O'Neal stepped away from her full-tilt music career to focus on motherhood for the remainder of 2003 and into 2004. During this period, she also changed record labels.
"We jumped at the opportunity to bring Jamie into the Capitol family," said Mike Dungan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Capitol Records Nashville. "It's obvious that she is a world class vocalist and performer, but what's sometimes forgotten about Jamie is that she's a great songwriter. And since she has become a wife and a mother, her writing has taken on a whole new twist - she loves her life and it comes through in the songs and performances on Brave. Think of it - we have an adult woman singing songs about the life of an adult woman. And our listening audience and buying consumer are to the largest extent adult women - what a concept."
Immersed in motherhood while writing for the new project, Brave, produced by Keith Stegall and co-produced by Rivers Rutherford and O'Neal, reflects the singer's new passion.
"The last album had a lot of love songs. This album is more about real life - songs about motherhood and life and my girlfriends. I write about women and I think about women when I write my songs," O'Neal said.
O'Neal wrote the second single, "Somebody's Hero," with some specific women in mind.
"I had been saying to all my co-writers, 'I really want to write about family. I really want to write about my little girl.' And the thing for me was, when you have a baby you start thinking about your own relationship with your mother. And when you were little, how much you looked up to them and then you move to, 'Gosh, my baby looks up to me so much. I don't want to let her down. I want to be a hero to her.' That's probably the most important song on the album to me," she said.
O'Neal said the title track also has significance for her.
"'Brave' really signifies a time in my life when I was really happy personally but really unhappy professionally," O'Neal said. "I went through a really dark time and had a lot of personal time to reflect and really find out who I was and what I wanted to do and what my priorities were. I feel like a lot of people in the world need to have faith and feel like they aren't alone in the struggles we're having."
O'Neal definitely is not alone these days while out on the road promoting Brave.
The entertainer travels with her husband, who is also her bandleader and acoustic guitar player, her daughter and the family's Maltese, Griffin.
"It's a challenge being on the road with a baby," she said. "Kids love their routine. She loves being home. We try to bring as much of her things with us as we can. She has more luggage than we do."
O'Neal is doing a full scale promotional tour, visiting Country radio stations throughout the nation and also playing to select industry and media audiences in New York and Los Angeles, activities the singer bypassed when Shiver was released. She also has a full calendar of performances lined up through the spring and summer including appearing at CMA Music Festival.
O'Neal is scheduled to appear at 2005 CMA Music Festival that takes place in Downtown Nashville, Thursday - Sunday, June 9-12.
O'Neal, thankful for the fan base she already has established, wants to reach even more people with the new album.
"Hopefully, we will get a wider audience this time and make an impact with the songs," she said. "I want to make a difference."