Wednesday Writing Spot – Cindy’s Jukebox

This Wednesday I am delighted to welcome the lovely Douglas McPherson. He has written a  number of romances including The Showman’s Girl, Closer!, and the country music based Nashville Cinderella under the pen name, Julia Douglas. I have to say the cover is absolutely beautiful, Douglas, or should I say, Julia? Over to you…

And actually we’re over to Cindy Coin. Because in this special guest post, the author interviews one of his characters – Cindy Coin, the country-singing heroine of Nashville Cinderella to pick five songs that would be on the sound-track if the book was made into a movie.

(“I guess Carrie Underwood could play me,” says Cindy, “And Taylor Swift could play Katie. As for Hank, Brad Pitt, definitely!”)

Jolene by Dolly Parton

Cindy says: “Dolly is my all-time heroine. I’ll never forget the day my mom and dad took me to one of her shows when I was five-years-old. We stood in line for hours afterwards to meet her and she was so gracious. Sadly, that’s one of the last memories I have of mom and dad. They were musicians and were killed in a tour bus wreck soon afterwards. I guess maybe that’s why I’ve always wanted to be a singer, to kinda feel closer to them.”

I Want Your Body Cowboy by Katie Carnegie

Cindy says: “Katie is the new kid in town and Hank, her manager and my ex, reckons she’s gonna be the biggest star in the world. I really hope she will be, because she’s a great friend of mine. But I can’t help remembering Hank saying the same thing about me – and I’ve been in Nashville for five years now, and I’m still waiting tables. The song was written by Tony, who’s the chef at Lulu’s, the diner where we both work on Lower Broadway. Tony and I share a house in East Nashville, the cheap side of town where all the musicians live, but it’s a strictly best-of-friends arrangement. Tony is like the brother I never had. Sometimes I think he’s more like one of my girlfriends than a guy. In fact, I teased him about how come he wrote such a girly song!”

On The Road Again by Willie Nelson

Cindy says: “Willie is such a sweetheart – the biggest star in the world, but so encouraging. Every year he blows through town and asks if I’ve got a record deal yet. “It’ll happen,” he keeps telling me, “Just remember, it all comes down to the song.” I wish I believed him, but sometimes when I see people like Katie and Hank getting on with their careers while I’m still working in Lulu’s, I feel I’ve been left behind, like a Nashville Cinderella.”

Missing You Miles by Texan Jack Dallas

Cindy says: “Tex is the Next Big Thing. He’s like Elvis and Johnny Cash rolled into one. Katie has fallen for him so bad, but the guy lives on a tour bus and when he’s away he never calls her. He asked me to sing duet with him on this song. It’s so obvious he wrote it about Katie, so why doesn’t he just come out and tell her how he feels? But, as Tony told me, if love ran smooth, who’d need country songs?”

What I’d Give by Cindy Coin

Cindy says: “Tony and Tex wrote this song and asked me to sing the demo. There’s a line that goes, ‘What I’d give to have a guy like that,’ and for some reason, without even knowing it, I sang, ‘What I’d give to have you back.’ I guess I was thinking about Hank, not that I’d ever admit that, but suddenly the tears were streaming down my face as I was singing. Tony and Tex kinda looked at each other and said, ‘You just turned this song into a hit.’ I thought they meant a hit for Katie, because she needs songs her album. But Tony was like, ‘No, Cindy, this is your hit.’ After all these years, it’s almost scary to get my hopes up, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

Thank you very much, Douglas for a refreshingly different guest post.

Nashville Cinderella by Julia Douglas is available to borrow from local libraries in a large print paperback edition (Linford) or to download as an ebook from Amazon and all major online bookstores.