Martina (CD - 2003)

John Mock (whistle); John Hobbs (piano, hammond B-3 organ); Tony Harrell (synthesizer); Glen Worf (bass); Lonnie Wilson, Matt Chamberlain (drums); David Huff (percussion, programming); Bryan Sutton, Vince Gill (background vocals).

Recorded at The Money Pit, Black Bird, Paragon Studios, Nashville, Tennessee; Skagg's Place, Hendersonville, Tennessee.

"This One's For The Girls" was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance.

Personnel: Martina McBride (background vocals); Bryan Sutton (acoustic guitar, mandolin); Marty Schiff, B. James Lowry, Biff Watson (acoustic guitar); Dann Huff, David Grissom, Paul Worley, J.T. Corenflos, Greg Foresman (electric guitar); Dan Dugmore (12-string guitar, steel guitar); Wayne Dahl, Paul Franklin (steel guitar); Jonathan Yudkin (mandolin, violin, fiddle, viola, cello); Ricky Skaggs (mandolin, background vocals); Karen Winkelmann, Connie Ellison, Chris Teal, Carl Gorodetzky, Pamela Sixfin, David Davidson , Lee Larrison, Alan Umstead, David Angell, Catherine Umstead, Cate Myer, Janet Askey (violin); Stuart Duncan (fiddle); Jim Grosjean, Kris Wilkinson, Monisa Angell, Gary VanOsdale (viola); Margaret Mason, Geoffrey Oshima, Felix Wang (cello); Nashville String Machine (strings); John Mock (pennywhistle); Jeffrey Taylor (accordion); Jim Medlin, John Hobbs (piano); Tony Harrell (Wurlitzer organ, synthesizer); Mark Fain (upright bass); David Lyndon Huff (drums, percussion, drum programming); Lonnie Wilson, Matt Chamberlain, Greg Herrington (drums); Tom Roady (percussion); Faith Hill, Kenny "Borgeois" Alphin, Hillary Lindsey, Robert Bailey, Jr. , Aimee Mayo, Sharon White, Troy Johnson , Vicki Hampton, Vince Gill, Wes Hightower, Kim Fleming, Carolyn Dawn Johnson (background vocals).

Audio Mixers: Clarke Schleicher; John McBride.

Recording information: Blackbird Studio, Nashville, TN; Paragon Studios, Nashville, TN; Skaggs Place, Hendersonville, TN; The MOney Pit.

Photographer: Andrew Eccles.

Arrangers: Jim Medlin; Martina McBride; Ricky Skaggs.

The sound of mainstream contemporary country hits you square in the face with no apologies on MARTINA. As on her earlier, massively successful albums, Nashville belter Martina McBride (you thought maybe the title referred to the tennis player?) continues in the style that garnered her a huge audience in the second half of the 1990s. The album is full of gently anthemic pop/country songs sporting simple lyrics full of positive messages. "She's a Butterfly," for example, sounds like it could have been the alternate theme for DAWSON'S CREEK, and the forthright "City of Love" seems tailor-made for an urban-renewal campaign commercial. Not that McBride doesn't speak directly to her audience--it's hard to get more direct than a shout-out like "this is for all you girls about 25" (from "This One's for the Girls," it changes to 42 in a later verse). Presumably, her message of standing tall against adversity is received loud and clear by those for whom it is intended. minimize