By ROBIN TOEPP
Tribune Correspondent

Consider it a gift when an entertainer gives a little something extra during an interview. That’s what it was like when country music singer Jo Dee Messina broke into song during a recent telephone interview from her home in Nashville, Tenn.

Answering a question about vocal exercises, Messina, who performs two shows at the Wagon Wheel Theatre in Warsaw on Saturday, said the band always gets together before performing to warm up; otherwise, it’s not unusual for her to just sing to herself.

Follow up:

“I sing every day, but I don’t sit in front of a mirror and practice my breathing,” she says. “I just walked in before I called you, from working out, and I was working out with my trainer going, ‘You make me feel like a natural …’ ” — she breaks into Aretha Franklin’s “Natural Woman” — “and I don’t even realize when I am doin’ it.”

Messina was preparing for an appearance at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, as part of a tribute to “soul man” Sam Moore. She’s a great fit for the show, with her rich vocal style that easily handles the grit of soul.

She also brings that grit to country music — her genre of choice. The 5-foot-3-inch Massachusetts-born singer and actress, who has been working the country music scene since she was legal, has gone through a number of highs and lows throughout her professional career, from messy breakups and near bankruptcy to hit singles and platinum-selling albums.

With a new marriage, a new album and a new single, she’s settled but still sassy, and in no way does she back off from blunt talk about her health and her weight.

“How am I gonna walk around in a bikini, sister? I’m gonna hide it under a tarp. People are gonna be like, ‘She’s havin’ a baby.’ I say, ‘No, I just got married, and I happened to marry the most wonderful man in the world,’ ” Messina says. “He’s precious. And I am twice the size I was the day I met him ’cause he’s a fantastic cook.”

Known for a rock-hard, physically fit body and tough work ethic, Messina has relaxed during the last few years, since the success of 2005’s “Delicious Surprise,” which featured “My Give a Damn’s Busted.” Onstage during last year’s CMA Music Festival, Messina was notably larger than fans were used to seeing in such sultry videos as “Burn” and “Bring on the Rain,” a duet with Tim McGraw.

In the pressure cooker of the entertainment business, Messina says she’s ready to get back into shape, but she’s doing it for herself.

“For me, it’s uncomfortable to be over a certain weight,” she says. “I am a size 10, which is not a big size. It is not fat, it is not heavy, but for my lifestyle, I entertain, and it’s uncomfortable, so I just want to be comfortable again.”

She has started a training regimen that she blogs about on her Web site.

She’s also getting back on the road to promote her new single, “I’m Done,” another sassy kiss-off song on her forthcoming album, “Unmistakable.”

“I wanted to capture more of a live sound (with this album), something that’s not as polished, something that’s not like a wall of sound, something where you can actually hear each instrument and it’s more a real sound, to simplify the production process.” Messina says. “So we didn’t add 15,000 guitar parts and 500 background parts. We kept it very basic, and it’s great. I mean, it really seems to cut through with what’s on out there on the radio.”

Simplifying production may sound simple, but this project wasn’t so simple, given that there are five producers, including Messina.

“Boy, it’s confusing, but working with each producer was so great,” she says. “Each of them had their own style, (but) I think everybody has the same ear for me, what they wanted me to do, and I definitely had a direction of what kind of sound I wanted to achieve with this record.

“An album reflects what I am going through during the time of making it, so I’ll gravitate towards whatever song I relate to most — meaning, if I am having a bad day or somebody (angers) me, or whatever, like with ‘Give a Damn’s Busted,’ or if I am in need of hope, it’s ‘Bring on the Rain.’ So this album has the kiss of songs like ‘I’m Done,’ and the let’s-have-fun songs or the inspirational songs.”