Intro:

Brian Mansfield: "Martina sounds like she has no fear. A blue-eyed angel in a leather jacket.")

Marty Schiff: "And the crowds.. I... I have always loved her, even when nobody knew who she was."

Tom Douglas: "Her family is out here, which is really cool. Actually (...) herself, how to be able to pull this off."

Greg Foresman: "I think she'd give her career up, if she had to make a choice. I know she would."

If you ask anyone who knows Martina McBride, they'll probably tell you that she's not only the greatest singer they know, but also a woman with great faith and a fierce dedication to her family. Decency and integrity are virtues she nurtures daily. It's a way of life she learned growin' up on farm in a small Kansas town called Sharon, population 200.

Martina's friend from school: "What I remember the most is  when  we were (...) our first or second grade and we (...) for a Christmas concert at school, we had a big Christmas tree and Martina was always real small, goin' to school, you know... She's still not very big... But we put her at the very top of the Christmas tree, holding a candle and she sang a solo that night."

Martina: "It was a wonderful way to grow up. Like we went to town once a week to get groceries, on Saturday afternoons. We had three channels on out television and one of which didn't work. We had no video games, we had no... We didn't have the stuff, you know, that competes with attention that kids have now. We just kind of had each other and a buch of dirt and... (laughs) grass and cows."

Someone from Sharon, Kansas: "Her daddy is a musician, he likes music. And he just tought the kids to get in to that kind of stuff.

Martina's dad, Darryl Schiif, had a weekend band called The Schiffters.

Martina: "My dad was always playing guitars, singin'. When we'd go to town we'd go... I'd go right in the truck with him, he'd just, he'd be singin'. I can't forget one time I was really little and I heard him harmonize with the radio and I said 'Dad, how do you do that? How do you harmonize?' And he goes... You know, he couldn't really tell me. But he just said... I mean he couldn't tell me in a way where you go, it's a third above what you're... No, no technical... not... talk there. It was just 'Well, someday you'll be able to do that.' You know, that was kind of what he said but I mean I heard that, youk now,  heard that and it was an influence on me."

Marty Schiff: "We grew up plain' music when most other kids were out riding bikes and goin' to football games and basketball games and concerts, you know. And we were in that litle porch out in our house playin' music."

Martina: "You know, I'd have kids over to my house, you know, after school and they stayed on and I... They would want to, you know, go outside and play and do stuff and I was like 'Come here...' You know, I would like to get out my (...) records and 'Listen to this song, listen to this song amd listen to this song.' and they were just like... "- Martina demonstrates and I coldn't possibly get that typed, could I? LOL)

Martina's mother and brothers were in her dad's band. And Martina became a member of The Schiffters when she was just seven years old.

Someone from Sharon, Kansas: "And so we've heard her singing ever since she was tiny little thing. I remember when she was really small, she used to sing the song called I'm Little But I'm Loud'")

Martina performed with The Schiffters from age seven all the way through highschool.

Martina: "People would come from miles around to dance. And for all ages, little kids with their parents too, you know. All the people, young kids, everybody. And it was like the... the band's name was The Schiffters and it was like 'Oh, there is a Schiffters dance this weekend', you know. And it was like the big entertainment, the big thing to do."

Someone from Sharon, Kansas:"When Bobby and I were first married, the Schiffters were playin' every weekend somewhere and we kind of were wherever they were."

Someone from Sharon, Kansas:"She played and sang at our wedding dance so..."

Someone from Sharon, Kansas: "And she did the same for us, cause we're sisters."

Someone from Sharon, Kansas: "I know I once requested 'Your Cheatin' Heart', that's one of my favorite songs. And they did it for me. And so they did it at (...) they did 'Your Cheatin' Heart' and about, like I said, seven thousands people around and she says 'this is for you, Bob.' That made, like I said, that made my day forever."

After highschool graduation, Martina formed a couple of her own bands. Much to the dismay of some Schiffters fan, she was singin' rock'n'roll.

