Anita Cochran
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Anita Cochran isnʼt just a singer, sheʼs a girl with a guitar! Named after legendary Anita Carter of The Carter Family, Cochran was destined for a career in music. Her parents hailing from the state of Kentucky, Cochran grew up on Country, Bluegrass and Gospel music. Her parents moved to Michigan and formed a band when Cochran was 1 and at the age of 5 she joined the family band as a guitar player/singer. Cochran toured every weekend with the family band eventually leaving them for a solo career when she reached her dream and signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1994.
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Her debut record “Back To You” made Country Music History when she became the first female artist to produce, sing, write and play multiple instruments including lead guitar on a debut record. That record garnished her first number one song with a song she penned by herself called “What If I Said”, a duet she recorded with Steve Wariner. The song topped all the charts at radio throughout the US and Canada for the #1 position for two weeks and brought Cochran other numerous awards including CMAand ACM nominations and won the TNN/Music City News Awards (now known as the CMT Awards) for Vocal Event. Cochran quickly became a favorite of the Grand Ole Opry making her Debut in 1997. It also garnished her the #1 Video spot on both CMT and GAC. Gibson Guitar recognized Cochran’s talent on guitar and presented her with their award “Best Female Guitar Player”.
To this day she is still the only country female lead guitar player that has been signed to a major record label that not only plays lead guitar live but on all of her recordings. Cochran says “I never knew one without the other. When I learned to play guitar around the age of 4, I started singing with it”. I grew up with all my aunts and mother playing guitar. I never realized it was different to see a girl play lead guitar until I signed with Warner Bros. Records and moved to Nashville”. “Some of the highlights of my career have been getting to play guitar with my heroʼs like Steve Wariner, Vince Gill and Ricky Skaggs. Other than my father, those guys were my teachers. I learned so much from their playing growing up.” In a world of males dominating lead guitar Cochran says “I just donʼt think many people take women musicians as serious as they do men, tho I never thought guitars were only made for a man”. Cochran’s sophomore release brought continued success when it caught the attention of Hollywood movie producers of the “Dukes Of Hazard in Hollywood” movie where Cochran co-starred alongside Toby Keith. Cochran played Tom Wopat’s love interest in the film and it also included 4 original songs from Cochran’s sophomore release throughout the film. |
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This record also got the attention of General Motors who brought her together with the late Dale Earnhart and artist Peter Max to team up for a year promotion together in which they sponsored her tour.
Cochran made music history again when she wrote and recorded her critically acclaimed song called ʻI Wanna Hear A Cheatinʼ Songʼ that quickly became the #1 song on WSM radio in Nashville. A song she wrote as a tribute to her Country Music idols and featured the voice of Conway Twitty. It was the first time in history that a deceased artists sang a brand new song. Cochran spent two years on this project researching all of Twittys recordings looking for the words she needed. How did she do it? Cochran explains “When recording a vocal, the artist might sing the song 1 – 100 times in the studio. Then the engineer or producer will pull the best performances out of all the vocal recordings they just recorded and put them together. Thatʼs called “comping a vocal”. Sometimes they use a word, a sentence or an entire section. This is exactly what I did for Twitty’s new vocal except..his vocal came from 32 different songs..not the same song. His vocal was not computer generated, he sang every word. It was simply a vocal comp. Twittyʼs family loved the project so much that they brought Cochran in as their Musical Director for the critically acclaimed Musical of Twittyʼs life.
Cochran has had numerous singles at radio and videos on CMT and GAC. Her career has taken her throughout the US but also has taken her internationally around the world with numerous dates touring Japan, Italy, Norway, France, Poland, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and Sweden, Mexico, Norway and extensive touring throughout Canada.
When Cochran is not on the road, you can find her writing, recording or producing other artists such as Tammy Cochran’s (no relation) “Where I Am” release. She continuously tours and is now writing for a new record.
Cochran made music history again when she wrote and recorded her critically acclaimed song called ʻI Wanna Hear A Cheatinʼ Songʼ that quickly became the #1 song on WSM radio in Nashville. A song she wrote as a tribute to her Country Music idols and featured the voice of Conway Twitty. It was the first time in history that a deceased artists sang a brand new song. Cochran spent two years on this project researching all of Twittys recordings looking for the words she needed. How did she do it? Cochran explains “When recording a vocal, the artist might sing the song 1 – 100 times in the studio. Then the engineer or producer will pull the best performances out of all the vocal recordings they just recorded and put them together. Thatʼs called “comping a vocal”. Sometimes they use a word, a sentence or an entire section. This is exactly what I did for Twitty’s new vocal except..his vocal came from 32 different songs..not the same song. His vocal was not computer generated, he sang every word. It was simply a vocal comp. Twittyʼs family loved the project so much that they brought Cochran in as their Musical Director for the critically acclaimed Musical of Twittyʼs life.
Cochran has had numerous singles at radio and videos on CMT and GAC. Her career has taken her throughout the US but also has taken her internationally around the world with numerous dates touring Japan, Italy, Norway, France, Poland, Germany, Japan, Switzerland and Sweden, Mexico, Norway and extensive touring throughout Canada.
When Cochran is not on the road, you can find her writing, recording or producing other artists such as Tammy Cochran’s (no relation) “Where I Am” release. She continuously tours and is now writing for a new record.
