Martina McBride - Eleven (2011)

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Martina McBride - Eleven (2011)

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Eleven is aptly titled: it's Martina McBride's 11th album, contains 11 songs, and is her debut for Republic Nashville. McBride co-wrote over half the album and co-produced it with Byron Gallimore. Her husband, John McBride, engineered, mixed, and offered excellent creative advice. "I'm Gonna Love You Through It," the album's well-known single, deals with surviving the ordeal of breast cancer. It's a socially conscious anthem of the type that McBride has recorded throughout her career, and although it's typically inspiring and beautifully performed, it doesn't really reflect the album as a whole; "One Night," the celebratory opening number with ringing electric guitars, fat drums, and her soaring voice, is a stellar pop/rock jaunt and offers a real clue. "Marry Me," a cover of a Train song, features their lead vocalist (and the song's author) Pat Monahan in a guest duet that shifts the song's meaning from a lone lover's question to a couple's affirmation. "Always Be This Way," with its acoustic guitars, Wurlitzer, and ukulele, has a reggae backbeat carrying an irresistible hook; its natural groove is tight. "Broken Umbrella" is retro, with a Wurlitzer, horns, and a hip, old-school drum sound; it could have been sung by Dusty Springfield. "You Can Get Your Lovin' Right Here" is a strutting, funky, sultry tune with horns and a beautiful B-3 line underscoring its nod to Southern soul inside a pop arrangement. "Watcha Gonna Do" feels like McBride is fronting with a country band backed by Booker T. & the MG's. Its midtempo, deeply emotional groove underscores the protagonist's independence and backbone in telling her lover to step up his game or leave. "Teenage Daughters," the second single, is a nod to contemporary country radio but cracks open and rocks hard from the middle on out. "Summer of Love" will appeal to country audiences, but it's actually a skillfully performed pop song. "When You Love a Sinner" is the only actual country song on the album; it acknowledges McBride's roots without nostalgia or pandering. "Long Distance Lullaby" is a gorgeously arranged, string-laden ballad about loneliness, experienced as physical distance between the road-traveling protagonist and her family. Eleven is an extremely classy record by a stellar vocalist and capable songwriter. It proves McBride has plenty to offer an entirely new audience, and showcases her transition from country singer to skillful performer of elegant, hooky, adult contemporary, pop/rock music. Eleven is a new beginning for, not a summation of, McBride's career.–by Thom Jurek

1. One Night 4:15
2. Always Be This Way 3:26_Play_
3. I'm Gonna Love You Through It 3:48
4. Marry Me 3:45
5. Broken Umbrella 3:17_Play_
6. You Can Get Your Lovin' Right Here 3:46
7. Whatcha Gonna Do 3:57
8. Teenage Daughters 4:08
9. Summer Of Love 4:20_Play_
10. When You Love A Sinner 2:56
11. Long Distance Lullaby 2:51

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Martina McBride - Eleven (2011)

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BIO: Contemporary country singer Martina McBride rose to stardom in the late '90s, starting out with a more traditionalist approach and later moving into more pop-friendly territory. She was born Martina Mariea Schiff in 1966 in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, and discovered country music through her father, who led a local band called the Schifters. By her teen years, she was singing and playing keyboards with the Schifters, and after high school she gigged around Kansas with several different bands. She married soundman John McBride, and in 1990 the couple moved to Nashville, where John worked for artists like Charlie Daniels and Ricky Van Shelton. Martina, meanwhile, worked as a demo singer and enlisted her husband to produce her demo tape, which got her signed to RCA in 1991. Around the same time, John was hired as Garth Brooks' production manager, which helped land Martina an opening slot on tour with Brooks.Her debut album, The Time Has Come, was released in 1992, offering a set of songs indebted to traditional honky tonk and progressive-minded country-folk. The pop-inflected 1993 follow-up, The Way That I Am, was her commercial breakthrough, with the lead single "My Baby Loves Me" zooming up the country charts to the number two position. The affecting story-song "Independence Day" became something of a signature number, and another single, "Life #9," also reached the Top Ten.McBride's 1995 follow-up, Wild Angels, gave her a second Top Five hit in "Safe in the Arms of Love," and its title track became her first-ever number one single. Released in 1997, Evolution became her first Top Ten country album, and the Jim Brickman duet "Valentine" not only went Top Ten, but crossed over to become her first big hit on the adult contemporary charts. Evolution went on to spawn two number two hits ("Happy Girl" and "Whatever You Say") and two number one hits ("A Broken Wing" and "Wrong Again"), and sold over two million copies, launching McBride into the top rank of country stardom. She issued a Christmas album in late 1998 and returned with a proper follow-up, Emotion, in 1999. Its lead single, "I Love You," hit number one on the country charts and also crossed over to adult contemporary radio, and the follow-ups "Love's the Only House," "There You Are," and "It's My Time" were all successful as well (the first two also reached the Top Ten).The Greatest Hits compilation released in 2001 was the first McBride album to top the country charts, and sold well enough to make the pop Top Five as well. It contained four new tracks, all of which were eventually released as singles; "Blessed" hit number one, and "When God-Fearin' Women Get the Blues" and "Where Would You Be" both reached the Top Ten. The self-titled Martina from 2003 celebrated womanhood, while Timeless from 2005 was a collection of country classics; both became Top Ten album hits, the latter reaching number three. Waking Up Laughing appeared in 2007 from RCA Records. The CD/DVD set Live in Concert was issued in 2008, followed by Shine in 2009 from RCA. McBride next moved to the Republic Nashville label, which released her 11th studio album, the aptly named Eleven, in 2011.–by Steve Huey