Genre: Country/Bluegrass/Southern Gospel, Pop/Rock
For fans of: Shania Twain, Sheryl Crow, Margaret Becker, Amy Grant
Label: Sparrow/Capitol Records

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One more song. Something big, that had meaning. Susan Ashton knew that's what her first album for Capitol Records, Closer, needed. She and producer Emory Gordy searched for that song, but couldn't find it.

Songwriter Diane Warren had a song, "Faith Of The Heart." Warren, the most in-demand songwriter of today, writes soaring anthems for top artists—"How Do I Live?" for LeAnn Rimes and Trisha Yearwood, "I Don't Want To Miss a Thing" for Aerosmith and "Because You Loved Me" for Celine Dion. She gave a demo copy of "Faith Of The Heart" to Capitol Records/Nashville President Pat Quigley, thinking Garth Brooks might be interested in the song. Pat played the song one day when Susan Ashton was in his office. "I love that song," she said. "I'll call Diane Warren," he said. Susan didn't think anything would come of that call. After all, Warren wrote songs for superstars. Why would she want a new Capitol artist to have such a powerful song on her first country record?

Because that girl can sing. Warren heard Ashton's voice, and let her have the song for her upcoming album. Ashton has a rare gift—the ability to totally inhabit the words of the song and convey the emotions behind them, while giving of herself fully as a musical instrument. In her hands, a song is whole. "Music is the soul of the song," says Ashton. "It creates the foundation and the emotion. It's what takes you somewhere. The lyric puts a picture to the soul—gives it shape."

And so when people hear Susan sing, they find a way to work with her. Matraca Berg, Kim Richey, Jamie O'Hara, Kent Blazy and Kim Williams have all contributed songs to Ashton's first Capitol album. Over the years Garth Brooks ("She's Every Woman," "You Move Me"), Patty Loveless ("Long Stretch of Lonesome," "To Have You Back Again") and Jim Brickman ("The Gift") were among the many artists who asked Susan to sing on their records.

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