Gretchen Wilson

After Gretchen Wilson decided to take a break for a few years, many wondered if her career would suffer. It did seem an odd time for the Redneck Woman to step away from her meteoric rise.

She may have lost her major-label recording contract and taken a few blows personally, but when she stepped onto the Grove of Anaheim stage Wednesday night you wouldn’t have known it.

She announced, before getting too far along, that hers may be the first honest-to-goodness female Southern rock album.

The Illinois native played a slew of songs from her upcoming album to a crowd of 3,000 after the rodeo concluded and asked the crowd to "tell us what you think.

Wilson continued having a lot of success with her excellent debut "Here for the Party," and while her follow-up disc, "All Jacked Up," has yielded a few hits, she has not quite yet approached the debut's success.

If the time ever comes to film Redneck Woman - the Gretchen Wilson Story this performance in a half-full Islington Academy on a damp Monday night probably won't get a mention but it says something about Wilson that she was here at all.

Gretchen Wilson There is something truly special about California Wine Country that gives a person a sense of inner peace. Then again, Napa Valley is world renowned for the various wines it produces ever year. Maintaining a low key in this laid back atmosphere takes some work. It's even harder to sit still