After several months of teasing new music — which received a standing ovation at a concert in Utah — country star Jo Dee Messina has officially made a highly anticipated announcement: She’s releasing her first album in over a decade.
Jo Dee Messina is releasing new album, ‘Bridges’
This summer, the singer who rose to fame in the ’90s with hits like “Heads Carolina, Tails California” and “Bye Bye,” will release her first album since 2014.
The album, “Bridges,” draws inspiration from the past decade of the singer’s career and life.
“Messina — like all of us — has encountered road bumps both minor and heartbreaking: loss, struggle, and sicknesses that might have wrecked someone without glimmers of light to hold onto. Her music. Her children. Her faith. And all of it is woven throughout Bridges,” reads the bio on her website.
“It’s not about a full transformation,” the singer writes. “It’s about what I’ve gone through and how I’ve gotten through it all. But I’m not done living yet. There’s still a lot more to learn.”
Messina recently released her new single, “Some Bridges,” ahead of the album release.
“We are often told not to burn bridges — and it’s good advice,” Messina said in a statement, per Taste of Country. “I’ve lived long enough to know that’s true. But there are also exceptions, and sometimes it’s OK to let that baby burn. In life, sometimes we just need to look forward and keep going.”
While “Some Bridges” is the first single from the new album, Messina has previously shared some of her forthcoming music on tour — including at a show in Layton, Utah, where she received an emotional standing ovation.
Jo Dee Messina performed new song in Utah
Last summer, about 30 minutes into her show at The Kenley Amphitheater in Layton, Messina surprised her Utah fans with a new faith-inspired song she had written just a few weeks before.
She recalled the songwriting process for “If He Knew Jesus,” and how she started crying after just the first line.
“It’s not a happy song, but it is a true song, and so I’m going to share it with you if I could,” she told the Layton crowd, which was more than happy to oblige.
Messina got some cheers after the first chorus, and when the song came to an end, she covered her face, visibly touched by the standing ovation she was receiving.
“If He Knew Jesus,” which will be featured on the new album, is part of the country singer’s shift to more faith-driven music — a change she told the Deseret News started about 10 years ago when she “came to know Christ.”
Since then, the singer said, she’s regularly incorporated her testimony into her shows. And while that often means she gets a little more vulnerable with audiences, Messina said it wasn’t a difficult decision to make in terms of her career.
“I think that when Christ comes in and he makes the change in your heart, that changes your desire,” she said. “It’s just what you desire to do. It’s not an effort. ... It’s not a hard shift at all.
“If you really love someone, the best thing you can ever give them is the gospel,” she continued. “And so I try to share that wherever I go because that’s really what I’m about. You don’t see us drinking on stage or being wild. We just share Jesus with people.”
Messina is currently on tour, with a busy schedule that extends through early November, per her website.