Gretchen Wilson says she's a mom first

10/29/2006 4:48 PM, AP


The redneck woman has a tender side. Country singer Gretchen Wilson, known for songs that flaunt her hardscrabble roots and wild ways like chewing tobacco and drag racing on back roads, has written a memoir that discusses her rise to fame and her defining moment in life: becoming a mother.

An excerpt of the book, published in People Magazine's special issue on country music currently on newsstands, shows a vulnerable Wilson fearful when she found out she was pregnant.

"Initially, I felt downright miserable. I saw myself as fat and ugly and pregnant. At the same time, I started feeling that my dream that lead me to Nashville was slowly slipping away," she writes, according to the magazine.

But, she talked to her friends and loved ones who helped her through the worry. And when her child, Grace, was born, she was ecstatic.

"The bottom line is, Grace is my life and music is my talent and passion. ... I'm a mom first, a singer second," she writes.

The book, "Redneck Woman: Stories from My Life," from Warner Books, will be released Nov. 1.

Her 2004 debut album "Here for the Party," entered the Billboard's Country Albums chart at No. 1 and the Top 200 Chart at No. 2. Her latest album, "All Jacked Up," released in Sept. 2005 debuted at No. 1 on both charts and sold more than 264,000 copies in a week.