Heidi Newfield admits the instructions her manager gave her one evening earlier this year were a little bit strange.

“He had called me and told me to leave my phone on early the next morning, because he knows I’m not a morning person,” she says with a smile. In spite of her aversion to early rising, the next day brought the sound of a phone ringing at her home. “Sure enough, about 7:00 a.m., he called and told me to turn my TV on to CBS. I thought, ‘What in the world?’ I had no idea that was the morning they were announcing the ACM [Academy of Country Music] nominations.”

With the phone call from her manager, Newfield thought she might be up for an award. “I thought that since he called me and woke me up, he might know something. I thought that I might get a nomination.” She did get a nomination…and then some, collecting five nods in all. “When they repeatedly called my name, it got louder and louder inside our house. It was really exciting. ”

The day was one the former lead singer of Trick Pony will not soon forget. “It was just a wonderful day. Needless to say, I felt elated. There was a lot of jumping up and down and screaming, and probably a few tears in the house that day.”

The nomination announcements helped to cement any ideas in the singer’s head about whether going solo was the move she had needed to make.

“I really felt validated that I had made the right choice and was on the right path. Then the fact that the ACM’s are voted on by your peers–it really said a lot to me, that they were kind of patting me on the back—saying that we dig what you’re doing, and like what you’ve got going on.”

What Newfield has going on these days is one of the most-talked about albums of the past year. Since the release of WHAT AM I WAITING FOR last August, Heidi has been a presence at radio stations across the country with songs like “Cry Cry (Till The Sun Shines),” and the song that brought her the ACM buzz, “Johnny & June.”

The success of the single might have taken some in the industry by surprise—especially those who might have thought of Newfield as, pardon the pun, a one-trick pony vocally.

While fans of the group were more than aware of her ballad prowess, with memorable album cuts like “Stay In This Moment” and the seductive “Rain,” it seemed most viewed Newfield as the good-time honky-tonk queen of radio hits such as “On A Night Like This” and “Pour Me.”

Whether the selection of a ballad as Newfield’s first solo single was a surprise to the industry or not is a question she doesn’t profess to know the answer to. But she feels releasing “Johnny & June” was a defined new direction from what she had done with Trick Pony.

“I think we made a certain kind of music, and radio and the label focused largely on the honky-tonk, rowdy sound, and that’s what they decided to put out.”

With Newfield switching gears to a solo career, it was time for something new. “I was on my own, and working with the likes of John Grady and Tony Brown, and I knew I was going to be on Curb Records, so I needed to make a natural departure from what I was doing.”

However, she says, surprise factor aside, “a huge hit song is a huge hit song.”

“It [“Johnny & June”] just found its place. It was a blessing—something we knew was very special from the moment we wrote it. I knew that I was looking for that perfect first single, and the minute Deanna Bryant, Stephony Smith, and I wrote the song, we walked out of the room and I said ‘I think we just wrote my first single.’”

Everyone on her team agreed. “I played it for Tony and Curb, and everyone thought it was a no-brainer. I don’t know if anyone was surprised or not. I just think it was a really strong song, and a great piece of work. They knew that it was coming from the heart, and it resonated with them the same way it did with us when we wrote it.”

She is quick to give the credit behind her success to her producer—the legendary Tony Brown. “I was looking for the perfect match for me creatively. I was going down the list, and was meeting with a few different people,” Newfield admits. Her manager at the time, John Grady, asked what she thought of Brown and she admitted he would be her “number one choice.”

However, she was hesitant because he had a full schedule and she wondered if he would have time for the project. Taking matters into his own hands, Grady placed the call and, to Newfield’s total surprise, Brown agreed to sit down with her and see where her head was for her first solo album.

The two sat down in Newfield’s management office, and she played him a lot of new material and other things she had found. “He loved where I was going musically, and he liked my song sensibility. We had a similar direction in mind. “

“He was not a huge fan [of Trick Pony] and I kind of got a kick out of that fact. He said he had always loved the sound of my voice and the fact it was very distinctive. When he heard where I wanted to go, he told me then and there he was into it. I was just thrilled that we were going to get to work together.”

Recording WHAT AM I WAITING FOR was very memorable because, according to Newfield, Brown knows how a record is to be made and he shows complete respect to the artists he works with. In other words, the term “Paint-By-Number” does not apply in a studio with this legendary producer.

