LeAnn Rimes tells us why she loves Fort Worth ahead of Friday concert at Will Rogers

LeAnn Rimes is coming to Fort Worth.

The two-time Grammy award winner is performing on Friday at Will Rogers Auditorium as part of the Professional Bull Riders World Finals. Tickets are still available for the show.

Rimes is no stranger to Texas, having been raised in Garland and later meeting DJ Bill Mack, who wrote her breakout song “Blue.” Rimes’ album of the same name was released to critical and commercial success in 1996 when the singer was just 13 years old.

The album launched her career with two Grammys. Since then, Rimes has released numerous albums over her 26-year career.

Ahead of Friday’s show in Fort Worth, Rimes spoke with the Star-Telegram to discuss her “the story...so far” tour, which is in celebration of the 25th anniversary of “Blue.” She also teased her upcoming album “god’s work,” out on Sept. 16, and how she feels about returning to Fort Worth.

Star-Telegram: The tour “the story... so far” started last week in Connecticut, and you were in New York over the weekend, and you have a show in Arkansas on Thursday. And then you’re in Fort Worth, of course, on Friday. I know the tour just started, but how’s it been so far?

Rimes: It’s been really good. I’m having a great time and the crowds have been fantastic, and just super connected. We’re celebrating 25 years of music, and I am playing some of my new music off the new record. So it’s a very eclectic and really fun shows so far.

S-T: The tour comes at the 25th anniversary of your debut album “Blue” in 1996, and your new album this fall. I know it’s kind of hard to put into words how your career has been over the past 25 to 26 years, but how has this experience been singing those early songs again?

Rimes: I mean it’s wild. Like, it’s wild to be 39 years old and celebrating over 25 years now. The show itself, to just be able to kind of pull from all the different records that I’ve made and really tell stories. There really is a piece of storytelling that makes its way through the show. I think people get to kind of hear my point of view of the stories behind the songs, or where I was at in my life when I wrote or recorded them.

S-T: Do you ever sit back and think about how this whole crazy ride started when you were 13 years old and “Blue” came out, and now you’ve had the career that you’ve had and are playing that song again on tour?

Rimes: I’m just really grateful. I think it speaks to how much I’ve been a part of people’s lives and how my music has passed on to the new generation, through the people that I grew up with. It’s amazing in this business to have been around this long, because this business can be so fickle. To have this career and still making music, what I think is some of the best music I’ve ever made, and having a chance to grow as much as I have as an artist. That people are still listening is incredible and I think, honestly, the best live shows we’ve ever done is this show. That’s all I can hope for, that I keep growing and expanding and trying new things.

S-T: You were raised in Texas and have played different venues here in the past, like Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth. Coming to Fort Worth now, do you have any favorite places you like to go?

Rimes: Oh, gosh. Well, I have tons of friends that live in Fort Worth, so I love coming to see them and I love the Stockyards — they remind me of my childhood. And Will Rogers (Auditorium), I grew up singing there, so I’m sure it’ll be wild to be back and experience that again, now looking back from this place. I’m sure it will be very nostalgic for me. But yeah, I love Fort Worth, it’s a great place to be.

S-T: You’re playing as part of the PBR World Finals. Are you a fan of bull riding? Is that something you watch?

Rimes: I watch it every once in a while. I grew up around rodeos, my dad used to ride horses all the time. So I’ve been around it, and my husband really enjoys it. So when he has it on, I’ll watch it with him for sure.

S-T: So “the story...so far” tour is leading up to your new album, “god’s work,” in September. I know you’ve been working on it for some time. How does it feel to have a release date down and put the final touches on the album?

Rimes: Yeah, it feels great. We worked on it for three years, we started in the middle of 2019 and then took a break because I was touring. Picking back up was very different when we started to record the record again in 2020. We would put down a piano vocal and then send it out to bass and drums. Everybody was in their own homes in sweats, recording this record piece by piece and putting it together. It was definitely a completely different way I’ve ever recorded a record. So it took a moment, and I think the songwriting side of things, it took life happening the way it did to also inspire the record. It feels so good to have a release date, to have songs coming out, to have new music. This one took a bit longer on the birthing process than most. And I’ve already started working on the next thing. It’s like as soon as we’re finished, I have so much more left to create. So yeah, I’m very excited for people to listen to this record.

S-T: I guess that’s why the tour is called “the story...so far”.

Rimes: (Laughs) Exactly, there’s plenty more to tell.

S-T: You mentioned that on the album you’re having some new voices and sounds. I was looking over some of the features on the album, from Mickey Guyton, who is from North Texas, and Ziggy Marley, who is a reggae artist, along with Aloe Blacc, Ben Harper and Ledisi, who are more R&B focused. Could you talk about the sound of the album and collaborating with these artists?

Rimes: I think for myself, I’m very eclectic when it comes to my musical tastes and what I’ve explored as an artist over the years. When we started working on this record, it was kind of one of those things that we wrote the songs and we’re like, who would sound cool on that?

So we just started kind of casting as we went along, and it takes a village to create something like this. It was so cool that every time I asked someone, they were like, sure, we’ll put our voice on it. It’s great to be able to collaborate with Mickey and you’re right, like I never thought I would have Ziggy Marley on a record, but it was so cool. I just have great respect for all of the artists that are on this album, and just so honored that they came in and lifted their voices to these songs. This album wouldn’t be the same without them.

S-T: With this album, what are you pulling from and thinking about?

Rimes: This album, “god’s work,” really explores the dark and the light, the duality of life, really. For me, I believe that everything is a part of creation, and so really exploring the complexities of life and some big questions and big ideas, such as God, that we’ve all I guess wrestled with in some way. I’ve gone through my own transformation or my own discovery of how I’ve used spirituality. That’s really what inspired this album. I was like, I have thoughts and I want to share them.

Love is the probably the biggest through line of everything I do and celebrating the totality of who we are as human beings, that being the complete humanness and our holiness. You can’t be whole without acknowledging both sides of who you are.

S-T: Going back to the show on Friday, are there any surprises for the Fort Worth concert? Can fans expect new music?

Rimes: Friday’s show is going to be amazing (laughs). I think people, like you said, really get a sense of connection with me, and some of the songs that they grew up with. It really is a fun show, and I do feel deeply connected to the band through music and through the concert. More and more over the years, my connection live has just developed deeper and deeper. I think people will walk away knowing me more and knowing themselves more, and having an incredible time and feeling all the feels.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.