Sara Evans- Unbroke
Label: Melody Place
Producers: Sara Evans, Jeff Trott
The country music stalwart emerges with her first studio record after a four-year gap, a turbulent personal period that bore witness to an abusive fracture in her second marriage, before it remarkably recovered last year. When her first marriage similarly blew up in the tabloids at the peak of her commercial success in 2006, Evans chose mostly not to acknowledge it in her music. This time around however is a different story: not only did she and her husband reconcile, but the discourse also proved to be the inspirational thread for her tenth LP. Not only must this have led to some uncomfortable dinner-table conversations, but it also has produced one of her very best records. It confidently ranks up there with her peak, Y2K-era trifecta of Born to Fly (2000), Restless (2003), and Real Fine Place (2005). Her soaring vocal range sounds marvelous as ever, and her oft-overlooked songwriting specs are given a generous showcase throughout, mostly via heart-wrenching and torchy material like “I Wanna Be Wrong”, “Mask”, “Cleaning Out Your Closet”, lead single “Pride”, and the gutting title track. These beautifully painful moments are peppered with a charming chestnut like “21 Days” here, and a biting rocker like “Sorry Now” there, all while connecting back to the staggering romantic pain and recovery that serves as the impetus for the entire album’s arc. Co-produced with Jeff Trott, a pivotal collaborator of Sheryl Crow during her 90s heyday, Unbroke does not offer the stylistic call-backs that many may have expected with Evans’ pivot to the indie scene, i.e. a return to the retro-Bakersfield of her critically-heralded early music, or the grassy mountain-rock Patty Loveless flavor that Evans so-often cites in interviews. Rather, this is produced precisely in the same polished country-pop waters that ultimately became her bread & butter. She continues to pull it off with as much joyful and inspired aplomb as anyone past or present, fitting given that she was really the sole-survivor of that crop of 90s-00s women when she last topped the airplay charts in 2011. While listeners may be left craving a return to those grittier roots at this stage in her discography, I’ll gladly continue to ride a more contemporary streak with Evans when it sounds this memorably solid. It won’t register her the kind of chart magic it would have in 2004. Rather, she will have to settle for the indie-acclaim it should deservedly bring her for crafting one of the very best contemporary country albums of the year.
Track List
- “Pride” (Sara Evans, Madi Diaz, Sean McConnell)
- “21 Days” (Evans, Melissa Fuller, Jeff Trott)
- “Mask” (Evans, Chris DeStefano, Emily Shackleton)
- “Cleaning Out Your Closet” (Evans, Alex Kline, Allison Veltz-Cruz)
- “Heartless” (Evans, Trott, Ashley Monroe, Andrew Paul Petroff)
- “Downfall” (Evans, Trott, McConnell)
- “I Wanna Be Wrong” (Evans, Karyn Rochelle)
- “Sorry Now” (Evans, Rochelle, Shane Stevens)
- “Better Than This” (Evans, Daniel Tashian, Marc Beeson)
- “Unbroke” (Evans, Ryan Beaver, Adam Hambrick)
- “Gypsy Ways” (Evans, Fuller Trott)
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