RISING STAR STRIVES TO MAKE MARK ON MUSIC WORLD

Singer Mark Collie says music is like an addiction to him: He can't imagine it not being a part of his life.

"I've always been really excited by music," he said. "As a kid, I really didn't understand what most of the songs were about, but they just stirred something in me. As I grew up, music became a big part of my life."

Collie is performing as the opening act for Ricky Van Shelton and Patty Loveless Sunday at the Show Me Center. The show begins at 7 p.m.; tickets are still available.

As an up-and-coming country star, Collie says what he most wants in his career is to make a contribution to country music by doing something people will remember.

"I'd like to make a few records that will last awhile, something people will want to hear for a long time," he said.

His roots in country music go back a long way.

Not yet a teenager when he wrote his first song, Collie joined his first band when he was 12 years old.

"I've really played all different kinds of music," Collie said. "I've been in a church quartet, all-day sings on Sundays, and sometimes they'd follow all-night Saturday night shows at beer joints. I had a pretty wide education and lots of hands-on experience."

He said when he first started writing songs he didn't know much about the guitar. He started making up songs using only the chords he knew how to play.

But as time went on he realized there was much more to the art of songwriting.

"I realized you have to work hard and craft songs to be successful," he said.

His first album, Hardin County Line, was released in 1988. He begins work on his next album later this month.

The Waynesboro, Tenn., native said he's been attempting to write songs for the new album since Thanksgiving.

"With the success of the first record, finding time to write is the hardest thing," he said. "Personally, I have to get into a different frame of mind to write. I need to go to the country, forget about being a recording artist and think about writing songs."

He said before he became successful he wrote 25 to 30 songs a year. Now he said he's lucky to find the time to write half that many.

A title for the new album is yet to be determined, he said.

The thing he loves most about music is hard to explain, he said.

"Just hearing a lyric or a line in a song that seems to speak right too me and sort of raises the hairs on the back of my neck; that's the kind of thing that first influenced me about music," he said. "I guess I got hooked on it very early."

And from an early age, Collie said he knew he wanted to be a successful singer.

"I always felt that if I worked hard and applied myself I thought I could have a chance as a writer," he said. "I'm very lucky that I'm now a writer and performer."

Collie wrote or co-wrote all the songs on his first album.

Writing songs is a unique way to express a wide spectrum of feelings, he said.

"Music is good to relax to, to party to, good to cry to," he said. "It's given a lot to me, and I'd like to give something back."