Lee Ann Womack returns after 3-year hiatus

But when Womack began recording the follow-up in 2006, something didn't feel right.

"I wasn't sure if my heart and my mind and everything were all in the right place. I changed my mind a lot and was overthinking things. We put a single out and it wasn't performing that well, and I was frustrated and tired."

She wound up scrapping the project last year and taking time off to regroup.

Now, the 42-year-old singer is releasing the album she says she wanted to make all along, "Call Me Crazy."

"The time I spent writing, looking for songs and meeting with Tony (producer Tony Brown) felt so effortless and natural," said Womack, who arrived for a recent interview in a black Mercedes and cradling two Yorkshire terriers.

This isn't the first time she's taken a break between records. There was also a three-year gap between her 2002 release, "Something Worth Leaving Behind," and "There's More Where That Came From."

She said she needs the time at home with her daughters, aged 17 and 9, and her husband, producer Frank Liddell, to recharge.

During her hiatus, she learned some Spanish--"poquito" she says holding her thumb and index finger a smidgen apart--worked on her guitar playing ("I get jealous sometimes when I see someone like Vince (Gill) play really well") and spent a lot of time writing songs.

"I had a sense that the work she did last year was not particularly inspired," said Luke Lewis, chairman of Universal Music Group Nashville, which includes Womack's MCA label. "She sat back and waited and did it again. I've got so much trust in her and her instincts. She knows when she's ready and when she's not."