Martina McBride

One Liner: Power-pop country ready made for belting out

Wikipedia Genre: Country, country pop
Home: Nashville (by way of Sharon, KS).

Saturday

Thoughts:  Another weird one.  I've definitely heard this name in my life, but I don't know any of these songs at all.  Well, that isn't entirely true, the biggest hit rings a bell in the way a song used for a Chevy commercial would ring a bell, but I don't recall ever just hearing it in a normal setting.

And what makes that so weird is that she is massive.  14 studio albums, four compilations, and a live album.  And eight of those have gone Platinum, with some others going Gold.  She has sold over 14 million albums.  She's won CMA's Female Vocalist of the Year four times, and AMC's Top Female Vocalist three times.  She's been nominated for 14 Grammys.  This is a major country star.  And yet, nope.  Don't remember these songs.

Martina Mariea Schiff was born in Sharon, KS in 1966.  Her parents owned a dairy farm and she initially started playing music in a family band her father fronted called the Schiffters.  Awful band name.  She later started performing with a rock band called The Penetrators.  Even worse band name!  She married studio engineer John McBride and they moved to Nashville, where the husband started working with Garth Brooks on his concert production.  Garth apparently told Martina that she could open for him, if she could score a recording contract first.  The rest is history. 

Wikipedia says she is pop-styled crossover country, in the mold of Faith Hill and Shania.  I can see it.  What I keep noticing as I listen to it is how breathy she seems to be on many of these songs.  There is probably an actual term for that sound, but it's like she is trying to add sexiness to the lyrics through extra breath.  Also, a lot of this is the cheesiest stuff in the world - like easy listening Magic-95-ass songs about how she sees who she wants to be in her daughter's eyes (as a swelling chorus of violins churns).  Ugh.

Her first album was 1992's The Time Has Come, but none of the songs on there appear to have stood the test of time with streaming.  The second album has one though, The Way That I Am was released in 1993 and has two of her biggest songs.  The top streamer in her whole catalog is one of those "Independence Day."  64 million.  Cue the Chevy Commercial.

Oooh yeah, starting of the video with "Amazing Grace," really reeling in those red state moms.  Shades of "Earl" but without the violence.  I bet you the funny thing is that dumb people play this on the 4th of July thinking it is a patriotic song, when it is really about an asshole abuser and a woman escaping his BS.  Again though, weird that I don't know that song in the slightest, and yet for a 30 year old song to have 65 million streams means it is a big ass song.

1995's Wild Angels has no songs as big as that one - "Wild Angels" is the top track with 6.3 million streams.  But 1997's Evolution has "A Broken Wing" (20.3 million) and "Valentine" (51.2 million) that appear to have broken out (and then a ton of tracks without even 100k streams, which just looks odd).  Here is that second one: 

Maybe that is her power move - she names songs after holidays so that people play them each year on the holiday and she profits.  That one for sure doesn't sound like country, more like Celine Dion.  1999's Emotion didn't have much going, but 2003's Martina hit with "This One's For the Girls," with 45 million streams.

Her dancing/hand motions are sending me, as is the super "rock and roll" guitarist they keep showing with her hair blowing and 'tude.  2005's Timeless is all covers, and no one appears to have cared.  Same with 2007's Waking Up Laughing, 2009's Shine, 2011's Eleven, 2014's Everlasting, and 2016's Reckless.  She re-released Eleven for some reason, in 2023, with a deluxe edition.  The top track from that is "I'm Gonna Love You Through It," with 15.6 million streams.

Hey, that's Sheryl Crow.  Ah, so this song isn't about a holiday, but it's her cancer anthem.  This lady is freaking smart about her song subjects.  If you want to get stream counts, write a cheesy anthem about loving someone through their cancer treatment.  Spot on.  Katie Couric!  "Teenage Daughters" reminds me of Alanis Morissette.  Which is weird.  

Yeah, without any nostalgia points on this one, I don't get a ton of excitement about seeing her.  She's still got a great voice and I'm sure she puts on a show, but I'd probably check out the other end of the park.