by Marianne Horner

Each time she has made an album, Martina McBride can remember feeling overcome by some different kind of emotion. There was the anxiety of being a new artist who “didn’t know what I was doing” while recording The Time Has Come. And then the thrill of “finding my voice and my style” with her second album, The Way That I Am. When she made Wild Angels, she remembers feeling blissful because she’d just given birth to her first child.

With Evolution, her fourth album, Martina is feeling something very different. It’s quiet, peaceful feeling. A feeling so unsusual, she found herself asking her husband John to help her figure it out.

“Usually when I’ making an album, I get this incredible feeling – it kind of takes over my life, and I get this feeling from the record. And this one feels so calm. I almost feels too relaxed… to calm,” Martina reflects. “And John said, ‘if younthink about it, your life is kind of calm right now. There’s nothing chaotic going on.’ And I thought, that’s what this album is reflecting in a way. I’m just really focused, and I’m at a ally good place in my life. And that’s probably why I wasn’t feeling any chaotic feelings when I was making it.

Before she went into this studio, Martina blocked seven months off the road, so she could work every day on this project. “It helped a lot that I was off the road, and I got completely immersed in it. That was the biggest difference in the way we recorded this album.:

As co-producer, Martina made a lot of decisions, and had definite ideas about what she wanted the music to sound like. “I’m very hands-on, and I think the musicians really enjoy that. A lot of times they don’t get to work with the artist, and they come in and do what the producer wants them to do. I think it’s really refreshing for them to get to do what the artist wants them to do.”

The day before each session, Martina went into the studio to rehearse with the musicians, which helped them to explore different sounds and possibilities with each song. “Usually when we make an album, we just come in, and they listen to the tape, and then we record it, and that’s it. But this gave the guys a chance to really think about their part and what they wanted to do with it. I think that was a real luxury for them, and we just had a lot of fun.”

Martina says she felt more relaxed than ever before in the studio. “I’ve become more comfortable with myself, and have become more secure as each album goes by. With each album I put less resctriction on myself and I just kind of let the music happen. And I realize that this is the music that I make, and people are either gonna like it or they’re not, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m just gonna make music that I’m proud of.”

Martina has good reason to be proud. Even before its release, the album spawned two Top 10 hits. Valentine, a romantic ballad recorded with pop-pianist Jim Brickman was a major hit on the adult contemporary stations, as well as a crossover success on country radio. And Still Holding On, the soaring power ballad recorded as a duet with Clint Black was another smash, and the perfect showcase for Martina’s astonishing vocal range and power. The third single, A Broken Wing, packed an emotion-chargedm triumph-over-abuse message that should give her another career milestone in the same inspirational vein as Independence Day.

A typical recording day started around eleven, and usually wrapped around eight in the evening. When it comes to eating in the studio, Martina says she just tries to keep it balanced. “We order in a lot, but I always try to eat healthy. I believe in everything in moderation, so one day it’ll bea good ol’ cheesburger and french fries, and the next day it’ll be a salad or something healthy. But the great thing about recording the way we did this time is we had enough time over the seven-month process, so I didn’t feel rushed, and I could actually take a break and go home and cook supper, which is something I love to do. So it was just real relaxed setting.”

A relaxed setting, and a lot of time. It was a perfect blend, a good place for Martina McBride to be this time in the studio. And it’s left her feeling blissfully  wrapped these days in wondrous state of mind called calm.