Country music's Gretchen Wilson aims to launch Redneck Records label this fall

After what has been described as a "mutual" parting of the ways that was announced on Tuesday, country artist Gretchen Wilson has departed the Sony Nashville roster with big plans.

In a July 29 interview with The Associated Press, Wilson said her departure from Sony, where she became a country star in 2004 following her first No. 1, “Redneck Woman,” comes at a time when she's ready to move her music along at a speedier pace.

"I'm high strung," she told the AP via telephone. "I move fast, and I'm the kind of person who, when I start something, I don't like to walk away from it until I'm finished."

A native of Illinois, the now Nashville-based singer-songwriter said that since signing with Sony initially, only a handful of the label's staff are familiar to her.

"Today, maybe three or four of those original people I was working with (at Sony Nashville) are there," observed Wilson, 36. "It got to feeling like it wasn't my family anymore. I didn't feel as comfortable as I wanted to."

Today, the 2005 Grammy Award winner says she's taking all that she's learned over the past four-plus years and moving to create her own record label—one she hopes to dub, appropriately enough, Redneck Records.

"I'm on Cloud Nine," she shared with AP. "I can't wait to get moving and get started. It's really exciting to think how fast I can move and how quickly I can do things. I feel like I'm reborn."

The first in her family to complete her high-school education—something she did earlier this year—Wilson has moved from a childhood of poverty to platinum record sales, as well as ownership of Academy of Country Music and CMA Awards. And now, with her move to create her own label, Wilson will add entrepreneur to her list of accomplishments.