'Redneck Woman' does it all

She is a single mother of 10-year-old Grace, runs her own record label, writes music and is on the road with Big & Rich's Xtreme Muzik The Tour, which pulls into Kino Sports Complex on Saturday. The tour has taken her across the country since early June and won't let up until late this month.

She has a handful of solo shows, then she plans to spend the fall in full-time writing mode - five days a week, seven hours a day.

So when we asked to speak with Wilson, her representatives said we'd have 10 minutes on the phone. We snuck in a couple extra minutes and crammed in every question we could think of to bring her fans up to date on the 38-year-old Grammy-winning singer.

What's it like being back on the road with John Rich and Kenny Alphin?

"It's more fun than I even thought it was going to be. ... It's amazing after a few years of not having played together of being up there again, just seeing the guys having fun with each other. They kind of took a few years off from it."

When they took that hiatus, did you think that was it?

"I don't know that any of us knew what was going to happen. I think we thought that they thought it had run its course and they had other plans. I think John wanted to try doing some stuff on his own. Kenny wanted to do some stuff on his own. They both were getting married and having babies. They really just needed a little bit of life, kind of step away from it for a few years. I think that's what really gave them the appreciation to really want it back, to miss it enough."

When you started this tour, was it like picking up where you left off?

"I never really stopped touring. I've been out there doing my thing the whole time. But to have them back out again, it feels like it did five years ago when we did the last Muzik Mafia tour. Only the difference between then and now, I think it was too chaotic back then. There wasn't enough organization going on. There was too many of us in the Mafia trying to do the tour. I feel like this is everything the Mafia had to offer that was cool, but the difference is it is very professional and organized."

What's the show like?

"It's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime concert. I know I've never seen another three acts get together (with one band) and do it this way ... without any intermissions or pauses or breaks. From the time we start to the time it's over, we're all on stage at the same time for two hours. No breaks. No changing of sets or any of that stuff."

Last year you added record label executive to your résumé. What were you thinking?

"I was thinking that I was really tired of not knowing the people working on my career. I felt like I needed to have a little more hands-on and I needed to know what was going on. … On my first (self-recorded) album (2010's 'I Got Your Country Right Here'), I had two Top 20 hits and two Grammy nominations. For my debut project on my own little bitty record company, I don't think I could ask for more."

When can we expect the follow-up?

"Hopefully in March."

Ever since you emerged with "Redneck Woman," you've bucked the family-friendly Nashville trend.

"That's not reality. Aren't you tired of hearing that? I don't know whose world that is. That's why I wrote 'Redneck Woman,' because all I could hear on the radio at the time was rainbows and flowers and everything's beautiful and this kiss and blah, blah, blah, blah. That's not my life. I don't know whose life that is, but it's not mine."

Are you where you want to be?

"Personally, absolutely. Professionally, I think I've got a little work to do. ... I wish I were considered a little more mainstream on country radio. For eight years I've been trying to figure out their pattern. If I hand them something that sounds like 'Redneck Woman,' they go, 'You've already done this'. If I hand them 'I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today,' they go, 'This just doesn't sound like you. Where is that 'Redneck Woman'? ... Sometimes it has to come down to the music. When the music is that good that nobody can deny it, really you don't have to talk about it; it's just that good."

What are you going to do once the tour ends?

"I think I'm going to be most looking forward to hanging out (with daughter Grace) and being the regular soccer mom, getting a little more involved in Grace's schedule."