AP News, April 4th, 2007
Martina McBride, "Waking Up Laughing" (RCA)
Fifteen years in, Martina McBride continues to look for new challenges. With "Waking Up Laughing," the big-voiced singer produces the album by herself (as she did with her last album, "Timeless"). McBride also composes some of her own material for the first time, co-writing three songs, including the uplifting first hit, "Anyway."
What she doesn't change is her preference for songs pertinent to Middle America. Mixing stories of tragedy and struggle with those of survival and renewal, the Kansas native presents 11 songs that could serve as themes for two weeks worth of Oprah. Such real-life topics are common in country music, but like Winfrey, McBride digs deeper, avoiding cliches while providing more insight and inspiration than any of her peers.
On "Waking Up Laughing," McBride taps into a particularly potent mix of positive messages, and she matches these consistently outstanding songs with a seamless blend of acoustic instruments, gentle rhythms and soaring orchestrations that bank on subtlety and style.
She invites another contemporary country tastemaker, Keith Urban, for a duet on "Tryin' to Find a Reason," but it's only one of many highlights. Others include the social commentary of "For These Times," the won't-be-a-victim tale of "Beautiful Again," and two love songs, "I'll Still Be Me" and "Love Land." The latter two couldn't be more different in their story lines but share a belief that humans can rise above their situations to see something good and lasting in enduring life's changes.
(Earlier story mistakenly said this was her first time producing. )
