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Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer Hardcover | Pages: 304 pages

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Title	:	Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer
Author	:	Chely Wright
Book Format	:	Hardcover
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 304 pages
Published	:	May 4th 2010 by Pantheon (first published 2010)
Categories	:	Nonfiction. LGBT. Autobiography. Memoir. Biography. Music

Chronicle In Pursuance Of Books Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer

Chely Wright, singer, songwriter, country music star, writes in this moving, telling memoir about her life and her career; about growing up in America’s heartland, the youngest of three children; about barely remembering a time when she didn’t know she was different.
 
She writes about her parents, putting down roots in their twenties in the farming town of Wellsville, Kansas, Old Glory flying atop the poles on the town’s manicured lawns, and being raised to believe that hard work, honesty, and determination would take her far.
 
She writes of making up her mind at a young age to become a country music star, knowing then that her feelings and crushes on girls were “sinful” and hoping and praying that she would somehow be “fixed.” (“Dear God, please don’t let me be gay. I promise not to lie. I promise not to steal. I promise to always believe in you . . . Please take it away.”)
 
We see her, high school homecoming queen, heading out on her own at seventeen and landing a job as a featured vocalist on the Ozark Jubilee (the show that started Brenda Lee, Red Foley, and Porter Wagoner), being cast in Country Music U.S.A., doing four live shows a day, and—after only a few months in Nashville—her dream coming true, performing on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry . . .
 
She describes writing and singing her own songs for producers who’d discovered and recorded the likes of Reba McEntire, Shania Twain, and Toby Keith, who heard in her music something special and signed her to a record contract, releasing her first album and sending her out on the road on her first bus tour . . . She writes of sacrificing all for a shot at success that would come a couple of years later with her first hit single, “Shut Up And Drive” . . . her songs (from her fourth album, Single White Female) climbing the Billboard chart for twenty-nine weeks, hitting the #1 spot . . . 
 
She writes about the friends she made along the way—Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, and others—writing songs, recording and touring together, some of the friendships developing into romantic attachments that did not end happily . . . Keeping the truth of who she was clutched deep inside, trying to ignore it in a world she longed to be a part of—and now was—a world in which country music stars had never been, could not be, openly gay . . .
 
She writes of the very real prospect of losing everything she’d worked so hard to create . . . doing her best to have a real life—her best not good enough . . .
 
And in the face of everything she did to keep herself afloat, she writes about how the vortex of success and hiding who she was took its toll: her life, a tangled mess she didn’t see coming, didn’t want to; and, finally, finding the guts to untangle herself from the image of the country music star she’d become, an image steeped in long-standing ideals and notions about who—and what—a country artist is, and what their fans expect them to be . . .
 
I am a songwriter,” she writes. “I am a singer of my songs—and I have a story to tell. As I’ve traveled this path that has delivered me to where I am today, my monument of thanks, paying honor to God, remains. I will do all I can with what I have been given . . .”
 
Like Me is fearless, inspiring, true.
 

Be Specific About Books During Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer

ISBN:	0307378861 (ISBN13: 9780307378866)
Edition Language:	English
Literary Awards:	Lambda Literary Award Nominee for Lesbian Memoir/Biography (2011)

Rating Regarding Books Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer

Ratings: 4.01 From 1802 Users | 170 Reviews

Evaluation Regarding Books Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer

I respect and honor her honesty and courage to take a stand for herself. Beautiful!

So I first got introduced to Chely Wright's music when I was staying with a friend in Colorado with a song called Single White Female. I thought she was very cute. Turns out she is a lesbian country music musician which probably, judging by reading this book isn't easy.She visits soldiers in war torn parts of the world and entertains them and signs stuff for them. She seems like a genuinely nice person. But there are people who would hate her ONLY for being a lesbian. How does that make sense? I

This was a pretty easy read and country singer Chely Wright's got a good story. I think she did a great job nailing what being in the closet makes a person do and the toll those choices take over time. It's not always chronological, which can sometimes throw you. It feels more like you're going through a box of photographs of her life, all thrown in together in no particular order, and she's telling you about each one as she pulls them out of the box. And that's not bad, just a little different.

I'm a huge fan of Chely Wright and I support her LikeMe Organization with monthly book proceed donations. I'm sure this book will touch many lives. She was honest and forthcoming in her story. Her story is an inspiration.

I am not a fan of autobiographical material in the first place and this hasn't helped my opinion. I felt the book was choppy and self indulgent. I got the topic very clearly after the first chapter, so I don't understand why she's still whacking me over the head with it by using the word "gay" 5-6 times per page thereafter. I think that if one was really concerned about how much they "damaged" another person by the lies one told, we wouldn't then follow it up by naming them in a memoir and

It's not uncommon for a recording artist to pen a memoir, or to release a companion album. It is, however, unprecedented that a mainstream country music artist would use the tandem to step out of the closet. Some balked that Wright was a "has-been" who was trying to "cash in" on her sexuality for an extension on her 15 minutes of fame. I suspect those people failed to actually read Like Me, because they are exemplary works worthy of recognition. It's as though her entire public career existed in

read this yesterday. reminded me some of Prayers For Bobby, but w/a much happier ending. there are, i guess, three big revalations in this book; 1 - Chely is gay, 2 - she and Brad Paisley had a relationship and 3 - john rich is a testoserone fueled twit. Chely is gay and involved w/Brad Paisley which means Brad Paisley is a woman. sadly, no, but wouldn't that have been a cool headline? john rich is a testosterone driven twit is a kinda given. male country music star in Nashville what would you