GretchenWilson是美国新近涌现出的乡村音乐新星，虽然是一位新人，但是GretchenWilson却是典型的大器晚成。GretchenWilson于1973年6月26日出生在美国伊利诺伊州乡下的Pocahontas，当她出生时，她的母亲只有16岁。由于家庭的原因，GretchenWilson从两岁的时候就开始和家庭一起颠沛流离，居无定所。GretchenWilson的父亲会弹吉他，还拥有一直旅行乐队，但是父亲却从来没有给她和母亲带来什么就不见了。GretchenWilson只受过8年级的教育，在与母亲相依为命多年之后，14、5岁的GretchenWilson就已经开始照料吧台打工。不过即使是在这时候，喜欢唱歌的GretchenWilson也依然坚持每晚都去卡拉OK机那练习唱歌，并且随着她对音乐兴趣的加深，她也产生了离开家乡去寻找更大发展的想法。
by William Ruhlmann
In late May 2004, Gretchen Wilson's debut single, "Redneck Woman," became the first by a solo female singer to top the Billboard country singles chart in over two years; it also reached number one faster than any single in the previous decade. At the same time, her debut album, Here for the Party, entered the country album chart at number one and the pop album chart at number two with sales of 227,000 copies, the biggest opening week for a new country artist on record. Given the overtly country style of her music at a time when much country had been leaning toward pop, Wilson was immediately hailed as the latest in a long line of country artists leading the music back to its roots.
Her own roots went back to the tiny town of Pocahontas, IL (36 miles east of St. Louis, MO), where she began singing as a child. Her mother was 16 when she was born on June 26, 1973; her father left when she was two. She grew up poor, living in a succession of trailer parks. She went to school only through the eighth grade, and at 14 was working as a cook and bartender in the same club where her mother worked. By the age of 20, she was singing in two different bands in the area. She moved to Nashville in 1996 and tended bar while singing on demos and in clubs for the next seven years. During this period, she became part of an informal group of singers and songwriters known as the Muzik Mafia who met once a week to try out new material. She and John Rich, another member of the group (and a former member of Lonestar), wrote "Redneck Woman," an autobiographical song in which she unabashedly celebrated her redneck, white-trash background.
In 2003, she auditioned for and was signed by Epic Records. "Redneck Woman" was released in the late winter of 2004 and immediately began its march up the charts. Here for the Party, originally scheduled for release in July, was moved up to May 11 because of the quick success of the single. As it, too, became a hit, Wilson agreed to opening spots on tours with Brooks & Dunn and Montgomery Gentry in the summer of 2004. All Jacked Up, her follow-up to Here for the Party, appeared in September 2005 and hit the top of the Billboard charts. One of the Boys, the first album in which Wilson had a hand in writing most of the songs, was released in 2007.