''Evolution'' is the fourth studio album by American
country music artist
Martina McBride. It was released in August 1997 by
RCA Nashville. The album produced six singles, all of which have charted on the US ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...
chart. The first single, "
Still Holding On", is a duet with
Clint Black and was originally recorded by Black on his 1997 album ''
Nothin' but the Taillights
''Nothin' but the Taillights'' is the seventh studio album by American country music singer Clint Black. Black co-wrote many of the songs with others and played much of the guitar himself for this album.
"Something That We Do", "Nothin' but the ...
''. "Still Holding On" peaked at number 11. The second and fifth singles, "
A Broken Wing" and "
Wrong Again", both reached number one. "A Broken Wing" was also McBride's first single to chart on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was her first major crossover hit. The album's third single, "Valentine", a duet with
Jim Brickman", is a re-recording of a song which Brickman and McBride previously released from his 1997 album ''Picture This''. The original ''Picture This'' version charted at #3 on the AC charts and #68 on the country charts, while the re-recording featured on the ''Evolution'' album was a Top 10 country hit, with a peak at number 9. The fourth and six singles, "
Happy Girl
"Happy Girl" is a song written by Beth Nielsen Chapman and Annie Roboff, and recorded by American country music singer Martina McBride. It was released in April 1998 as the third single from McBride’s album ''Evolution''. It reached a peak of #2 ...
" and "
Whatever You Say
"Whatever You Say" is a song written by Ed Hill and Tony Martin and recorded by American country music artist Martina McBride. It was released in February 1999 as the fifth and final single from McBride’s album ''Evolution.'' The song peaked ...
", both peaked at number 2. The album was certified 3× Platinum by the
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
.
"I'm Little But I'm Loud" is a recording of McBride when she was seven years old.
This was McBride's first album to have a crossover-friendly
country-pop sound, which was a departure from her earlier
neotraditional country albums.
Track listing
Personnel
* Martina McBride – vocal (1), lead vocals (2-13),
tambourine (4, 6, 9, 10, 12), backing vocals (6, 9, 12, 13), all vocals (14)
* John Hobbs – acoustic piano (2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13),
Hammond B3 organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...
(6, 12)
* Tim Lauer –
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
(2, 9),
harmonium (9)
*
Matt Rollings – Hammond B3 organ (3)
* Robbie Buchanan – acoustic piano (7)
*
Jim Brickman – acoustic piano (14)
*
Dan Shea – synthesizers (14), rhythm programming (14)
* Daryl Schiff – acoustic guitar (1)
*
Billy Joe Walker Jr. – acoustic guitar (2-5, 8, 10, 11), electric guitar (6, 13)
*
Biff Watson – acoustic guitar (2, 4, 8, 9, 11, 12)
*
Paul Worley – acoustic guitar (3, 5, 6, 9, 12), 12-string guitar (9), guitar thumping (13)
*
Dean Parks – acoustic guitar (7)
*
Dann Huff – electric guitar (2-14), electric guitar solo (3, 6), 12-string electric guitar (6), 6-string bass (9), gut-string guitar solo (11)
*
Brent Mason – electric guitar (3)
*
Clint Black – electric guitar (7), lead vocals (7)
* Pat Bergeson – electric guitar (12)
*
Paul Franklin –
steel guitar
A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...
(3, 13)
*
Dan Dugmore – steel guitar (4, 5, 6, 8–11), 12-string guitar (12)
*
Joe Chemay – bass (2-13)
*
Mike Brignardello – bass (14)
*
Lonnie Wilson – drums (2-6, 8–13)
*
John Robinson John Robinson may refer to:
Academics
*John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist
* John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood''
*John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist
*John ...
– drums (7)
* Tom Roady – percussion (2, 13),
conga
The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...
s (2),
shaker
Shaker or Shakers may refer to:
Religious groups
* Shakers, a historically significant Christian sect
* Indian Shakers, a smaller Christian denomination
Objects and instruments
* Shaker (musical instrument), an indirect struck idiophone
* Cock ...
s (2), tambourine (2)
*
Chris Carmichael –
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
(2)
*
Stuart Duncan
Stuart Duncan (born April 14, 1964) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo.
Life
Duncan was born in Quantico, Virginia, and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band. He ...
– fiddle (9),
mandolin
A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...
(9)
*
Larry Franklin – fiddle (13)
* Jim Hoke –
penny whistle
The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria. ...
(2)
*
The Nashville String Machine
Nashville String Machine is a musical collective comprising session musicians, based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Members of the group have been credited on records dating from 1972 to the present, although the group was formally formed ...
– strings (14)
* Ronn Huff – string arrangements and conductor (14)
* Carl Gorodetzky – string contractor (14)
*
Kim Richey – backing vocals (2)
* Gene Miller – backing vocals (3)
*
Herb Pederson – backing vocals (3)
* Bob Bailey – backing vocals (4)
* Kim Fleming – backing vocals (4)
* Vicki Hampton – backing vocals (4)
*
Sara Evans – backing vocals (5, 8)
*
Neil Thrasher – backing vocals (5, 8)
* Danny Wilde – backing vocals (6, 9)
* Steve Real – backing vocals (7)
* Liana Manis – backing vocals (10)
*
John Wesley Ryles – backing vocals (10)
*
Susan Ashton
Susan Ashton (born Susan Rae Hill; July 17, 1967) is an American contemporary Christian music and country music artist who topped the Christian charts throughout the 1990s. In 1991 she began using her mother's maiden name, Ashton, when she rec ...
– backing vocals (12)
*
Mary Ann Kennedy – backing vocals (12)
*
Jason Sellers – backing vocals (13)
Production
*Produced By Paul Worley, Martina McBride, James Stroud, Dan Shea & Clint Black
*Engineered By Derek Bason, Al Grassmick, Tony Green, Eric Hellerman, Brent King, Julian King, Dean Jamison, John Nelson, Eric Legg, Jeanne Schiff, Clarke Schleicher & Ed Seay
*Mixed By Chuck Ainlay, Derek Bason & Mick Guzauski
*Mastered By Denny Purcell
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Singles
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
1997 albums
Martina McBride albums
RCA Records albums
Albums produced by Paul Worley