Martina McBride Savors Her Success

If you want to find a good man, go to Kansas

That's the advice of Martina McBride, the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry. Her fervent rendition of a song about fatal domestic violence, "Independence Day," won the 1995 Country Music Assocation's Song Of The Year award, while its chilling, inforgettable video took the CMA prize in '94. When listening to some of the love songs on her third album, Wild Angels, and hearing her espouse the virtues of her supposrtive husband, one is tempted to take her advice.

"I wanted to make an album that was happy, positive and uplifting," says the very pretty, petite singer. Her stunning blue eyes address the questions and the questioner directly. "On the other two albums, I recorded songs about leaving and being left, and on this one, I wanted more positive love songs. It reflects my life more than previous albums."

The album does have a number of songs locating couples in various stages of successful relationships. The hit single "Safe In The Arms Of Love" expresses the hope that such love can be found. Its opening line 'My heart's not ready for the rocking chair," is so infectious that it's been showing up in personal ads. The title track credits wild angels for getting two lovers through hard times and miraculuosly keeping love alive. "All The Things We've Never Done" finds a long-time husband and wife reviewing the things they never did to each other that would have torn them apart. The lovely "Born To Give My Love To You" surrenders to the wondrous mystery of it all, with a gentle mandolin that tugs all the heartstrings. In "You've Benn Driving All The Time," the woman credits her man for taking a back seat publicly while privately, his hands are on the wheel all the while. The song is obviously a tribute to McBride's husband, John, who she credits for supporting and encouraging her.

"I wouldn't have recorded that song a couple years ago when I needed to prove that I was a woman in control of my career," she says. “But now I am a woman in control of my career. I make all the final decisions for my career, so I don’t have to prove myself so much in that way. And it’s so valuable to have someone who’ll always tell me the truth, who I can always discuss things with. It’s not a weak thing to admit enjoying that.

“I’m lucky,” she says, smiling. “It’s hard to imagine not being able to feel the joy that this relationship brings.”

Despite her happy domestic circumstances - which include a 1-year-old baby girl, Delaney - and a healthy dose of happy love tunes, the album is actually an exploration of the many faces of love, not just the happy face. McBride may have intended to make a positive album about love but the songs she chose posit that if you live long enough and love hard enough, you’re going to go through dark times,

In “Phones Are Ringin’ All Over Town,” a womanizer’s wife finally walks out while he panics at losing the one sure thing he thought he had. “Cry on the Shoulder of the Road,” a gorgeous Matraca Berg/Tim Krekel   ballad with Levon Helm lending his mournful vocals, is also about leaving. “Swingin” Doors” is a metaphor for the way someone treating his lover’s heart. On the cover of Delbert McClinton’s “Two More Bottles of Wine,” love has turned to heartbreak and loneliness, but it’s noting a half gallon of vino can’t fix. McBride - who takes top produc­er’s credit for the first time - really lets the band lose on this one.With veteran piano player John Hobbs licking his chops, the sul­try Ashley Cleveland on back­ground vocals and a guitar solo which the liner notes suggest paying attention to, the song rocks away the blues.

Though there are no songs as  controversial or as stirring as “Independence Day,” Wild Angels does explore its share of love’s darker moments. But here’s one of the keys to McBride’s broad appeal: She can sing been-cheated-on songs, been-dumped-on­ and-can’t-get-over-him songs and I-need-love-real-bad songs without ever sounding pathetic or victimized. We like to hear her sing about heartache because there’s the sense in her voice tat it’ s not going to destroy her - even if she has to cry and hurt and drink and walk out the door. She always sings like a woman who’s going to survive; yet, she can make us believe that the hurt is real.

Though she does not write, McBride personalizes her al­bums - this one especially - by her painstaking selection of songs and her role as a hands-on co-­producer. “The songs are what really matter. When I leave this world, I will have left behind a piece of myself, a body of work. When people listen to that, I want them to have a sense of who I was and what I stood for and how I changed from album to album. I probably take it way too seriously, but it’s too important to me. I get to put 10 or 11 slices of life on each album. I mean, that album is mine and it should stand for something that has to do with me.”

