Thursday, April 12, 2007

"Waking Up Laughing" - Martina Mcbride

The title of this record gives a good description of the vibe. The sound is refreshing, Martina with crisp acoustic guitars, mandolins, fiddles. All under the solo production of Mcbride.

Mcbride sounds refreshed, her songs are hot with a great balance of acoustic and electric instruments in one song. Her emotion is back. Timeless was a break for her, now she is vibrant, relevant, encouraging with the theme "Anyway" ,the hot single co-written by her and Brad Warren. She is blessed to have the best musicians Nashville has to offer, plus her own studio, so she admits, not having to rush this one. Her last original self titled disc "Martina" was great, a bit more on the traditional side. This is contemporary country that is probably the best new Nashville country CD this year.

The syncopated rhytmns and cohesiveness of each note is so sweet on the ears. Mcbride is a great producer. She really obsesses over each note, reverb type, emotion of an individual line. What a great voice, wow, the neatest song just came on, "Beautiful Again" ,lots of bluegrass influence, incredible background vocals. Another song by Mcbride and Warren.

"House Of A Thousand Dreams" - This is a really moving acoustic ballad that is loaded with great hooks and lyrics. Some accordion is in the background with great acoustic guitar and pedal steel going on.

"Loveland" is another intense slow ballad about getting married in a Vegas chapel, because the gal was pregnant. Brilliant song over all.

How cute, she has her daughter say goodbye after the last song. This is the strongest CD in any genre that I have heard in a long time. Not a bad or filler song here.

"Tryin' To Find A Reason" is a killer heartbreak ballad. The guitars are great, plus some very good mandolin and fiddle. The airy quality she gets out of the acoustic guitars would make another producer envious.

Martina has always tackled songs to address issues, encourage and here she is, back at it again. Thanks Martina, music needed to go up a couple of notches this year and you have more than done it.

http://www.martinamcbride.com
blogspot stats