NASHVILLE, Tenn. –

Country singer Lee Ann Womack sticks with the lush pop sound of her breakthrough hit, “I Hope You Dance,” on her new single (and title cut) from “Something Worth Leaving Behind,” her first album in two years.

The strings swirl while Womack again waxes inspirational. “I’ll probably never hold a brush/ That paints a masterpiece,” she sings in the Top 20 country hit. “But if I will love then I will find/ That I have touched another life/ And that’s something/ Something worth leaving behind.”

Released Aug. 20, the recording gives Womack, who grew up the daughter of a country music disc jockey in Texas, a jump on her competition. Faith Hill and Shania Twain are set to release new albums this fall.

“I know I’m being counted on to deliver something really good,” said Womack, 36. “I guess you could say I felt that pressure, but I’ve felt pressure every time I’ve gone in to record. I always want to hit that home run.”

Though not in the sales league of Twain and Hill, Womack proved herself a contender with “I Hope You Dance,” a smash country and crossover hit in 2000 that pushed sales of the “I Hope You Dance” album to more than 3 million.

Question 1: Why are you doing this elaborate pop sound when “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” has made old-time country hip again?

Womack: (Laughs.) That is so like me. When everyone else is doing one thing, I turn around and do the exact opposite. I was doing that older style of music on my first two records. … So I’ve done that, and I’ll do it again. But I wasn’t about to do that now. I don’t like to see people jump on the bandwagon.

Question 2. Your new album has touches of ’70s R&B, Texas roots music and that “I Hope You Dance” big pop sound. Do you find yourself easily bored?

Womack: No, it’s not that. … I look at careers like Willie Nelson or Linda Ronstadt. These artists can go out and just do a completely different kind of album, like Linda did with the Spanish album, and then the Nelson Riddle records. I would like to be able to make a lot of different styles of music over the course of my career.

Question 3. “When You Gonna Run to Me” sounds like pure Philly soul. Were you a ’70s disco queen?

Womack: Oh good, I’m glad I pulled it off enough that you would say that. But I have to honestly say that I listened mainly just to country. But that sound and that style of music was so huge – the Bee Gees and all that sort of thing – you couldn’t really be alive in this country and escape it totally. That song really takes me back to that time.

Question 4. How do you feel about slugging it out with Shania Twain and Faith Hill in the stores this fall?

Womack: I think we have different fan bases. I think that I’ve not had any trouble holding my own up to this point, so hopefully I won’t now. I also have another record coming out this year, a Christmas record. They explained to me how a seasonal record wouldn’t compete with a regular album. I hope they’re right.

Question 5. Is it hard balancing a singing career with being the mother of two daughters?

Womack: Yes, it is. Just on the way over here … to do these interviews, my oldest daughter called … and there was just something in her voice. I could really tell that she wanted me home. So that’s hard. But I could be going to my job doing anything and have that happen. I consider myself as being like a lot of other working moms.Womack stays with pop sound on recent release