We, at New England Country Music, are continuing our series
spotlighting women in country music. While the acronym WCW, standing for ‘Women
Crush Wednesday,’ is often used for physical attraction, that is not the case
here. This series will feature talented women who are crushing the country
music scene.
It’s hard to believe that it’s September 11th. Eighteen years have past since that dreadful day in 2001. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday, and other times it feels like an eternity. As we, at NECM, reflect upon the sadness of that day, we remember all the innocent lives that were lost and all the families that were changed in a single moment. Our hearts go out to each and every one of you that has been affected by the tragedy of 9/11.
This week’s WCW is Sara Evans. The forty-eight-year-old singer/songwriter hails from Booneville, Missouri. She is oldest of seven siblings. The family lived on a farm and she started singing in the family band at the age of five. She was passionate about her pursuing her dreams and made the move to Nashville when she was twenty. A few years passed, and she began recording in Music City and was signed to RCA Nashville.
Evans first album, ‘Three Chords and the Truth,’ debuted in 1997. A year later she released her second album, ‘No Place That Far.‘ It was this album’s title track that produced Sara’s first Number One on the Hot Country Songs chart. In 2000, her third album, ‘Born to Fly,‘ was dropped. She went on to release four more albums: ‘Restless,’ ‘Real Fine Place,’ ‘Stronger,’ and ‘Slow Me Down.‘ After an almost twenty year run with RCA Nashville, Evans decided to part ways and start her own record label, Born to Fly Records. It was here that she released a fourteen-track album titled ‘Words.’ She told Billboard Magazine: “Eighty percent of this album will make you cry, and twenty percent will make you so happy. It’s really deep with incredible lyrics. That’s why I decided to call the album Words.” This past spring, Sara Evans created The Barker Family Band, consisting of herself, her son Avery, and her daughter Olivia. The trio dropped their self-titled EP in April and embarked on The Bloodline Tour.
Over the years, this WCW has had numerous nominations for many prestigious awards. In 1997, she won Billboard Music Video Awards’ Best Country New Artist Video of the Year. She took home the CMA Video of the Year for ‘Born to Fly’ in 2001. In 2004, she won BMI Country Awards’ 50 Most Performed Country Songs for ‘Perfect.’ And in 2006, she was awarded the ACM Award for Top Female Vocalist.
Keep your eyes out this month as Evans plans on releasing another album, titled ‘Little Bit Stronger.’
Sara Evans will be in New England this November. You can catch her at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, CT on Thursday, November 7th and at the Tupelo Music Hall in Derry, NH on Sunday, November 10th.
Be sure to download one of our favorites, ‘Born to Fly,‘ on Apple Music here.
On Saturday, February 17th, fans of all ages strolled into the Chevalier Theatre in Medford, MA for CMT’s Next Women of Country Tour. The annual tour is all about providing a stage, literally and figuratively, for female artists, including emerging female artists. This year, Sara Evans took Maine’s own Kalie Shorr and RaeLynn along with her on her All The LoveTour, which served as CMT’s Next Women of Country Tour.
Starting off the night, Kalie Shorr, a local to Portland, Maine, took the stage with guitar in hand and laughed about how happy she was to be back in the northeast seeing Dunkins on every corner. She opened with her very first single, ‘Fight Like a Girl.’ Kalie’s set list included a few singles off her brand new EP, ‘Awake,” you can check it out on Spotify here!She went on to tell the crowd that her first ever love song written was about how she fell in love, which of course was complicated. The crowd chuckled and she strummed her way into ‘Two Hands.’ Kalie could read the crowd and gave us a little bit of Shania Twain’s ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman,’ leading into another single off her new album, ‘Candy.’ Kalie shared with the crowd how she started at the age of 13 in a Nirvana cover band. She told us, “I love the crossover of rock and roll and country, both genres play on raw emotion and that’s what I love... and since I was never one, here is ‘Cool Kids.'” Following ‘Cool Kids,’ Kalie closed with ‘Awake’ and greeted some fans in the lobby as the rest of Chevalier waited in anticipation for RaeLynn and Miss Sara Evans. If you have the chance to catch Kalie, check her out, she admitted that although she “sells CDs and T-shirts, she gives out free hugs” and we can testify to that!
