Keith: How long have you been in music?

Cindy: Well, when I was 3 I began singing at church. I started singing before I could read. I remember how frustrating it was for me to try to memorize the words to Away In A Manger. Mom was very patient in teaching me the words. I was so scared to get up in front of everyone, but when I finished I remember so many people telling me what a nice voice I had. Whether they really meant it or not, it doesn’t matter, it really encouraged me. Later when I was 10 I took up the saxophone and became bored with the band at school. My family had formed a rock-a-billy band called The Woodsmen and Dad promised if I learned how to play some of their songs he’d pay me $25 and then I could start performing in the band, so I did.

Keith: You have gospel and musical roots in your family don’t you?

Cindy: Yes, I recently found out that about four generations ago a relative, James Milton Black wrote When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder a famous gospel song. My great, great grandfather Thomas Lewis and his brothers were Welsh fiddlers and my great grandmother Eleanor Green was a gospel musician playing banjo, piano and accordion. My Father plays keyboard, accordion and guitar. My Mother sings, plays omnichord (like a modern autoharp), and piano. Even though my Mother has been ill lately and has arthritis in her hands she never complains about playing piano faithfully at church.

Keith: What inspires your songwriting?

Cindy: Some songs are taken from my own feelings or things that have happened to me. I get asked a lot if I was an abused child because I wrote Hear Our Cry but that was taken from feelings that I had when I saw a news report about a little girl who was thrown down the stairs and tragically died by her Mother’s boyfriend. On the other hand, I went through a painful divorce which inspired Mary and other songs. I used the name Mary because it means bitterness and it just fits. Mr. Wrong was inspired by true events after my divorce in my search for a new partner. In fact, that was the first song I wrote. I was at a local club listening to my brother Woody performed and a 70 year-old man kept asking me to dance. When he hit on me that was too much.

Keith: I know you are getting nationwide radio play that's difficult to do especially without a label, but tell me how did you get worldwide exposure?

Cindy: Really, I’m not quite sure. I don’t know all the places it’s being aired, but I’ve received fanmail from Canada, England, and as far as Romania. I got a letter from a girl in Romania who purchased my music on the blackmarket. She said they brought it over through neighboring countries through contraband. It really shocked me.

Keith: The blackmarket, really? Well, how do feel about MP3’s on the internet?

Cindy: Well, that just hurts the big record labels. My opinion is music is there for everyone to enjoy and if someone can’t afford to buy it then I’d rather know they could hear it one way or another. I have made these singles available in public libraries in all 50 states.

Keith: Where do you hope to be a year from now and where do hope to be ten years from now?

Cindy: A year from now I hope to have a top 40 single. Ten years from now, I hope to have a gold or platinum album.

Keith: Well, thank you for your time, Cindy. Do you have anything to say to your fans out there?

Cindy: I just hope they all enjoy my music now and in the future. I want them all to feel free to write me at my fan club. God bless and keep you safe.