Few can match her energy. She is more than a singer; she is a performer who doesn't need all the bells and whistles to make her voice sound amazing. 

You will want to buy/download Howard's latest record, I'm Not Who You Think I Am. But if you ever get a chance to see her in person, go. It will absolutely be worth it. Check her socials and website for more information.

Follow Rebecca Lynn Howard on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X, and all streaming platforms.

– – –

Bethany Bowman is a freelance entertainment writer. You can follow her blog, Instagram, and X.

I’m Not Who You Think I Am Track Listing:
1. How High (Rebecca Lynn Howard, Elisha Hoffman, Marti Frederiksen)
2. Seventeen (Rebecca Lynn Howard, Rachel Thibodeau)
3. Hoedown (Rebecca Lynn Howard, Elisha Hoffman, Nathan Chapman, Stephanie Chapman)
4. Heart Still Does (Rebecca Lynn Howard, Elisha Hoffman, Jenee Fleenor)
5. Strong (Rebecca Lynn Howard, Elisha Hoffman, Trey Smith, Jennifer Fiedler)
6. I'm Not Who You Think I Am (Rebecca Lynn Howard, James LeBlanc)
7. Flowerbed (Rebecca Lynn Howard, Elisha Hoffman, Rob Hatch)
8. Holler (Rebecca Lynn Howard, Elisha Hoffman, Cliff Audretch)
9. Good Place To Turn Around (Rebecca Lynn Howard, Jon Mabe, Jason Matthews)
10. I Am My Mother (Rebecca Lynn Howard, Rachel Thibodeau, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Jamie Floyd)
11. Mess Down Here (Rebecca Lynn Howard, Elisha Hoffman, Rob Hatch, Lance Miller)