Up and Coming New Nashville- Manda Leigh (With Exclusive Interview)

Each week, That Nashville Sound runs our Up And Coming New Nashville column, unveiling an artist we think the country music world should take note of. This week's new artist is Manda Leigh.

Manda Leigh is a native of Salyersville, Kentucky. She is a singer/songwriter and plays rhythm guitar. Her debut album "Hillbilly Heroin" was produced by Grammy Award Winning country music singer Rebecca Lynn Howard and co-written with Howard and Elizabeth Sizemore (Manda Leigh's sister). Hillbilly Heroin can't be put into any genre...perhaps it's created its own..."Hillbilly Metal". With everything from hard rockin' guitar solos, banjo pickin', and squeeze boxes this album is at least unique. Manda Leigh began writing songs at age 8 and playing guitar at 15. Though, she didn't began singing until she was 25, you can't hear it in her unique voice. Staying true to her roots and where she comes from she and Elizabeth wrote "Hell On Tip Top" a kick-ass rockabilly tune about down home partying. The title track, "Hillbilly Heroin" was co-written with her sister about the plague the legal drug Oxycontin has inflicted on their hometown. "I Ache" is a song about a special man in Elizabeth's life who passed away. "One Hit Wonder" is a light-hearted mellow song co-written with Rebecca Lynn Howard.

We had a chance to sit down with Manda for a TNS exclusive interview:

TNS- What brought you to Nashville?

ML- I moved to Nashville to work on my writing and my overall sound as an artist.

TNS- Looking over your career thus far, what do you rank as a couple of the highlights?

ML- One highlight would be when I recorded my first album at Station West here in Nashville. I had a lot of great musicians that played on this album. Mark Beckett on drums, on bass I had Mike Brignardello and Michael Rhodes, Pat Buchanan played lead guitar dobro/strings Jonathon Yudkin and Billy Panda is on the acoustic guitar. Rebecca Lynn Howard produced the album and co-wrote a few songs on it as well. All of that was exciting but the highlight of my career so far would be seeing pride on the faces of my parents.

TNS- What might people be surprised to find out about you?

ML-I am very shy, I get terrible stage fright and I'm pretty much a homebody.

TNS- What kind of music are you listening to? What's in your IPod?

ML- I listen to anything from rap to bluegrass. I love Sheryl Crow, Duffy, The Ting Tings, Eminem, Janis Joplin, The Allman Brothers.

TNS- If you had a crystal ball and looked forward ten years, what do you see for yourself?

ML- I'm working on some new material right now with Rebecca Lynn Howard and Elisha Hoffman so I would hope to see myself making a living doing what I love...music.