Trisha Yearwood

Trisha Yearwood

OUR FAVORITE YEARWOOD

Trisha Hits a High Note on REAL LIVE WOMAN
Although she's produced a steady stream of highlights on her journey from Garth Brook's backup singer to country music stardom, Trisha Yearwood scales new heights with REAL LIVE WOMAN. Coming off a year that has seen her private life in upheaval -- culminating in a divorce from husband Robert Reynolds of the Mavericks - Yearwood has turned adversity to strength, delivering the most intense and personal singing she has ever committed to tape. Talking via cell phone as Yearwood made her way through traffic on a Nashville interstate, David McGee got the goods on Trisha's triumph.

Barnes & Noble.com: Was there a model for this album in anything you had heard in the wide variety of music you listen to?

Trisha Yearwood: I think anything around 1975 to 1978 that Linda Ronstadt or Emmylou Harris did is probably the model. For every album before this I would listen to hundreds of songs and never know how the album was gonna go until we were making it. This is the first time I had taken some time off before starting another album. I really had in mind that I wanted to make a more organic record -- not a slick pop record, but a real record. This is the record I've always wanted to make. My biggest music influence, like I said, was Linda Ronstadt. There were steel guitars and fiddles dripping all over that stuff. I've always wanted to make that record, so let's make it now. The songs had to fit those criteria. They couldn't be too pop, yet the Ronstadt-Emmylou stuff has elements of rock 'n' roll more than pop in it. It kinda had to fall into that category. I thought, "Would they cut this?"

BN: To me this isn't a pop record, and it isn't a country record. It's almost indefinable.

TY: That's good. I do like a lot of different kinds of music. The hardest thing for me is to have all the songs seem like they belong on that album. It's a challenge.

BN: Knowing about the upheaval in your life in the past year or so, it's difficult not to hear this album as your diary of discontent. Was it your aim to make REAL LIVE WOMAN that kind of personal statement?

TY: Not consciously. I remember when my personal life seemed perfect and I would sing sad songs. I would be asked, "How can you sing about being so depressed when you're so happy?" Well, I'm an artist. It's like asking Dustin Hoffman, "How can you play an ax murderer when you're not one in real life?" You can play a role. Even though the past year was a real roller-coaster for me and some of the album definitely is related to that, there's not as much to find in there as people will think they find. But that's okay. Music has always been a means for me to express things that I would not necessarily express otherwise, being a private person who doesn't wear her heart on her sleeve. I think this is the first album where I've said, "Yeah, this album's about me." It's very honest and vulnerable and out there.

BN: Then was it a more difficult album to get through in the recording process, reliving those experiences as you cut the songs?

TY: I think it helped the process. I've always had a flair for the dramatic anyway. Again, music is where I kind of let it all go. But I think the thing that was most important was to not shy away from a song, either because it was very personal or because people would assume it was. Just not to worry about that, to make music for music's sake, and to record songs because they move you in some way.

BN: Is there a particular song which is closer to the reality of your own experience than any of the others?

TY: Every song on this album -- and I've never said this about an album before -- is so close to my heart, because I spent so much time working on it. For me this is almost an impossible album to pick singles off of, because every song had to be on this album. The song that popped into my head when you asked the question is "Some Days Are Better Than Others" -- something I've said all my life. Most of us are not happy all the time or miserable all the time; there's an element of both. That's what is real about it, and I think that's what most of these songs are about.

BN: You sing it, "Some days are better than," and then there's a beat, and you come back and sing the word "others." You can read worlds into it because of the pause. It's not a simple declarative statement anymore.

TY: That's true. When people listen to music, they don't dwell on what a song means to Trisha Yearwood. They're interpreting it according to what it means in their lives. That's what we all do with music. So that's what I hope people will do. It's always amazing to me to receive letters from people about the songs that I record. Everybody has a different experience, and everybody's reaction to a song is different.

BN: Is it true that the last song on the album, "When a Love Song Sings the Blues," came in at a point when you thought you had finished the album?

TY: Oh, yeah, definitely! There's almost always an 11th-hour song that shows up when you think you don't need one. Matraca Berg is one of my favorite writers, and jokingly I was calling this album "Matrisha Yearwood," because I cut three songs of hers. If I could pick a songwriter to be, it would be her. She gets it; she gets what's going on in my head. When I heard that song, you know, I thought, "I know we don't need another ballad; we don't need to go back in," but those are the wrong reasons for not recording a song. The last cut on the album is always my pick and my favorite, and it was just the obvious choice for the last cut. Beautiful, beautiful song.

BN: Your relationship with your producer, Garth Fundis, is starting to take on historical proportions, a la Patsy Cline's with Owen Bradley, or Tammy Wynette's with Billy Sherrill. What have you learned in working with Garth, both as an artist and as a producer?

TY: As an artist, he is my concept reinforcer, the person who says, "You're doing the right thing musically," and who maintains that following your heart and making music for music's sake is the right way to go. We're in an age when image, marketing, and sales, you name it, are affecting artists' choice of songs. It takes away from what music is supposed to be about. It's really important, if you want to call yourself an artist, to have someone in your corner telling you you're right not to think about those things in the studio. Garth is a song man, and I definitely wouldn't be where I am without his guidance. I knew since I was 12 years old that I wanted to sing like Linda Ronstadt. I knew the kinds of songs I wanted to record. But you need someone to tell you, "You're right. That's a good song." Or, "I just don't hear it."

BN: How have you avoided being ground up by the Nashville music machine?

TY: I don't know. No matter what the industry asks for, the one place in my career where I've never compromised is my music. And I've always been prepared that it might cost me big sales or success. I think it's because my goals are different. Of course, I want to have hits and sell records, because I want to continue to do what I do. But the bottom line for me -- what gives me comfort, what makes me satisfied -- is knowing I've made the album I wanted to make. As an artist, I've satisfied myself. I'll be interested to see what sales are on this album, but I'm sleeping well right now. I wouldn't change a thing on this album. I've also had a label that's been pretty supportive. We've always done well sales-wise, and I've kind of been on that fence where I've sold enough records to make them happy but I haven't had to compromise my musical integrity. It's a nice place to be. I'm really happy with the way it's gone so far.

David McGee