Debbie Cochran is bound and determined to make the second act of her life as musical and eventful as possible.
In the words of the title of her first album: It's never too late.
"Anybody that knows me and hears me singing, they know that I'm not a teenager," says Cochran of starting her career as a mature adult.
The Batesville country singer-songwriter has just released her fourth album, Bigger Than Life. The independent artist releases her albums and distributes them through the website CDBaby.com. Cochran has garnered the attention and support of Nashville pro Kent Wells, a longtime country session player and noted producer of Dolly Parton.
"After I met Kent Wells in 2010, that's when things really took place for me," Cochran says. "I approached him about my dream for music. He asked me what I wanted to do with the song I had given him and I told him I was hoping Dolly Parton would record it. He asked me why I didn't sing it; he said, 'It's never too late.' I turned that phrase and experience into a song."
That song, "It's Never Too Late," became the title of her first album; Wells has produced all of Cochran's recordings.
While Cochran doesn't have the support of a major Nashville label, she is hardly keeping her songs or her music ability to herself. Country music is currently in thrall to young male singers such as Luke Bryan, yet Cochran has picked up praise with her throwback sound.
"Her warm, resonant alto is super compelling. [She is] vibrantly listenable," critic and author Robert K. Oermann wrote in Music Row Magazine. Jerry Proctor, music/program director for WTYS AM-FM in Marianna, Fla., adds, "It has been a long time since I heard a true 'country artist,' but Debbie has a sound that reminds me of the days of Dottie West, Donna Fargo. She has a soulful country sound that is very radio friendly."
Nashville stars have a horde of paid helpers -- from backing band members and songwriters to stylists -- at their beck and call. Cochran has one main musical assistant.
"My husband, Elmer, was the owner of the Ideal Bread company here," Cochran says. "When he retired, he has become my roadie. We have a mobile home and we travel to various places for shows."
Cochran also credits her husband of 21 years for giving her dreams of being a country singer a big boost when he built her a stage to sing on.
"We own a historic building in downtown Batesville," Cochran says. "We renovated it in 1994. Before, we had it as a gift shop, a Bible bookstore and then we turned [it into] this theatre, the Simply Southern Playhouse Music Theatre. He built a little stage area so I could perform and pretend I was on the [Grand Ole ] Opry. We use it for local shows about once a month. That started me seriously recording songs."
Cochran is scheduled to perform at the theater, at 201 E. Main St., on Aug. 8. Admission is $5 at the door.
The hope of being a country singer has always "been in the back of my mind," says the former Arkla Gas (now CenterPoint Energy) employee. Each year she has done her best to understand as much about music as possible and to perform whenever possible.
"We built elaborate floats and I'd perform my songs while on the float," Cochran says. "I took dulcimer lessons over in Mountain Home. I took bass guitar lessons. I have a degree in music theory. We'd be at a vacation on the beach and I'd be in there in the condo and trying to turn my homework in."
Cochran says the subject of her songs comes of out of everyday experiences. She considers herself a country artist, but her Christian faith comes through on many of the songs. So she has made some waves in gospel music circles, too. She was given an honorable mention in the 2014 New Artist Search presented by Singing News, the largest Christian music publication in the country.
"Yes, some songs come to me as country," Cochran says. "And then I say a prayer and it comes to me as gospel. These songs are not praise and worship songs but instead they are about what we lean on to make it through our daily life. I sing about growing up and life circumstances, but every album of mine has what I would consider gospel songs on it."
The Alabama-born Cochran says her grandmother played piano and organ and sang regularly in church.
"There were a number of gospel singers in my mother's family, some of them toured and wrote songs," Cochran says. "I remember my aunt Pearl playing the piano so hard I thought she might break it!"
Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton are major inspirations, she says.
"I especially like the songs that tell about their younger years, like Loretta's 'Coal Miner's Daughter' and Dolly's 'Coat of Many Colors,'" Cochran says.
Cochran knows that the odds are long of her sharing a stage with the 20-something stars of country music. She holds on tight to her dream and is constantly surprised at her own progress.
"I would love to be able to sing on the Grand Ole Opry," Cochran says. "I may never get there but it's a goal to work toward. That's part of the dream. You don't know what the dream will become if you don't work at it. I have met so many wonderful people along the way. I am building my dream as I go."
Cochran and her husband have, between them, two children and six grandchildren who she says "get excited and kinda into it" when Cochran performs.
"I hope my experience will inspire them to never give up on a dream," she says.
"I'd say that to everyone ... and I'd tell 'em it's never too late."
For more information: CDbaby.com, debbiecochran.com. Simply Southern Playhouse Music Theater has a page on Facebook.
Ellis Widner contributed to this report.
Style on 07/20/2014