PW: What was your reaction when you found out people like Taylor Dane, Sheila E. and Justin Guarini were your competition?
Tara: My first thought was that I had no idea who any of them were. I know that sounds bad, but I’m not good with names. One I heard them sing and realized who they were, it was scary. Like, what had I gotten myself into. But they pushed me to be better.
PW: The show is all about writing a country song — typically those are pain-filled, right?
Tara: Yeah, it’s all about the song and what we put into the song. I have so many things to pull from, so many different experiences to use in writing this song.
PW: Does it make you nervous to put yourself back out into the public eye?
Tara: I was more ready to let people see what’s going on with me. I’m an open book, I have nothing to hide. I’ve been through my share of ups and downs, but I’ve grown so much from that. But I think people’s perception of me is so different from who I really am. I’m a lot nicer, a lot sweeter and a lot more wholesome than people seem to think. This was a great opportunity to show off the real me.
PW: Do you see a future for yourself in country music, regardless of how the show turns out?
Tara: I would hope that I have a long-term career. I have been working with my vocal coach and recording a couple if tracks. I’m trying to do this right, start from the ground up. I just want to jump into this because I love it — if it works out, great. If it doesn’t, at least I tried.
PW: Not only are you competing on the show, but also living with the rest of the cast — did you all get along?
Tara: OK, here’s the thing — on the show, they end up calling me Mary bleeping Sunshine. But the truth is, I don’t have a mean bone in my body. There might be some roommate drama, but it ends up being hilarious. We end up becoming like a family, with all the typical family problems.
PW: It is true that you’re writing a book, too?
Tara: I was working on it, but the thing is, I’m 23 years old. I’m still growing. Ultimately I want my book to be of service to anyone because my experiences have been so crazy, but it’s still a work in progress. I just hit 2 years sober, so I want to have a little more sobriety under my belt and a little more wisdom before I start saying, “here’s the story of my life.”
PW: This is your second reality TV experience — after “Pageant Place” — have you gotten used to being filmed?
Tara: With “Pageant Place” it was a pain in the rear because I wasn’t used to have a camera in my face. But with this show, it isn’t made to create drama. It’s not built to put you down so I wasn’t worried that the producers were doing things to make me look bad.
PW: So I was a “PP” watcher and I’m wondering what your relationship with Katie Blair [her former BFF and 2006’s Miss Teen USA who tattled about Tara’s drug and alcohol abuse] is like today?
Tara: Katie and I are friends today. She and Josh broke up
PW: Well, anyone who watched the show knew that was coming!
Tara: [laughs] Yeah. She’s dating this really cute guy named Doug now and she lives near me in LA. We have such a strong connection because of everything we went through together — so many ups and downs. She’s growing and I’m growing and at the end of the day we just have to let bygones be bygones and try to coexist in the world.
“Gone Country” airs Saturdays at 8 p.m. on CMT.