Nashville-based Shantell Ogden was originally from Utah and raised on a family farm. She has been touring in the UK and Ireland as well as the US, opening for major country artists, and playing in festivals such as Americana Fest, CMA Fest, and Tin Pan South.
Shantell’s songs have been played on radio stations in the US and Europe, gaining chart positions internationally, and have been featured in television shows like Hart of Dixie and in more than a dozen feature films.
Shantell was inspired to write “Breaking Something Wild” when she was on tour and in a relationship that seemed to be controlling. She said, I kept thinking, 'I need to stay strong and remember who I am' and that was the idea that became the story of a cowgirl with an unbreakable spirit."
“Breaking Something Wild” opens with a guitar and fiddle, then Shantell’s clear voice shines through. The story tells of a horse wrangler trying to train a colt, then shifts to a young woman who is as free as the Montana sky. The same cowboy wants to rope her smile because he’s breaking something wild.
That cowgirl tornado got dust on her halo
And just dare me, dreams of a child
That innocent thunder, you can’t take it from her
Breaking something wild, breaking something wild
The fiddle stays in the foreground of the music, while Shantell uses different singers on the harmonies. That organic sound makes the lyrics seems more authentic, a little more “country.”
The second verse describes their new relationship, how she pulls aways and he pulls her back close to him. Shantell uses the analogy of tightening the reins when he doesn’t want to give her too much space between them. He’s still breaking something wild.
After the second chorus, the theme switches to her perspective during the bridge, when Shantell sings that she left the gate open when she left, because you can’t hold a spirit in a fence.
Unlike a colt, you can’t tame a woman who’s a tornado. But it’s fun to remember that somewhere, there is a cowboy who’s trying to be “Breaking Something Wild.”
Click here to listen to “Breaking Something Wild”
Song Credits:
Writers: Shantell Ogden, Bill Diluigi
Source: Hip Farm Chic Records
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