Review: Yearwood gets laid back and eclectic

Yearwood's new album strays from the traditional Nashville sound

March 29, 2000
Web posted at: 3:18 p.m. EST (2018 GMT)

By Mary Jo DiLonardo

Trisha Yearwood "Real Live Woman" MCA Release date: March 28, 2000

(CNN) -- With a host of powerful songs, songwriters, musicians and backup vocalists, Trisha Yearwood has created an album that is more Raitt than Reba.

The highly regarded country singer has abandoned nearly every vestige of traditional Nashville sound for a mix of soul, folk, rock and pop, but showcases Yearwood's strong delivery and emotional range.

Says Yearwood of this, her ninth release: "This is the album I have always wanted to make."

The non-formulaic songs range from power ballads (Yearwood's most obvious strength) to acoustic laments and growling toe-tappers.

	AUDIO
Too Bad You Are No Good 288K/448k/30 sec. MP3 or WAV Sad Eyes 256K/384k/30 sec. MP3 or WAV Where Are You Now? 192K/288k/30 sec. MP3 or WAV (Courtesy MCA)

The material is as diverse as Yearwood's performance. She can be rueful and lovelorn, playful and cocky, adamant and enraged all with a trill of those powerful pipes.

Yearwood managed to round up a celebrity crop of singers and songwriters for this record, which she co-produced with longtime collaborator Garth Fundis -- not to be confused with the Garth who helped Yearwood get her start years ago.

Mary Chapin Carpenter and Kim Richey, who teamed up to write "Where Are You Now," also join Yearwood for harmonies on that song. Jackson Browne adds harmony to a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Sad Eyes," where Yearwood explores an exceptional falsetto. (No way the Boss went that high.)

Matraca Berg adds vocals to three songs, two of which she co-wrote. Emmylou Harris harmonizes on the album's most fun song, the playful "Too Bad You're No Good."

The title song is an everywoman's mighty ballad. "I offer no apologies for the things that I believe and say/ And I like it that way," she unapologetically declare.

After coming to Nashville from rural south Georgia, Yearwood worked as a receptionist at a record label and a Country Music Hall of Fame tour guide before getting a job singing on demo records.

That was a small start, but enough. Since then, Yearwood's had ten No.1 singles, sold more than 13 million albums and amassed an imposing collection of Grammy, Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music awards.

She recently won country music's triple crown: the Grammy, CMA and ACM for Female Vocalist of the Year.

Though secure in Nashville, Yearwood has never completely fit the traditional country role, so it's no surprise that she took such an eclectic path on her latest release. In the past, she's performed with artists as diverse as Don Henley, Luciano Pavarotti, Bob Dylan and Whitney Houston.

Yearwood's a big enough star that she can experiment without risking losing fans along the way. Fortunately, her gambles always seem to pay off.

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Official Trisha Yearwood site
MCA

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