Coming on the heels of the most successful album in her career, Lee Ann Womack should be riding high with a new album out and the title track near the top of the singles charts.

In fact, Womack, 36, seems conflicted between the art of making music and the need to enable her record company to wrack up boffo numbers at the cash register.

And instead of the constant touring grind, which so many artists must do to push their latest album, that's not going to be the case with Womack even though she is at a high point in her career.

In making "Something Worth Leaving Behind," the follow-up to the megaplatinum selling "I Hope You Dance," Womack says in a telephone interview from Nashville, "There was no big career strategy by any means."

But the Texan seems a bit on the restless side and comes off as being uncertain whether she wants to go through the same music making machinery in the near future.

"Was it hard finding those songs?" she says of the 13 on the disc, including two versions of the title track. "No, it wasn't a problem. It's trying to marry the stuff that I love and the commercial world that I find difficult. I've always felt that way."

"I'm always willing to try different things. I worked with three different producers on this and actually a fourth (for a song available only by buying a book, "Something Worth Leaving Behind").

Womack was looking for a cornerstone to the new album, much as "I Hope You Dance" was for her previous album.

The song, with Sons of the Desert contributing background vocals, was hugely successful.

A book spawned out of the song, a positive song about not letting life pass you by.

Womack had no doubts that the title song of the new recording was what she was looking for. "I knew that was the one," she says.

"Something Worth Leaving Behind" mines similar turf to "I Hope You Dance" in taking a look at the big picture. The title track, written by Brett Beavers and Tom Douglas, in its narrowest terms is about loving someone and leaving a mark on another's life. In broader terms, it cites Mozart, DaVinci and Jesus as people who left long-term marks on the world.

"I thought it was a great message," says Womack. "We're always hoping to do something that's worth leaving behind. We always want to make our mark and leave our legacy. I thought it was so poignantly said that you don't have to be Mozart or Leonardo DaVinci to leave our mark on the world. It's really the ordinary everyday people that make up the bulk of this world and what it is and what it becomes."

For Womack, the people who left their mark on her were her parents. Her father, Aubrey, was an educator in Jacksonville, Texas where they grew up and also played disc jockey at the local country radio stations KEBE and KOOI.

Womack recalled listening to him on the radio. Around town, he was something of a celebrity because everyone knew who he was. Folks like Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton visited the station, but Womack was too young to remember.

"I don't claim to have had a perfect (time) growing up," Womack says. "I would compare it somewhat to Mayberry. Things like honesty's the best policy. Things like hard work and honesty. Those are the things that I learned from my parents. Just real simple ways of looking at life."

Womack's love of country music persisted through high school. So much so that she wound up in a country music program at South Plains Junior College in Texas.

She attended school there and joined a group giving concerts.

But she soon was off to Nashville for Belmont College. Womack entered the music business program, learning about engineering, the nuts and bolts of copyright and sound.

And in a move that later would become fateful, she also interned at MCA Records. That was the only place Womack wanted to intern. She previously has described herself as having a "fascination" with the label that was home to folks like Lyle Lovett, George Strait, Steve Earle and Reba McEntire.

Womack hung in Nashville doing demos and some showcases of very traditional music. That led to a writing deal from Sony Tree Publishing and six months later a record deal with Decca, a part of MCA.

Womack released her first single in March 1997, a very traditional "Never Again, Again," which got her some airplay and in the lower 20s on the Billboard charts.

Most would think of that as not too shabby a start for a brand new artist.

But not Womack.

"It wasn't what you would exactly call radio friendly," says Womack of the song. "But it was what it was. It was what I loved. It went to 17 (on another chart) and died."

More than five years later, Womack still seems upset about the failure of the song to score big.

"Every once in awhile, I have a huge hit," says Womack. "Most of what we do doesn't zoom to number one and stay there."

Womack may be a tougher critic on herself that she should allow. In fact, her next two singles, both in 1997, - "The Fool" and "You've Got to Talk to Me" - both hit number 2.

When she went back to a more traditional sound with "Buckaroo," she didn't fare as well.

But she was at number 2 again the following year with the ballad "A Little Past Little Rock" and the more uptempo, fun sounding "I'll Think Of a Reason Later" from "Some Things I Know."

In 2000, Womack scored her greatest success with "I Hope You Dance," a career song for Womack. It stayed at the top of the charts for five weeks and won a Country Music Association award for single of the year.

The follow-up single "Ashes By Now" made it into the top five. Womack was touring heavily, opening for the likes of Alan Jackson.

All the effort managed to pay off with yet another award, female vocalist of the year in 2001 from the CMA.

Could Womack duplicate the success of an album that broke her as an artist and withstand the pressure?

Womack readily acknowledged feeling the squeeze. "The pressure I feel is how I deliver an album to the label that will be as commercially successful to the label and still satisfy me. That's the pressure I've felt from the first album."

In other words, there seems to be a dichotomy between the music that Womack loves - seemingly reflected in the more traditional honky tonk songs that she is comfortable with - and the more middle of the road music that is not exactly hard core country.

