Waking Up Laughing (CD - 2007)

Personnel: Martina McBride (vocals); Keith Urban (guitar, background vocals); Biff Watson (acoustic guitar); Dann Huff (electric guitar); Jonathan Yudkin (mandolin, strings); Connie Ellisor, Karen Winkelmann, Elisabeth K. Small, Stefan Petrescu, Mary Kathryn Vanosdale, Bruce Wethey, Carl Gorodetzky, Pamela Sixfin, David Davidson , Alan Umstead, David Angell, Catherine Umstead (violin); Larry Franklin (fiddle); Kristin Wilkinson, Jim Grosjean, Monisa Angell, Gary VanOsdale (viola); Kirsten Cassel, Anthony LaMarchina, Sarighani Reist, Carole Rabinowitz-Neuen (cello); Nashville String Machine (strings); Steve Nathan (piano, Hammond b-3 organ, synthesizer); Gordon Mote (piano); Reese Wynans (Hammond b-3 organ); Glenn Worf (bass instrument); Vicki Hampton, Robert Bailey , Kim Fleming, Brett Warren (background vocals); Paul Worley (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Bryan Sutton (acoustic guitar, mandolin); B. James Lowry (acoustic guitar); Dan Dugmore (electric guitar, dobro); J.T. Corenflos, Steve Gibson, Brent Mason (electric guitar); Stuart Duncan (mandolin, fiddle); Tim Lauer (accordion, pump organ, synthesizer); Matt Chamberlain (drums); David Huff (percussion).

Audio Mixer: John McBride.

Liner Note Author: Judy Forde Blair.

Recording information: Blackbird Studios, Nashville, TN; Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA.

Photographer: Andrew Southam.

Unknown Contributor Roles: Shirley Settles; Darlene Hill; Pierre Womble; Elizabeth White; Rick Jones; Sara Settles; Renita Smith Crittendon; Fallon Settles; Todd Suttles; Ira Wayne Settles; Calvin Settles; Odessa Settles.

Martina McBride is one of the most reliable female performers in country music. Her bright, sunny twang-filled albums have been appearing on the charts since she first arrived on the scene in 1992. On her ninth studio album, WAKING UP LAUGHING, McBride continues to mine a slick, honky-tonk-tinged pop vibe that expertly splits the difference between commercial anthems ("How I Feel") and slightly tougher material ("Cry Cry [Til the Sun Shines]"). With her nearly flawless voice fully intact, McBride also co-produced and wrote several songs on the album--including the smash single "Anyway" and the harrowing, yet oddly sunny-sounding tale of hard times, "Beautiful Again"--making it perhaps the most personal album of her career.

Martina McBride scored big with Timeless, her collection of classic country tunes in 2005. It was yet another feather in the singer's cap. McBride's reign near the top of country music's pantheon has been near constant. She's picky about the songs she chooses to sing, she works with sympathetic producers, and her voice is, well, timeless. She's got the Southern twang, but its timbre carries within it a vast scope of American music. Check "Anyway," the first single and video from 2007's Waking Up Laughing, and one of two tunes on the set McBride had a hand in writing (and she produced the set herself -- she's earned the right). It's subject is to pray regardless, take the action and leave the result in the hands of Divine Providence: "God is great, but sometimes life ain't good/When I pray it doesn't always turn out like I think it should/But I do it anyway/I do it anyway." It's anthem to the beauty of failure, the courage in tenacity, and a testament to the willingness to do the right thing no matter how it turns out. It's got a massive string section, a slow, pronounced piano. The guitars crash against the strings in the refrain and the entire thing nearly lifts off the ground. The only thing holding it steady is McBride's big contralto. This kind of drama is her stock-in-trade. Celine Dion has nothing on her. Song itself is where McBride's quest as an artist resides. In the opener, "If I Had Your Name," rocking guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and big bad drums underscore McBride's scathing indictment of another's character flaws: "If I had your name/I'd be changin' it by now." A popping bassline and twin lead guitars fill the middle with menace and rage. "Everybody Does" feels like a flip side for "Anyway," with the subject of failure in love. "Loveland" and "House of a Thousand Dreams" have less of that large, theater-sounding dynamic. They are more traditionally "country" songs, a term that in the 21st century can mean almost anything -- and yes, that's good: it simply stands for American music these days. Waking Up Laughing is another brick in Martina McBride's astonishingly consistent catalog. Her continual affirmation for Christian faith may alienate some but will no doubt register with many country fans. Any way you look at it, Waking Up Laughing is a winner. ~ Thom Jurek minimize