Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 27, 1995 TAG: 9510270029
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JIM PATTERSON ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NASHVILLE, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
A regular chart presence from 1985 to 1992, Dunn was the Academy of Country Music's top new female vocalist in 1986 and was named most promising newcomer by the Country Music Association the following year.
Her breakthrough 1986 single, ``Daddy's Hands,'' a tribute to her father, is a genuine standard.
By 1992, Dunn was tired, burned out and having an increasingly difficult time getting radio play. A slightly younger generation headed by Garth Brooks was coming on strong, selling more than was thought possible in the genre.
Perhaps the topper for Dunn was ``Maybe I Mean Yes,'' a lighthearted look at flirting that some women took as an invitation for rape. So she bowed to the pressure and asked programmers to stop playing the record, which was shaping up as a sizable hit. She asked Warner Bros. Records for her release and walked away.
``I kind of had my 15 1/2 minutes, or at least 13 1/2, and I wondered if maybe I should be happy with that and be grateful,'' said Dunn, 38. ``Ego-wise, I don't really need to be famous to feel good about myself.
``I kind of had the desire to do something that serves my community a little bit more than just a self-serving career. Me, Me, Me - make me bigger. It's a very selfish kind of career to have in a way.''
She considered a career in psychology. ``I looked at some graduate programs and some other colleges around and actually considered it.''
Based on her comeback album, ``Life and Love and All the Stages,'' it's a good thing Dunn decided to tough it out in Nashville. Boasting a big pop sound and some of Dunn's best writing ever, its singles have faced an uphill battle because of ever-rising competition and Dunn's three-year absence.
This time around, Dunn is refreshed instead of tired, and savvy and tough about climbing back on top. She has positioned herself as the cornerstone artist of new record label River North.
It's the kind of situation that brought Dunn stardom when she started out with MTM records in the 1980s, before moving to the more powerful Warner Bros.
``I was on a major label,'' Dunn said. ``But you know, sometimes that's not the cornucopia that you think it's going to be. You find out that you're one of 39 artists and you're No. 38 on their list of priorities.''
River North is even situated in the same building that once housed the now-defunct MTM - Mary Tyler Moore's ill-fated try in the country music business.
The first single, ``I Am Who I Am,'' barely charted, and the follow-up, ``Cowboys Are My Weakness,'' didn't at all. But the third single, ``It's Not About Blame,'' is Dunn at her best: a beautiful melody and stirring production wrapped around a breakup song of the most positive sort.
``It took me four singles the first go-round when I was a new artist to get my career goin' and it may take two or three to get it kind of back up,'' she said.
``I've been off the radio and not really focusing on that world. I've still been touring and writing, but the radio world is a whole different deal. It's much harder. Much, much harder. More artists, fewer spaces.''
For the comeback battle, Dunn has a new record company with her. Even better, as a writer she can generate for herself the kind of quality material hit-starved superstars are fighting for like pit bulls in a sellers' market.
``I think the material [on `Life and Love and All the Stages'] has some depth to it 'cause I was able to take my time with it and kind of not just dash in,'' she said.
``Let's face it, when you're under the gun and you have two months to look for songs as opposed to three years, that makes a big difference.''
by CNB