Top New Country Songs: Where Would Your Heart Be by Tonja Rose

Today's Top New Country Songs article takes a look at Where Would Your Heart Be and its very talented singer Tonja Rose. The first thing that caught my eye was the spelling of her first name Tonja, I had never seen it before so I was obviously intrigued. However once I played one of her songs I became more intrigued with her beautiful voice and was wondering how I have never heard of her before.

In order to find out more about her I went to TonjaRose.com which is a very well laid out site and you can listen to her songs as you browse her site which I think is wonderful for an up and coming country music artist. Tonja originates from Pinetown, NC and at the age of 3 began traveling and singing gospel with her father at nearby churches. She continued singing throughout the East Coast area until 2000 when she took that leap of faith and moved to Nashville.  She immediately began singing in the Nashville’s top spots and developing her songwriting skills working with some of the brightest new country songwriters around.

Tonja signed with Identical Entertainment in 2008 and then digitally released The Heart of Me her debut album in late 2009. In my opinion this album has several wonderful songs and I'm totally amazed that I hadn’t heard of them but I'm pretty sure that soon they will be filling the airwaves, beginning with Where Would Your Heart Be. If this album gets the airplay it deserves I honestly believe it will go gold.

According to Tonja Where Would Your Heart Be originated during a writing session between Deanna Harper and Greg Johnson. The two were feeling down due to not having seen much positive results from their recent writing sessions and Greg commented about looking at other career options. Immediately Deanna replied, “But where would your heart be if you did something else”, instantly they both knew they had their next song. They asked Tonja to sing the demo and after hearing it she fell in love with it as she told me, “That was my story...my song”.

The Heart of Me

Featured song Where Would Your Heart Be

It begins with an upbeat kick butt guitar riff that I was quite frankly not expecting based on the title of the song and having heard other songs on Tonja’s website. The song does a wonderful job of transitioning from the guitar riff into the vocals which Tonja nails from the first note to the last. The lyrics are perfect for Tonja's beautiful voice which reminds me very much of Martina McBride which in my eyes is the ultimate praise for a female country singer of today. Throughout the song the lyrics reference where would your heart be if you weren’t following your dreams. It's an upbeat, uplifting song that I found quite enjoyable and liked it more each time I listened to it which is probably a total of 30-40 times so far. Having talked with Tonja by email on several occasions I have found her to be charming, witty and extremely nice young woman, character traits that makes her instantly likable and you come away feeling like she is a friend. What Would Your Heart Do is available as a MP3 download at iTunes and Amazon for $0.99. In my opinion it is a great value as you get a truly wonderful new country song that you haven't heard a thousand times plus you are helping boost a very talented singer’s career, all for under a buck. Also please don’t forget to call your local country station and request the song to help build airplay for this tremendously talented performer.

Other Songs on The Heart of Me

Room Without A View

Starts off with a beautiful soft piano opening which allows you to feel the full effect of Tonja's amazing voice when the vocals kick in. The song is a perfect blend of melody, strong lyrics and a wonderful vocal performance of a song that touches on how a young woman fought to keep her relationship going as shown in some of the lyrics below.

I changed my hair, my clothes

Because I thought that was what he wanted

Then I think of all the friends I have given up

He changed the way I thought

Loving him was like living in a room without a view

As I said totally impressive song and it's actually my favorite on the album as I think it captures the real life experience that everyone has felt in a relationship at some time in their life when they gave everything they had to try and keep a relationship going even though they weren’t truly happy. For me capturing a true life experience is at the heart of a real country song.

Who I Am, Aint Who I Was

To start with I loved the title because it uses “aint”, to me a real country word that I have used n a number of songs I’ve written so this song started off with a good feeling from me. Who I Am, Aint Who I Was has a nice country soft tempo and melody and Tonja controls her vocals to prevent them from being overpowering in the song. The lyrics deal with feelings someone has after being baptized and when they realized they are not the same person they were before the baptism but they understand they are not perfect after the water washed away their sin. My favorite line is “still more sinner than a saint” as it shows how even after being baptized a person is not perfect, something I think a number of overly religious people sometime forget.

The Heart of Me and its individual singles are available on iTunes and Amazon so check them out; I'm betting you will soon be a fan of this wonderful singer from Pinetown, NC. Don’t forget to request Where Would Your Heart Be at your local country stations TODAY.