Real Life with Rachel Proctor

Exclusive: Rachel Proctor's Only Lonley Girl Cut-By-Cut

Hey all you Rachel Proctor fans. WomenOfCountry.com is pleased to present Rachel’s cut-by-cut thoughts on her exquisite Only Lonely Girl EP. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, click here to purchase one direct from the artist herself. And, don’t forget to check out the rest of her exclusive WomenOfCountry.com blog, by clicking here.

“Baby Don’t Let Me Go”
(Rachel Proctor/John Lancaster)

Sometimes, when we’re in a new relationship, our past haunts us and makes us scared to try to love again. Especially if we’ve had our hearts broken. That’s what this song is about. It’s about being scared to fall in love again and almost ruining something good by running away.

“Cool Water”
(Rachel Proctor/John Lancaster)

I honestly can’t take a lot of credit for this one. John had the chorus completely written when I came on board. It took me weeks to figure out what this song was going to be about, but finally one day it just came to me. We wanted it to be a fun, light hearted, beautiful love song and I think it is.

“Only Lonely Girl”
(Rachel Proctor/John Lancaster)

This song is so special to me. It’s my favorite song I’ve ever written. Every once in a while a song is just meant to be. These words flowed out of me line by line, while John played the piano and we drank some wine.

Sometimes I listen to it and I feel just like the girl in the song. I guess there’s a lot of her in me. I really feel like no matter what stage of your life you’re in, you’ve been the “only lonely girl” at least once.

“Stronger Hearts”
(Rachel Proctor/John Lancaster/Dan Demay)

My mother was very young when she found out she was going to have a baby. Still in high school, she and my daddy were scared to death. It was a very difficult thing to go through for the whole family but my grandmother said she just knew that this baby was going to be a special one. That baby was me.

From the time I was born my grandparents were very important part of my life. My every Friday night was spent at their house watching The Hulk, Dukes of Hazzard, and Dallas. Then we would watch Johnny Carson and my grandmother would swear he was waving at her at the end of the show and, of course, I believed her... for years.

A few years ago my grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer and was only given a few months to live... but he fought really hard and lived for three more years. During his struggle I wanted so badly to give him something to let him know how much he meant to me and the impact he’d had on my life. I decided to write him a song.

“Stronger Hearts” is a true story of how I came into the world.

“Better Off Now”
(Will Hoge/Brian Layson)

I used to drive around in my car and listen to Will Hoge everyday of my life for a couple of years. I still listen to him when I need to be inspired. I feel like he is one of the best rock writers and performers in the industry.

“Better Off Now” has always been my favorite song of his, so when it was time to go in and record I called him and asked him if I could cut it.

This song really sums up a lot of things in my life right now. I’ve left a lot of negative things in my past and I’m so much better off now.

“The Noise”
(Rachel Proctor/Michael Logen)

In the last year I’ve suffered a lot of loss. John and I lost all four of our grandfather’s this year. I wanted to write a song about how hard it is to know you will never see them or hear their voices ever again.

A friend of mine lost her husband and she kept talking about how loud silence can actually be and I thought that was a great idea for a song.

“The Noise” is a song for anyone who has ever lost someone they loved, whether by death or just saying goodbye.

More from Rachel Proctor

Rachel's Blog Entry Archive

Read our review of Where I Belong

Read Rachel's Biography

Listen To Rachel's Songs

Visit Rachel's Official MySpace Page