Misty Armour

As her fluid, emotive alto voice wraps itself around you, an image of Misty on horseback driving cattle in Wyoming is the last thing that comes to mind. The femininity of her flowing, raven hair, translucent skin, and soulful dark eyes makes it hard to imagine her in rodeo arenas and semi trucks. Charmed by her sharp intellect and quick wit during comfortable conversation, it’s quite a contrast to think of her pouring drinks and humoring drunks in a noisy Music City honky-tonk. Misty’s life is rich with these contrasts, and it’s this depth of experience that characterizes her music.
Misty’s home life bred her versatility. Her father was a blue collar country boy, Army veteran, a 6’4” gentle giant. Her mother was from the country club set, a Type A personality, lots of flash in a 4’11” frame. They owned a trucking company. Her business-savvy mom ran the company while the kids were at school. But Misty loved her dad’s side of the business. Every chance she got, Misty rode with him on the routes that ran through rural California. “I couldn’t wait to get away from the city. Up in that big rig with my dad, I didn’t have a care in the world. There was nothing better than to be on the open road, watch the farmers in the fields, be where everybody knew each other and helped each other out. That was where the lyrics of my favorite songs came alive. We sang along with The Hag, Don Williams, Charlie Rich, Ronnie Milsap, Emmylou Harris, Crystal Gayle, and Barbara Mandrell. Those artists and those times built my inner musical landscape.”
Misty was born and raised in San Jose, California. “I grew up in a California city; there was nothing country about it. My high school was right out of the movie ‘Clueless.’ There were maybe three of us in the whole school who wore Wranglers and boots. My friends nicknamed me Yee Haw. Some people are born into that lifestyle. For me, it was a choice.”
Misty and her sister Randi formed a country duo called “Sister Heartache,” and played the circuit of fairs, festivals, community events, horse shows, and rodeos. “My mom drove us all over the state! She always supported our dreams, and taught us to follow our hearts even when fear of the unknown was knocking.” Misty always knew she wanted to sing for a living, but her mom helped her understand what it would take to make that a vocation. “She told me there are two words in ‘music business’…that more is required than simply a love of music. For every successful artist, there are lots of people whose 9 to 5 is to help put that artist in front of an audience. You better understand what they do.”
To learn what was necessary to compete in the music industry, Misty decided to attend Belmont University in Nashville. To pay for college, Misty turned to the Miss America Pageants. She won Miss San Mateo County, and went on to compete in Miss California. Her pageant ambitions had nothing to do with ego. “It was about the scholarship money, and the opportunity for growth as a performer. I approached pageant competition with the attitude needed to excel in a job.” In two years, she made enough to move to Nashville and start at Belmont.
Although Misty was one among thousands converging on Music City to follow their dreams, she quickly found her place above the crowd. Bartending at night to pay for school, she sang wherever she found an open mic, sat in with friends, and was soon playing solo gigs. She caught the attention of Jody Maphis, one of Nashville’s most-recorded instrumentalists, who joined Misty as guitarist and band leader. She became a regular at the Fiddle and Steel on famed Printer’s Alley. Jody introduced Misty to his mother, the great Rose Lee Maphis; she and her late husband Joe, wrote the ‘60’s honky-tonk classic, “Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and Loud, Loud Music).” Rose Lee’s encouragement gave Misty both a sense of belonging to Nashville and a connection to the origins of the music she loves. For a while, she took a second foray into two-part harmony when she and Sherilyn Phillips formed the duo, Scarlett Ribbon. Their popularity sparked a CD project produced by singer-songwriter Preston Coley, and attracted label attention.
“It’s finding your center between music and your personal life that will determine your success. I get impatient with myself, but realistically, I’ve made good progress with my music in Nashville, especially since it seems I’ve done it in fits and starts.” After getting her music business degree, Misty married her husband Chris, a Marine who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Also, she joined the staff at Tennessee Donor Services, the primary organ procurement organization for the state. Organ donation had become her personal cause when it touched the lives of two close friends. Misty developed the volunteer program for TDS, and supervised a large volunteer group in Nashville. She was instrumental in the research and development of Tennessee’s online Organ and Tissue Donor Registry, launched in 2008. She recently left the organization, a difficult decision because of her belief in the mission of saving lives through organ donation. But finding her center means focusing on her mission for her music.
“I’m looking for a home on an independent label that believes in country music, and signs artists that don’t fit anyone else’s mold. I’m the only me there’ll ever be, and I want my music to reflect that. I want my music to change people from the inside out, not simply entertain them. I believe music can renew, heal, and inspire.”
Just a few bars into the first track on her latest CD project, and you believe it, too.
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