Trick Pony - Departure of Heidi Newfield and Subsequent Disbanding

Departure of Heidi Newfield and Subsequent Disbanding

In October 2006, lead singer Heidi Newfield announced that she would be leaving Trick Pony in pursuit of a solo career. She made her official departure at the end of the group's December 2006 tour. The same month, Gary Allan charted with "A Feelin' Like That," which Dean wrote with David Lee Murphy. Newfield began recording her first solo album for Asylum-Curb in June 2007. She made her solo debut on Cledus T. Judd's 2007 album Boogity, Boogity - A Tribute to the Comedic Genius of Ray Stevens, on which she, Judd, and Keith Urban performed a cover of Ray Stevens' 1969 single "Gitarzan."

Aubrey Collins, a singer-songwriter from Littleton, Colorado who had previously been eliminated from ABC's television program The One: Making a Music Star, was chosen as Newfield's replacement in 2007. Collins made her official debut as lead singer in April of that year at the Country Thunder festival in Arizona. Collins left the group in October, saying that although she enjoyed working with the group's other two members, she and they "had different creative and musical visions." Dean announced his departure in February 2008, and Trick Pony subsequently disbanded. In April 2009, Warner Bros. released The Best of Trick Pony, a compilation composed of songs from the trio's first two albums.