Lights dimmed and we were back in action. RaeLynn walked out singing ‘Wild Horse’ in a black sequenced top and thigh high boots. Kalie primed the crowd for RaeLynn and everyone was feeling the love. She continued with ‘God Made Girls’ and then threw it back to Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’ as she got the crowd singing along!
RaeLynn takes a moment to thank her fans. “Last year I released my debut album and it debuted at #1 because of fans like you. It was compared to Shania Twain, I can die a happy girl.” She explained that’s why she loves country music, the stories that each song tells. Explaining the backstory of ‘Love Triangle,’ “…the first song written in Nashville was about my parents divorce, thank you for loving it as much as I do.” ‘Love Triangle’ perfectly segwayed into another crowd favorite of ‘Lonely Call.’ Inviting Kalie back on stage, the duo wraps up with an ode to the Dixie Chicks with ‘I Can Love You Better’ and gets the crowd on their feet and the energy flowing! Leaving the crowd wanting more, RaeLynn has an exciting year ahead being the new face of the cosmetic brand Too Faced’s new collection, Life’s a Festival, which also inspired her new single, ‘Festival‘ – (Take a listen).
Just as Sara took the stage, the snow started to fall outside Chevalier, yet that didn’t make the crowd budge. She opened with ‘Long Way Down,’ a single off her new album, ‘Words.’ Taking a trip down memory lane, Sara belted out ‘A Real Fine Place to Start,’ ‘As If,’ and ‘Backseat of a Greyhound Bus’ mixing in a cover of some Gavin Degraw with ‘Not Over You.’ If you haven’t picked up on the theme of the night, love was in the air. Sara paused and explained her start in entertainment, “I’ve been on stage since I was 4 years old, I grew up copying great women like Patsy Cline, Reba and The Judds but we need more women in country radio,” as she gives a shout out to Kalie and Raelynn.
Sara led us into a segment of new songs from her recently released album, ‘Words.’ And as both Kalie and RaeLynn mentioned, country music is about emotion and telling stories. Sara started with ‘Diving in Deep’ which is about exactly that, making a decision and just going for it. Sara admitted that the next song, ‘All the Love You Left Me,’ was the saddest song to hear and to record and one of the hardest songs to sing but let us tell you, she killed it! As much as you didn’t want to feel the intimacy of the song, she reeled you in and left you with a loss of words.
Introducing her sister singing harmony and her brother on bass guitar behind her she explained, “I was one of seven, it’s like having built in best friends and always having someone looking out for you.” Sarah stepped back and sang ‘Night Light’ with her sister and brother where you could feel the love from your seat.
Lightning the mood, Sara asked the crowd if we’ve ever choose the wrong person… to work with, to love, to be friends with? Simply, “You thought they were good… but they were evil? I wrote this song about how bad that sucks… Business or friends, if only everyone came with a sign.” As the crowd laughs with her, ‘Marquee Sign’ quickly became a favorite of mine. Setting up the highly anticipated ‘A Little Big Stronger,’ Sara quickly added “because you didn’t have a warning sign… a break up song!”
Who remembers 2003’s ‘Suds in a Bucket?’ Sara admitted this single was almost overlooked, “I received a demo, an acoustic version, it was SO bad … my label didn’t understand.. but I know I had a hit.” Taking a few minutes, Sara sets up ‘Could Not Ask For More’ by introducing each member of her band who included lead guitarist who is also Carly Pearce’s boyfriend as well as her eldest son, Avery, on acoustic guitar! Surrounded by family and a dedicated band Sara really could not ask for more except maybe if her son got into Berkley College of Music where he auditioned earlier that day!
‘Born to Fly’ was on deck and Sara exited the stage only to return with ‘Words’ and Chicago’s ‘Hard to Say I’m Sorry.’ Rounding the night out, Sara invited Kalie and Raelynn back out and the crowd to stand as we all shared the love, dancing to ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!’
CMT’s Next Women of Country Tour spread the love honoring past women on the radio such as Shania Twain, Dixie Chicks and Cyndi Lauper. Each Kalie, RaeLynn and Sara have come such a long way from their first steps in the entertainment world. From the age 4 to the age of 13 being in a cover band to Raelynn partnering with a globally known cosmetic brand and Sara paving the way for two new female artists, the love did not go unnoticed in the Chevalier Theatre on that snowy Saturday night.
Did you catch our behind the scenes Instagram takeover by Kalie Shorr from this show? If not, you can check it out below.