Producing, with Paul Worley and engineer Ed Seay, is also crucial to her process. “The pro­ducing is the most fun. It’s so creative. It’s like having a blank canvas. Since I don’t write, this is the way I really make the songs my own.

Thinking of McBride as a newcomer would be a mistake. At 29, she is in her 22nd year of the music business. Her father had a country band in Sharon, Kansas, where she grew up, and Martina started singing with him when she was 7. “Dad played acoustic guitar and sang. I sang with him. Mom ran the soundboard. It was a fami­ly thing to do. It was quite an upbringing. Every Saturday night we played dances. I always felt like singing was what I was put here to do. Music was the center of my little world. So it was natural for me to pursue this.” She’s never entertained a profession outside of singing. And her parents "not once” suggested that she should­n’t or couldn’t make it. “ They believed in me 110 percent. And if they didn’t, they did the best job of acting I’ve ever seen. It was an incredible gift for them to give to me.”

Armed with that confidence, McBride and her husband bor­rowed money in 1990 to make a demo for Martina and to move them and his sound production company to Nashville. John went to work for Garth Brooks and presently is his production man­ager. Martina’s first demo didn’t get much response, but she did sing on other people’s demos, which circulated her name and introduced her to songwriters, the lifeblood of any singer. She made another demo, and this time, RCA responded. She did a showcase for the label and was offered a deal.

“It was relatively painless compared to all the people who struggle for years and years, but we were very focused and we had a very specific game plan. We weren’t afraid to talk to people who really knew the business. We were like little sponges, soaking up any bit of knowledge that any­one would throw our way. There are a lot of ways to go about it that aren’t going to work. And we chose not to take those roads.”

In 1992, her first album, The Time Has Come, hit the streets and Garth Brooks offered the singer an opening slot on his tour. “It really helped me to get my act together quicker, having to get up and sing in front of a million peo­ple,” she says. “Being a virtual unknown with this incredible re­sponsibility of being his opening act, I took it very seriously. And it forced me to get it together. Not that I was really together, but I sure tried to look like it."

McBride’s focus and determi­nation recently brought her to the attention of another Nash­ville institution. In late 1995, Bob Whittaker, the general manager of the Grand Ole Opry, invited her to lunch. Over iced tea, he asked her what the Opry meant to her and ten offered her mem­bership. “He actually asked me if I would accept his offer of being a member. I didn’t have to think about that one for ton bong.” As a member, she’ll play the Opry 12 times a year. “I guess shocked is a good word for how I felt when he asked me to join. I thought get­ting to play the Opry was enough of an honor. I hoped that some­day I’d be a member, but I cer­tainly didn’t think it would hap­pen this soon.”

Whittaker told McBride that she was chosen because her heart was in the right place. She agrees; her heart has always belonged to country music. “I grew up on country. As a teenager, I listened to rock and pop, and I sang other music, but by the time I was about 20, I realized that it didn’t touch me. Itfelt shallow for me to sing it. It didn’t mean to me what country meant. Country music felt like home.” McBride admits to enjoying a variety of musical genres, including a new apprecia­tion for the Beatles, but country is where she belongs. “When Merle sings, it’s a spiritual experience.”

Music continues to be a family business for the McBrides. Martina’s younger brother plays acoustic guitar in her band. John had last year off, so the new fami­ly was fortunate enough to tour together. This year, however, Brooks will keep him busy. Regardless, though, Delaney always tours with her mom. “My daughter is road-worthy,” she says, haying been on the road with her since she was 2 months old. “She loves it." The McBrides are definitely thinking about having more. Soon. “But don’t say I’m expecting to have more, because people will think I’m expecting now, and I’m not.”

With all the great things in her life, what does the girl from Sharon, Kansas, worry about? “The normal tings,” she laughs. “My house is a mess. I have to pack before we leave town. I have food in my refrigerator I no longer recognize. I don’t want Delaney to get the same stomach flu John and I had. That’s what I worry about.”

She is not worried about the next album. For now, she will kick back and enjoy her current suc­cess. She will tour but won’t record again until the end of the year. “There usually comes a point where I’m onstage and I’m singing a song I’ve sung a million times, and I know it’s time to move on and make another record. But right now, I’m enjoying Wild Angels. I’m haying fun with it. I’m going to take my time.”