As to whether her fans understand what she's facing, Womack says, "I think they do. I feel more pressure of how we're going to get it (the music) to the fans. When you're on a major record label, the only way they know how to get it to the fans is on radio. I feel the pressure of satisfying my fans. I and I think my fans are more accustomed to the Buddy and Julie (Miller) and Bruce Robison style of songwriting. How do I please them and radio too?"

The Millers and Robison both are darlings of the edgy country crowd. Womack recorded songs from both previously - "Lonely Too" from Robison and "Does My Ring Burn Your Finger?" and "I Know Why the River Runs" from the Millers on "I Hope You Dance" and "Don't Tell Me" from "Some Things I Know."

This time out, Robison contributed "Blame It On Me," while Julie Miller penned the tough sounding "Orphan Train " and "I Need You."

The Miller songs clearly are tough sounding with a great deal of edge to Womack's voice, a far cry from her softer, more pop sounding songs.

"She'd already had cut one of my songs," says Robison in a phone interview from his Austin home. "But she's listening to my tunes. I thought that that was one that more commercial songs possibilities than most of the songs that I write. I sent it to her, and she liked it."

Womack says, "It's just one of those songs you listen to, and it breaks your heart. You can feel it."

But Robison's involvement didn't stop with writing the song. He sang harmony vocals as well.

"She's kind of a friend of mine, and he (Frank Liddell, the producer and Womack's husband) knows I'm a harmony singer," says Robison. "They called me about of the blue, and they asked me to come up there (to Nashville) and do it. I didn't ask any questions."

"Of all the people they could get, I was surprised, and I was happy, but I am a decent harmony singer. I sing a lot of harmonies, and I sing on (brother) Charlie's records, and it's just one of my things."

Womack says she enjoyed the experience. "It was one of the most pleasurable things I've done in making any of my records. Just because he's great at what he does, and I love working with people who are great at what they do."

Womack is well aware "Orphan Train" is different sounding and wanted to do it even though she figured her label would be scratching their heads.

The song has a spiritual quality about allowing the downtrodden to overcome their problems.

"I like the lyrics," says Womack. "I like what it said. I like the message of come all you broken hearted, come be a part of what we have going on. I just liked the song."

"I think it's real and honest and rootsy and raw," she says. "They (The Millers) make music from the heart and not from the pocketbook. To me, that's the way music should be paid. Unfortunately, most of the time it's not."

'Yeah I do," says Womack when asked if she finds that a difficult fact of life. "Because I have a record label that expects me to deliver music to them that will fatten their pocketbook. Not necessarily their heart. I understand that. It's a business. It's the music business. It's hard when you love music. It's hard to find that common ground."

"I'm sure they (MCA) weren't thrilled when I brought 'Orphan Train' in and 'Blame it On Me.'"

"They didn't really get the record until it was done," says Womack. "I wasn't necessarily sitting down with them and playing it either. I'm not saying they didn't like it. I'm sure they listened to it and thought we're going to have to work to get it on the radio. But you give them other things too like 'Something Worth Leaving Behind.'"

As for "I Need You," Womack says, "It's hard for me to find uptempo songs that are real meaty. I was just listening in Frank's office one day to Julie's record. When that record came on, I said, 'when I make my record, I want to record this one.' It sounds like an uptempo smash to me. Don't get me wrong. I get stuff every day. To find an uptempo hit song that works for me and that I like is very very hard to find."

While Womack occasionally has written songs, she says she hasn't exactly had the time. "I haven't had time to wash clothes or do anything. It's been crazy."

"I think that songwriting and singing are two different arts. There are some people who are good songwriters who aren't good singers. There are people who are good singers, who aren't good songwriters. I definitely think the two are very separate. I think I'm an okay writer. I enjoy doing it. I do think that no matter how many hits a songwriter has, most of what they write is not that great. The jewels are few and far between."

Lest Womack be accused of sloughing off after putting out another disc, far from it. "I'm already back in the studio doing different things. I want to make a swing record. A jazz record. I have a Christmas record coming out Oct. 29."

The holiday disc, "A Season for Romance," is comprised almost all of standards such as "White Christmas" and "Winter Wonderland." A few songs also are included, including a duet with Harry Connick, someone she long wanted to record with.

Womack opted to do a Christmas disc "because I love that kind of music," she says, adding that was the "only way" her label, MCA Nashville, would go along with the idea. "Christmas is an excuse for me to play in that world."

After that, it seems like Womack is going to be hanging home in Nashville for awhile, though not taking it easy. "Yeah, it can (be too much)," says Womack of touring. "Probably away away from home (she has two daughters) more than anything."

"You can bet I'll be working. I'll be in the studio. I'll be writing. There are so many projects I want to work in, I want to get my head in as an artist. I won't be touring and playing the fairs and doing that kind of thing. I'll be working on my own. I want to be home more with the girls. Creatively speaking or professionally speaking, it's time for me to take some inventory and figure out where I want to go. I have so many things in my life that I want to accomplish both personally and professionally. Now is the perfect time for me to pursue some things and figure out what I want to do."

One hears Womack dealing with an internal battle. "I do want to enjoy a certain amount of success. I want to tour and headline. It's always a struggle. It's always a little give and take on my part."

"I understand the struggle, but I also have to know that when I finish my career, I have to look back on my career and say I did something I was proud of."