Someone from Sharon, Kansas:" (...) I've told several people.I said 'You know if they gotthat little girl, singin' that way, she's just gonna ruin her voice."

Someone from Sharon, Kansas: "Everybody was just so worried about her cause we knew she was gonna ruin her voice."

Martina's rock bands didn't work out, but something lasting did come from the experience. When they rented a rehearsal hall from a sound technican John McBride, Martina's life changed forever.

Martina: "At that time I was really young, I was only 20 years old. And never... I didn't think that I would find anybody that understood what I wanted to do."

John and Martina became close friends and soon fell in love.

John McBride: "We got to know each other, started dating. And she took off the restraining order and everything and we got together and got married. I got to hear all tapes of her when she was a kid and I worked with her all selling clubs in Kansas when we were first dating and married."

Martina: "We have a great deal of respect for each other. Out of that comes honesty, communication, sharing, sense of humor... I mean all that stuff that somes because we respect each other so much and we're such really god friends."

In 1990 Martina and John moved to Nashville. They circulated Martina's demos around Music Row while John's sound company saw the beginning of succes. He worked with Charlie Daniels, Ricky van Shelton, and eventually Garth Brooks. Martina took a job selling Garth's T-shirts in order to be with her husband.

Martina: "It was a good experience for me to be behind the scenes in that way. You know, I just kind of saw how, how his crew, you know, was and how he treated people and his fans and... I don't know, it was just a... It was a good experience. For a lot of different reasons. Yeah, I wouldn't trade it for anything."

By the latter half of 1991 Martina was becoming well-known for singing demos for various publishing companies. But still no record deal. She and John changed their strategy.

A clip of Martina from 1993:

Martina: "I'd heard that RCA might be looking for a new female singer and I'd heard that they didn't take any tapes that were unsolicited, that they hadn't asked for or requested. So I put my tape in a big, purple envelope and wrote on the envelope 'Requested material'. So they thought that they had asked for it, and they listened to it and it got through and they called me about three weeks later do do the live audition, my live showcase. And here we are."

Paul Worley: "When I met with John and Martina and listened to her talk about her vision as an artist and I understood how (...) they talked through what they were trying to do. I realized that I was talking to somebody that had the vision of an artist. And that's arare thing for, especially someone as young as Martina, you know, she was just barely in her twenties at the time."

Her first CD, The Time Has Come, was released in May 1992 and in June Martina began a six-month tour opening for Garth.

Marty Schiff: "The first show ever was in Denver, Colorado, opening for Garth Brooks. So like twenty - twenty five thousand people and she looks confident, you know, like she's... And the crowd goes nuts. They'd never heard her before... I don't even...I don't even think her record was released yet. Nobody had heard any of her songs.. And the crowd just goes wild over her and it's that way the whole show."

Garth Brooks (during the tour Martina opened for him): "I was tellin' somebody backstage and they asked how you and me got together on tour and I was telling a story how you and John came over that night we stood out outside (...) stars and you were just singing a capella and the first time I heard you sing it was like 'Let's go out,  and have some fun and make some music.'

The CD was a hit and Martina's recording career was in full swing.

When we come back, the song Martina recorded against the advice of the industry.

***

In 1992 Martina released her first CD for RCA and embarked on a major tour, opening for Garth Brooks. John McBride sound company continued to experience success as Martina's CD turned out hits like The Time Has Come, That's Me and Cheap Whiskey.

Brian Mansfield: "The first album that she had, it was very much full of a straight ahead country album. It had a great voice on it, but it didn't really distinguish her from everybody else that was around at the same time."

Martina: "But it's a really intimidating thing to make a first album. You don't realy know what you're doing. I didn't know what I was doing. And a lot of people (...) you 'Oh, don't need to wory about it, you just sing and...' , youu know."

In 1993 Martina released her second CD, The Way That I Am. this time she took on a job of co-producing with Paul Worley.

Paul Worley: "She is a co-producer. I mean she... Martina is in the studio every second of the way. every musical decision that is made onthe album is made by her and me together."

