Post by happychick13 on Sept 21, 2005 1:48:55 GMT -5
By JOEY GUERRA
For the Chronicle
Sara Evans says she's finally ready to make country music.
It's a strange statement, considering the singer — who has sold almost 4 million albums — was the most-played artist on country radio in 2004 and was nominated for a pair of Country Music Association awards last week.
Ed Rode : WireImage.com
Sara Evans performs at the 2005 CMA Music Festival in Nashville this summer.
But while Evans' twangy, torchy voice is pure country, her biggest hits — No Place That Far , Saints and Angels , Perfect — have straddled country and pop. The Boonville, Mo., native has shied away from her heartland heritage ever since her 1997 debut disc, Three Chords and the Truth . That brilliant collection of tracks featured a mature, focused sound and a shattering title tune; it was also a commercial failure that left Evans reeling and unsure of her musical direction.
"I think, definitely, that one scared me to death," Evans admits. "At that point in my career I needed to do very well commercially. That really scared me and scared me long enough to really not go back to that real traditional country sound until now.
"I wanted so badly to make it in the industry. I was just determined to keep walking that fine line, where I would not be considered retro or anything like that," Evans adds.
"I was very careful, and I'm still very careful. I never take any of my decisions lightly, as far as what I put on my album," Evans, 34, adds. "I want them to appeal to the most people — yet still be true to who I am."
That care paid off big when Evans included the country-soaked Suds in the Bucket on her last album, the otherwise pop-flavored Restless . The song spent weeks atop Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and became one of Evans' biggest hits.
" Suds in the Bucket was just one of those songs that we put on there as just a fun song. It's just an old country record," Evans says. "I just decided the fans obviously really love to hear this kind of music from me, so I'm going to put more of that on the next album."
That disc, Real Fine Place , is due Oct. 4, and Evans says it takes her back to her roots, which include singing traditional country and bluegrass music. Album opener Coalmine rides a furious fiddle groove as Evans sings about "shotgun houses, shanty shacks" and making "love by a miner's light." And Cheatin' is a mournful ballad that makes the most of Evans' high, lonesome delivery.
Elsewhere, Evans sings about small-town joys, teenage mistakes and missing her family. Her mother, father and sister provide backup vocals, and brother Matt Evans co-produced.
"Regardless of what the rest of the (country-music) artists are doing, the rest of the format is doing — this is what I'm going to do. I feel like I'm at a place in my career where I can do that," Evans says.
Even so, Evans still clearly has her eye on the adult-contemporary and crossover markets, and she listens to lots of rock music as a way to diversify her influences. First single A Real Fine Place to Start wouldn't sound out of place on a Sheryl Crow album; Crow, in fact, contributed the track Roll Me Back in Time.
Evans, who performs alongside Alan Jackson and husband-wife duo the Wrights at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Saturday, travels with her family, which includes son Avery, 6; daughters Olivia, 2, and Audrey, 11 months; and husband Craig Shelske.
"We have the bus all set up the way we need it. We have two nannies that help us during the day. Basically, we just try to live like any normal mom with kids would live — on the road," Evans says.
"We try to take them to the park. We have our naptime, and then we have suppertime, and we put a movie on for them when it's time for me to get ready. We just do our routine like anybody else.
"They understand that I perform and that I am a singer. My 2-year-old is always like, 'Did you do your show, Mommy?' even if I go to the grocery store," Evans says, laughing. "I think that they think a lot of people are on the radio — not just me but their friends' moms. Everybody's on the radio. Everybody sings."
For the Chronicle
Sara Evans says she's finally ready to make country music.
It's a strange statement, considering the singer — who has sold almost 4 million albums — was the most-played artist on country radio in 2004 and was nominated for a pair of Country Music Association awards last week.
Ed Rode : WireImage.com
Sara Evans performs at the 2005 CMA Music Festival in Nashville this summer.
But while Evans' twangy, torchy voice is pure country, her biggest hits — No Place That Far , Saints and Angels , Perfect — have straddled country and pop. The Boonville, Mo., native has shied away from her heartland heritage ever since her 1997 debut disc, Three Chords and the Truth . That brilliant collection of tracks featured a mature, focused sound and a shattering title tune; it was also a commercial failure that left Evans reeling and unsure of her musical direction.
"I think, definitely, that one scared me to death," Evans admits. "At that point in my career I needed to do very well commercially. That really scared me and scared me long enough to really not go back to that real traditional country sound until now.
"I wanted so badly to make it in the industry. I was just determined to keep walking that fine line, where I would not be considered retro or anything like that," Evans adds.
"I was very careful, and I'm still very careful. I never take any of my decisions lightly, as far as what I put on my album," Evans, 34, adds. "I want them to appeal to the most people — yet still be true to who I am."
That care paid off big when Evans included the country-soaked Suds in the Bucket on her last album, the otherwise pop-flavored Restless . The song spent weeks atop Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart and became one of Evans' biggest hits.
" Suds in the Bucket was just one of those songs that we put on there as just a fun song. It's just an old country record," Evans says. "I just decided the fans obviously really love to hear this kind of music from me, so I'm going to put more of that on the next album."
That disc, Real Fine Place , is due Oct. 4, and Evans says it takes her back to her roots, which include singing traditional country and bluegrass music. Album opener Coalmine rides a furious fiddle groove as Evans sings about "shotgun houses, shanty shacks" and making "love by a miner's light." And Cheatin' is a mournful ballad that makes the most of Evans' high, lonesome delivery.
Elsewhere, Evans sings about small-town joys, teenage mistakes and missing her family. Her mother, father and sister provide backup vocals, and brother Matt Evans co-produced.
"Regardless of what the rest of the (country-music) artists are doing, the rest of the format is doing — this is what I'm going to do. I feel like I'm at a place in my career where I can do that," Evans says.
Even so, Evans still clearly has her eye on the adult-contemporary and crossover markets, and she listens to lots of rock music as a way to diversify her influences. First single A Real Fine Place to Start wouldn't sound out of place on a Sheryl Crow album; Crow, in fact, contributed the track Roll Me Back in Time.
Evans, who performs alongside Alan Jackson and husband-wife duo the Wrights at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion Saturday, travels with her family, which includes son Avery, 6; daughters Olivia, 2, and Audrey, 11 months; and husband Craig Shelske.
"We have the bus all set up the way we need it. We have two nannies that help us during the day. Basically, we just try to live like any normal mom with kids would live — on the road," Evans says.
"We try to take them to the park. We have our naptime, and then we have suppertime, and we put a movie on for them when it's time for me to get ready. We just do our routine like anybody else.
"They understand that I perform and that I am a singer. My 2-year-old is always like, 'Did you do your show, Mommy?' even if I go to the grocery store," Evans says, laughing. "I think that they think a lot of people are on the radio — not just me but their friends' moms. Everybody's on the radio. Everybody sings."
