Martina McBride has one of the greatest natural vocal instruments in country music. Nobody argues with that assessment. Nevertheless, one could convincingly say McBride – like Faith Hill, to choose a handy example – doesn’t always sing too much music obviously country. Instead, she oftentimes vocalizes songs with big, bright shiny pop arrangements. And if we didn’t know about her musical legacy, we’d likely guess this was an old school, middle of the road pop singer whenever listening to her albums.
Even though McBride’s new covers collection, Everlasting, is as much not-country as albums past, few will likely complain. This 12-song collection is filled with oldies but goodies, which lean most closely to the R&B and soul realm in music history. And it’s wonderful! For some of us, many of these songs are also all time favorites; the ones that still get turned up every time they come up in the oldies radio rotation.
It’s easy to forgive McBride’s decision to sidestep more traditional country music once again because, for starters, she’s stylistically consistent throughout. These are mostly groove-oriented, mainly brass horn-accented tracks primarily drawn from the 60s and 70s.
Secondly, McBride made gutsy choices in song selection. For instance, with “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” she takes on the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, and for “Suspicious Minds,” she has a go at The King, Elvis Presley. She doesn’t sing like either Franklin or Presley, but because her singing voice is so strong and personal, she absolutely holds her own.
Another notable element involved in listening to this recording is hearing some songs that were originally sung by men, this time given a woman’s perspective. For instance, “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” was one of Otis Redding’s signature songs. McBride doesn’t bring the same uncontained passion Redding infused the original with, and her version is much more restrained and thoughtful. McBride can do a lot of wonderful things vocally, but she likely can’t do that raspy thing Redding could. If she’d tried it on this one, she would have sounded more like Janis Joplin than herself. Ultimately, McBride stays true to herself, even though she may have been tempted to do Karaoke musical impressions. Good for her!
There’s a whole lot of heartbreak running through these various songs, but then again, heartbreak has always been one of the greatest creative musical sparks. This is why it’s nice emotional break to bop along to McBride’s take on “Wild Night.” This song is also one that particularly effectively uses horns and backing vocals. It has one of those rich and full arrangements that will make you feel like it’s a rocking late Saturday night, no matter when you may put it on.
McBride has invited a few vocal guests to her radio hit party, but these folks never divert one’s attention from the original purpose: celebrating treasured music. Gavin DeGraw helps with “Bring It on Home to Me” (is he everywhere?), while Kelly Clarkson has a handclapping good time with McBride during “In the Basement.”
It’s difficult to imagine snobby people getting all hot and bothered over musical genre classification when listening to Everlasting. It’s not really about whether or not this is country music; it’s about great songs sung well. Therefore, put it on. Turn it up. And enjoy.
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