Martina: "Creatively it's just the only way that makes sense to me because, you know, if I just came in and sang and then left and the producer, in this case, you know, Paul would just make all the music, and then I would come backand see, say 'Well, let me hear what you've done with my album.' Then it's... I can't really understand. I can't understand that because then it seems like it would be his album with my voice."

They had Top 10 success with the first two singles, "My Baby Loves Me" and "Life#9". But people really began to set up and take notice of Martina McBride as soon as they heard "Independence Day".

Brian Mansfield: "There's a couple of places that were defining moments for Martina. And in terms of her singles it was definitely 'Independence Day.' After her first album, nobody saw that comin' after her first album.")

She recorded it against the advice of the industry executives who thought domestic violence was a subject matter to intense for country fans.

Joe Gelante: "Well O.J. changed the path of her career, because of that time O.J. trial was a current and there were stations that thought that song was written about the O.J. trial and we were having difficulty getting people to play that record. And to this day people think that it was a Number One record and that was, at best, a Top 15 record.")

Gretchen Peters: "I know that I thought that it would never be cut by any artist in Nashville."

Joe Gelante: "There were a lot of people who that did not buy into that song until Martina at that point. And now she does it on stage and you would think it's the national anthem."

Gretchen Peters: "Her passion about doing it was so great. Her, hre desire to do it... I think, I think it was a very gutsy move."

Brian Mansfield: "A lot of people talk about how Shania Twain and people like that have really opened the doors for women in country music. And they have in terms of what women can look like, what women can sound like. But 'Independence Day' really made a huge difference in country for what women can sing about."

Martina: "It just touched something in people either came from their own experience or people that they knew or just the story moved them, you know. Just the compassion that you would have for person in that situation. That's what move me about it."

Brian Mansfield: "It was a big video hit. It ended up winning Country Music Association's Video of the Year award.")

The ground breaking video was produced and directed by Nashville -based Robert Deaton and George Flaningen.

George Flanigen: "We'd never worked with Martina and we heard the song 'Independence Day' and we called Mary Hamilton at RCA and said 'We have to do this video.' We... And we don't normally do that."

The video won countless awards and continues to touch people.

Robert Deaton ("Independence Day" video co-producer): "We still, to this day get probably four to five requests a week of people calling, requesting a copy of that video. The abuse shelter, police departments, all over the country. I mean for to five a week. That video was done in '94 so, you know, even if don't ever do another... even if we don't work together again, we can be proud of thta particular piece of work."

In 1995 Martina gave birth to her first daughter, Delaney Katherine. She also released her third CD, Wild Angels.

Brian Mansfield: "As an album, that was the thing that really signified this was somebody who had ideas of her own, it was somebody who had a voice of her own and it was somebody who was gonna end up sounding like nothing else in country music."

With the single Wild Angels, Martina finally experienced her first Number One. But reaching the top and being a star weren't the driving forces behind her success.

Martina: "Nothing I do comes from wanting to be a star. It's weird, it's such catch 22 with me, because I wanna sell a whole bunch of records, but not because I wanna be a big star. I wanna sell a whole bunch of records because I want eevrybody to hear, to share and to hear what... this music that I've made, do you know what I mean? And I want people to know who I am, I guess in a way, because I want people to feel like they like what I do or I do a good job, not because I wanna be a star, you know. And it's really bizarre and I don't even know if I'm makin' any sense but that's (...) place to be sometimes. It's a good place to be, but it's just not... that's not the motivation for me to do what I do."

Joe Gelante: "She truly does care about everything that she does. And she called me one day, we were, we were having one of those little disagreements and she said to me 'I don't care about where it winds up, I care about the quality of it. I really want this to be great. And as long as we agree on that, everything else is secondary.'")

Next week on a brand new CMT showcase Martina talks taking the whole family on the road.

Episode 1 *** Episode 2 *** Episode 3 *** Episode 4

INDEX