Country California

With latest single “There Is a God” beginning to gain traction at country radio, Lee Ann Womack is aiming to speed her rise to the top with the release of an alternate God-free version in select markets, including California and New York.

“I think people are taking the religious message of the original a little too strongly from my own mouth,” says Womack. “The point wasn’t to tell people what to believe, but rather to demonstrate that, despite lip service to the contrary, I am still very willing to acquiesce to the demands of country radio programmers by recording totally mindless drivel by popular Nashville tunesmiths. I love real, traditional country music, but a girl’s gotta eat, too.”

She added: “Whether there is or isn’t a God is beside the point. What matters is that radio programmers in many areas of the country think there is a God, and are eager to spin anything that supports their own worldview, regardless of how poor the song’s internal logic might be. By the way, you don’t have any readers in red states, do you? Whew, dodged a bullet there.”

The new version of the song will be made available to stations on both coasts, with the original pro-God version being pulled entirely in heathenish hotspots New York and California. “We feel it would be career suicide for Lee Ann to go on the record as a Christian in those markets,” said Womack’s husband and confidant, record producer Frank Liddell. “If pressed, she can mumble something about being a ’spiritual’ person – whatever that means – but the name of Christ must be avoided at all costs. It’s a total turnoff for the hippies.”

“There Is No God” is already earning rave reviews from the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times, with both publications commending Womack for taking a chance on a country song with lyrics like “Believe in God if you must, but at least let’s be sensible/Refuting evolution is sort of indefensible.” “Not since Sugarland’s cover of ‘Love Shack’ has country music spoken so directly to the heart of San Francisco,” editorialized the Chronicle.

Readers should take care not to confuse the Womack edit with the other “There Is No God,” the Marilyn Manson duet set to appear on Martina McBride’s next studio album.