Rita Wilson’s new album, Sound of a Woman, is out. The record, Wilson’s sixth, is a deeply personal project, anchored by the title track, which Wilson wrote with Amy Wadge.

“We were just talking about what it’s like to be able to use your voice,” Wilson tells Everything Nash. “And sometimes how our voices are muted, so that we can’t use our voice, or we choose not to use our voice. And we were like, ‘What is the sound of a woman really?’ We wrote that first song, and when we wrote it, we really thought there was so much on the subject of not just being a woman, but these different phases of life that females experience, coming into the world.

“All the different stages,” she continues. “All the different labels that are assigned to us, and how we sort of become who we are over the course of our lifetime. And the person that you are when you’re 20 is very different than the person you are when you’re 40, or when you’re 60. So it was really a desire to explore that in a truthful way.”

 

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Rita Wilson Shares the Personal Story Behind “Marriage” From ‘Sound of a Woman’

Wilson has been married to her husband, Tom Hanks, since 1988. It makes the inclusion of “Marriage” on Sound of a Woman an important one.

“Marriage is not one entity, because the people in the marriage are not just one entity,” Wilson reflects. “I was different at 20. I was different at 40. I’m different at 60, and same with my husband. The trick is to be able to grow within that period of time, so that each person is still growing with the other, and allowing the other person to change and to grow, and not being stuck in any sort of patterns or identities that don’t apply to you anymore. Think about what you thought marriage was when you were 20,  and then think about it again when you’re 40.

“And then, if you’re lucky enough to be in a long-term marriage like myself, then it changes again,” she adds. “It changes again, and it’ll keep changing. So I think that’s what keeps it exciting.”

Why Rita Wilson Released ‘Sound of a Woman’

Wilson traces her music career at least partially back to hit songwriter Kara DioGuardi, who encouraged Wilson that as long as she had something to say, she could be a songwriter. The conversation opened up a creative floodgate that Wilson is still tapping into, years later. Already a talented actress, Wilson enjoys the creative outlet that music offers her.

“It shifted it to this, ‘Oh yes, I can say something. I have something to say. I want to have something to say and say it,'” Wilson explains. “I wouldn’t call it so much a pivot as it is more of an opening up to a part of me that has always been there, but I just didn’t know how to make it happen. I know that sounds weird, because I’ve been able to do other things. But it’s also the thing that feels the most personal to me, and the most vulnerable. When I started songwriting, sometimes I would just go into sessions and just cry because everything was making me emotional. Everything that was being played in the room that was being discussed in the room was so pure.”

There are a lot of similarities between being an actress and a musical artist. But there are also many differences, which is why Wilson is so drawn to music.

“I feel like I had the best writers that were welcoming me into this sacred space of saying, ‘You’re welcome here,'” Wilson acknowledges. “And that felt very different, and that felt like I can be myself. In acting, there’s so much that you’re playing other people, and you’re saying other people’s words. You’re creating characters, and that’s a different art form. But songwriting is extremely personal. You are digging deep, in a way, because it ends up being your own words and your own melodies, and how things resonate within you. It’s a different experience.”

Wilson is kicking off a City Winery Tour on June 11 in Boston, with stops in New York City, Philadelphia, Nashville, and more. Find her music and tour dates at RitaWilson.com.