Wild Angels (CD - 1995)

Personnel: Martina McBride (vocals, tambourine); Paul Worley (high-string acoustic, acoustic & electric guitars, 6-string bass); Biff Watson, Billy Joe Walker, Jr. (acoustic guitar); Dan Dugmore (electric guitar, steel guitar, dobro); Dann Huff, Larry Byrom (electric guitar); Charlie Whitten, Rusty "Pedal" Danmyer, Russ Pahl (steel guitar); Larry Franklin (mandolin, fiddle); James Darrell Scott, Eric Silver (mandolin); Carl Gorodetsky, Pamela Sixfin, Kristin Wilkinson, Robert Mason (strings); John Hobbs (piano, keyboards); Steve Nathan (keyboards); Joe Chemay (bass, fretless bass); Lonnie Wilson, Eddie Bayers (drums); Curtis Young, Harry Stinson, Larry Marrs, Vicki Hampton, Ashley Cleveland, Mary Ann Kennedy, Pam Rose, Dennis Wilson, Levon Helm (background vocals).

Producers: Martina McBride, Paul Worley, Ed Seay.

"Safe In The Arms Of Love" was nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

Personnel: Martina McBride (vocals, tambourine, background vocals); Billy Joe Walker, Jr., Paul Worley, Biff Watson (acoustic guitar); Dan Dugmore (electric guitar, steel guitar); Dann Huff, Larry Byrom (electric guitar); Rusty Danmyer, Russ Pahl (steel guitar); James Darrell Scott, Eric Silver (mandolin); Larry Franklin (fiddle); Kristin Wilkinson, Robert Mason , Pamela Sixfin (strings); John Hobbs (piano, keyboards); Steve Nathan (keyboards); Joe Chemay (fretless bass); Lonnie Wilson, Eddie Bayers (drums); Larry Marrs, Chris Young, Dennis Wilson , Harry Stinson, Levon Helm, Mary Ann Kennedy, Pamela Rose, Ashley Cleveland, Vicki Hampton (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Ed Seay.

Recording information: Dark Horse Studio; JTM Studio; Money Pit; Music Mill; Quad Studio; Sony Tree Studio; Sound Emporium Studio.

Photographer: James OMara.

Arranger: Dennis Burnside.

Coming two years after her smash The Way That I Am and her mind-bogglingly successful single, "Independence Day," Martina McBride had nothing to prove -- except to the folks in accounting at her record company. Wild Angels continues her exploration of melding classic country influences and modern pop -- long before Shania Twain dreamed it -- in the same way (albeit in a radically different time and context) that Patsy Cline did 30 years earlier. Using the same production team of Ed Seay, Paul Worley, and herself -- with a literal boatload of engineers -- McBride and company assembled a fine collection of songs and performers, including the Band's Levon Helm and Ashley Cleveland on backing vocals, to deliver a powerful set that is her most consistent yet despite not having a single as memorable as "Independence Day" (but you only get those once or twice in a lifetime anyway, right?). Here there are many standout tracks, not the least among them being a rocking & rolling country version of Delbert McClinton's classic "Two More Bottles of Wine" that blows away Emmylou Harris' version and rivals McClinton's. In addition, there are a couple of Matraca Berg cuts, including the modern country title track and the soulful weeper "Cry on the Shoulder of the Road." The Bunch/Stinson-penned "You've Been Driving All the Time" has that irresistible lead-in of acoustic guitars that gives way to compressed ringing electrics that underscore her voice so well and make the track a winner. But there aren't any weak moments here, and McBride proves for the third time that she not only is for real, but that she has the ability a lot of her peers don't to make consistently engaging, moving, and memorable music from album to album. That's an achievement. ~ Thom Jurek minimize