“Tony’s not a formula producer. He didn’t come in saying, ‘This is the way I do it; this is the way we’re going to make this record.’ He talked to me during the entire process. He made it clear that it was my record, and I think that’s the sign of a great producer–he’s a guide. He guides you on your path and helps you find your true self. That’s what Tony does better than anyone.”

So, with all the success she has enjoyed as of late, does Newfield have any regrets about her decision to fly solo and leave Trick Pony?

“It’s a funny thing, changing up something you know so well–stepping out of your comfort zone,” she confirms. “When someone asked me if I had regrets–the reason I have absolutely none is I carried my head held high, and I feel like I left with dignity and with total character.

“There were many good reasons that only the three of us know as to why it was time for us to make a change. There was so much loyalty, so much love, so much music and memories—that’s why making a change like that is a heavy load. It was a very difficult decision to make, but once I made it, it was kind of like an epiphany. It was as if the Good Lord was telling me that I made the right choice. I know that might sound a little strange, but that’s how much I knew I was on the right path.”

However, making the choice did have some repercussions. According to Newfield, the three months following her notice to leave Trick Pony was fraught with anger and bitterness, making working together difficult.

As negative as that experience might have been, once things were done, Newfield says it was an eye opening experience.

“I figured that the further that I stepped away from it, the more clear everything became. When you’re in the middle of drama, it’s not until you step away from it, when you have the guts to make a change, that you step outside that box and you start to see things very clearly. I realized I’d been putting up with a lot of stuff for a long time. Everything happens when it’s supposed to.”

Now, it’s full steam ahead for the singer, who is hitting the road this summer with a vengeance. She has dates scheduled through the end of the year, and will begin planning the follow-up to WHAT AM I WAITING FOR soon. It sounds as though this California girl is only beginning her solo flight!

All the pieces seemed to have fallen into place for Keith Burns and Ira Dean when they auditioned Michelle Poe to fill the vacant lead singer position for their band Trick Pony in 2008. Just one day after the audition, Dean announced his departure from the band leaving Burns and Poe questioning their next move.

“I knew I couldn’t be Trick Pony by myself,” Burns recalls. “It just didn’t feel right.”

“In my heart I really didn’t want to sing Trick Pony music for the rest of my life,” admits Michelle Poe. “It would’ve been more meaningful to me to write our own music and perform our own stuff.”

With those thoughts in their minds, Michelle Poe and Keith Burns began writing together to see what path their unified musical creativeness would lead them down. A month later, they approached their label with the idea of bringing a fresh duo to the country music scene – Burns & Poe.

After taking a solid year off from touring to write, Burns & Poe have put together an album of all original material set to be released early this fall.

“It was pretty cool in the way we did it,” says Burns. “Michelle was wide open to everything. I played her a few things that I had, and she picked a couple of ideas that she really liked. So we started getting hooks and titles together. We’d go in [to writing] knowing that was kind of the direction that we wanted to go. We had that common ground and then, it was off to the races.”

“I’m not a screamer singer,” Poe adds. “I don’t want everything to be rowdy like Trick Pony’s style was. [Former Trick Pony lead singer Heidi Newfield and my] voices are totally different. We tailor the songs we write together thinking of the master plan of it being a duet. What can he sing and what can I sing that makes this song great?”

The album’s first single, “It’s Always A Woman,” was penned by the duo along with Don Goodman and is currently at radio.

Burns & Poe isn’t Poe’s first taste of being an artist. In 2006, she made some noise with her song “Just One of the Boys” on DreamWorks. The day her album was scheduled to be release, the label folded.

“Everything happens for a reason,” she says with a smile. “If that didn’t happen then I wouldn’t be here now. It’s all a blessing.”

Poe continued playing live as the bassist for Dierks Bentley and Hank Williams, Jr before auditioning to fill Newfield’s lead singer role in 2008. Now, as part of a duo, Michelle Poe is able to experience the excitement of sharing a stage with someone who wants the success as much as she does.

“The whole process is more fun,” she beams. “It’s less pressure on you when you’re in a duo instead of a solo act.”

“Michelle and I both have that experience behind us. Now we get to go out there and feel confident,” says Burns. “I certainly don’t think we’re going to have that deer in the headlights look when we’re doing our shows.”

As they prepare to hit the road hard and spread the word of their music, the duo likens their music and outlook to one of their album’s tracks, “AIN’T YOUR EVERYDAY WHISKEY.”

“This ain’t your everyday duo,” Burns grins. “We’re Burns & Poe. We have our own cool thing going. I couldn’t be happier.”