McBride on a long country road
Her career,
and her voice, are still strong after 12 years
01:00 AM EDT on
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Before "Independence Day," before
she was crowned female vocalist of the year for the third time by the Country
Music Association, Martina McBride was a
As a teen, she would arrive home after school,
play her favorite records by Linda Ronstadt and Pat Benatar, and "sing, sing, sing until I got every
note."
But louder callings came from country music.
Her father, a singer in a
"I lived in a very rural area,"
McBride, who opens for Alan Jackson Friday at the Dunkin' Donuts Center in
"I'm sure if I had grown up in
So in 2004, is she still in
In many ways, yes. McBride's latest
album, Martina, illuminates her country roots in a song called "Reluctant
Daughter." Laden with accents of gospel and bluegrass, it sports one of
McBride's most efficiently emotive vocal performances.
But in December, she sang on an episode of CMT's Crossroads with rock idol Benatar.
Sure, McBride has walked the lines between country and pop before, but never
had the turfs been so deliriously blurred.
The two singers teamed for "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," a huge single for Benatar in the early '80s, and "Independence
Day," which, nearly a decade after its release, remains McBride's
signature tune.
"I never, ever dreamed I would be
standing on a stage watching Pat Benatar sing one of
my songs," McBride said. "That's a bigger dream than I could
imagine."
Another dream has been career longevity. She
has achieved that, too. Her recording and touring visibility has broadened
steadily since her debut album was issued in 1992. Though not all of her
records became hits, Martina entered the Billboard country album charts last
fall at No. 1.
"I think most artists will tell you
having a 10-year career that is really strong is about
the best you could hope for. So it's interesting that, 12 years into it, mine
is still ascending," she said. "I think that's the result of not
being too overexposed and building a solid fan base over a long period of time.
I haven't had the kind of career that came out of the box in a really big way.
But looking back, that was a blessing."
A month after Martina's big debut, McBride's
artistic profile grew among peers when she won her third CMA vocal trophy.
"It's certainly a different kind of
excitement," McBride said. "There is nothing like the first time you
do anything. Winning the first CMA was very exciting because we had been
nominated so many times before and didn't win. The third win was more like an
affirmation, a validation that it wasn't a fluke the other times."
And the fun isn't about to stop, though her
nomination for best female country vocal performance -- for the Martina hit
"This One's for the Girls" -- fell before the juggernaut of the late
Johnny and June Carter Cash at February's Grammy Awards.
"Here's the thing about having a career
like this," McBride said. "So much of it is really out of your hands.
You can make decisions about what songs you record, what appearances you want
to make, about what you will do and what you won't. But then you're thrown to
the public. It's all up to the fans at that point.
"I've had an amazing career. I've been
able to have a family. I've been able to have it all, really. Anything that
happens from here on out, frankly, is a bonus."
Alan Jackson and Martina McBride play the
Dunkin' Donuts Center,