Sara Evans is an icon in the country music industry and has been since she burst onto the scene in 1997 with her debut album ‘Three Chords and the Truth.’ Since then, she has topped the charts numerous times with such hits as ‘No Place That Far,’ ‘Born To Fly,’ ‘Suds In the Bucket,’ and ‘Real Fine Place To Start.’ Her beautiful and instantly recognizable voice is only equaled by the beauty of the woman herself, inside and out. Recently, Sara sat down with us here at New England Country Music to discuss how she got her start, her music, and other projects.
Sara was born in Boonville, Missouri and started singing at a very early age, “I grew up performing in bars and clubs with my family band when I was 5 years old. We’d mainly play country cover songs by the greats like Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, etc. When I got older, I started listening to more pop and rock.” She signed with RCA Nashville in 1995 and has been with the label ever since. This is what started her on the road to what song she considers to have given her career a huge boost and that she’s most proud of, “As far as a song on one of my albums, I’d have to say ‘Born To Fly’. It’s truly my life story and means so much to me. It was a number one at Country Radio and really helped catapult my career to a new level.”
We posed the question if she thinks that her music has evolved between her debut album and her most recent album, ‘Slow Me Down,’ and she says, “Absolutely…my first album was really retro country and kind of a throwback. I LOVED it and so did the critics, but at the time it was released Country Radio had started playing more pop sounding songs and there wasn’t a place for the sound of that album. It was frustrating but challenged me to dig deeper and really find my “Sara Evans” sound.”
All of her hard work has paid off over the years as she has been nominated for many awards and come away with her fair share of trophies. In 2006, she won what would be the most meaningful award of her career as she was honored at the ACM Awards with the Female Vocalist of the Year award.
In between all of the recording and touring, Sara has managed to have three amazing children (two daughter and one son). This certainly wouldn’t make it easy to balance such a successful music career and home life but she does it with ease, “I work really hard with my management team to make sure my husband and kids come first, no matter what! I have a black calendar book that contains everything….work stuff, school events, sports games , etc. It’s my lifeline.” And it seems that her children also have an impact on her musical influences nowadays as well, “I listen to a lot of pop and Top 40 right now because that’s what my kids mainly listen to. I love John Mayer, Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Pink, etc. I’m so excited about the new country artists breaking through too. There are some great voices and talents starting to emerge.”
Sara got to work with one of these great voices on her hit single, ‘A Little Bit Stronger,’ and that voice is none other than Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum. “Hillary is so sweet and was so gracious to come in and sing on ‘A Little Bit Stronger.’ She wrote the song about a very personal experience and I believe it was her first outside cut as a songwriter, so it was special to her in many ways. It’s been awesome watching her and Lady Antebellum earn the success that they have.”
Sara isn’t only an accomplished singer and loving mother, she also has found the time to write a few books and start a new blog. Naturally the discussion turned to these other projects in her already busy life including a book deal with Thomas Nelson Fiction. “I’m a big writer and had always wanted to find another way to tell stories beyond my songwriting. Thomas Nelson was so great to work with and connected me with Rachel Hauck who was my co-writer on the books. She helped take my ideas and worked with me to create the three books.” You can find the books for purchase here. Her newest project is called A Real Fine Place that she has started with her sister in law. “I’m so excited about my new blog that I’ve launched with my sister in law Kaelin Evans. Kaelin or KK does my hair, makeup and styles me. She’s one of my best friends and we decided to launch this lifestyle blog where we walk about fashion, beauty tips, cooking, our favorite travel destinations etc. It’s been so much fun.”
When she’s not touring, writing books, doing her blog or saving the world, she spends as much time with her family as possible. Seems her relaxing time is cooking for them and just being Mom. And when she gets some time for just herself she mixes in some tennis which is great considering what happened to her as a child. When she was 8 years old, she was hit by a car and broke both of her arms and legs. The doctors said she might not walk again but thankfully for her, and us fans, she made an amazing recovery.
Sara will be busy in the future as always with launching the second single from her ‘Slow Me Down’ and touring for the rest of the year. Her current tour runs through the beginning of November so make sure to catch the show if she’s in your area.
We here at New England Country music would like to thank Sara Evans for giving us the honor of interviewing her as we’re huge fans. Make sure to keep up to date with her on Twitter, Facebook, and on her website.
This article was written by Mike Sullivan who is a contributing writer for NECM. Follow him on Twitter.