Growing up in Ft. Worth , Texas , Cynda Bennett was surrounded by the sounds of country music—“Country was always on the radio….everybody watched HEE HAW on Saturday night…even with all the rock-n-roll that was played at our Friday school dances, we wouldn’t go home until we’d heard 'Cotton-Eyed Joe' and 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia .'”  One might think with this kind of environmental backdrop, combined with the fact that Cynda played guitar & piano and sang in the church youth group & school choir, that becoming a country singer might have been a childhood dream; but this was not the case for Cynda.

“For the longest time, I was actually very shy & quiet, and getting up in front of people to perform—though I did do it occasionally through school or church—absolutely scared me to death! I couldn’t even begin to entertain the notion of performing all the time.”  The youngest daughter of a preacher and a nurse, Cynda finished school, moved to Missouri and became engaged to be married, yet still had no aspirations for singing country music. In fact, with the exception of her pending marriage, Cynda was rather undecided as to what direction her life would take. 

Until one fated day when her best friend, visiting from Texas, loaned her a Patsy Cline tape.  The passion and emotion in Cline’s voice struck a chord.  “I was so impressed with her…just blown away! I mean, I’d heard ‘Crazy’ a million times, but I’d never really listened to or appreciated the volume of her work.  Plus, at the time my friend gave me that cassette, my mom was losing her battle with breast cancer.   I guess the drama & tragedy in Patsy’s music was something that really hit home with me back then, and singing (then later, writing) became this huge emotional release for me.”

So she fought back her stage fright and started singing at a few of the local opry shows, where she made her first $10 as a singer—“I still have that ten-dollar bill!”   Cynda’s strong voice and range of singing style (that can embrace everything from traditional country, to power ballads, to even a little southern-fried blues) was well received and she soon landed herself a job as the lead singer in a country covers band.  It was a good fit. Cynda finally had her life’s direction.

A couple of years and dozens of honky-tonks later, Cynda and a few of her favorite musicians that she’d been working with decided to form their own band. This group, Missouri ’s AGAINST THE GRAIN, has stayed together for over 11 years, during which time, Cynda has been honing her skills as a songwriter, " …a real lesson in vulnerability," as she describes it.  "It can be very humbling (not to mention terrifying!) to put your thoughts & feelings out there for everyone to hear." 

One of Cynda’s favorite quotes about the craft of songwriting comes from the great Hank Williams, Sr. The story goes that someone had asked Hank the secret to writing a great song.   Mr. Williams dryly answered, “You gotta tell the truth …and make it rhyme.” 

The sentiment in that statement has been a driving force of sorts for Cynda, especially over the last year as she was writing & collecting songs for her new release.  “Whenever I felt stuck with my writing, I would try to focus on that quote of his, almost as if old Hank were whispering in my ear, coaching, ‘Tell the truth, baby!  Tell the truth.’ and that would usually get me back on track.”  “If nothing else, I think what I’m most proud of with this project is that I’ve tried to be very honest--with myself and the people and situations I’ve written about.  There’s a whole lot of ‘me’ in these songs.”  Hopefully, Hank is smiling.

With the tracks she has penned on her current self-titled CD, Cynda offers up creative lyrics and melodies that tell true life stories (“Widow’s Prayer”, “Ft. Worth Bound”), that are just for fun (“Go To Bed”, “Cowboy Up”), that describe the struggles within relationships (“Dark Side of Your Heart”, “Who Do You See?”) or that reveal the need for a little self-improvement (“Chill Pill”)—“There’s no shortage of writing material in THAT department!”, she jokes.

Still married and now the proud mother of a beautiful daughter, Cynda’s hope for her music is, “…that somebody, somewhere will hear something they can relate to.”   “I mean, isn’t that a songwriter’s mission (or any artist’s for that matter):  putting a voice to life’s common experience and sharing it?”  “Even if all someone gets from a song is a laugh & a smile, or a catchy beat that makes them tap their fingers on the steering wheel.  Just knowing you’ve given somebody something…that’s ‘IT’ in my book.”

And who knows, maybe that “somebody somewhere” might hear Cynda’s voice or the message in her songs and feel driven to make a powerful life-changing decision—just like a shy Ft. Worth girl did all those years ago listening to Patsy Cline.