Trisha Yearwood is back.
Twelve years ago, in 2007, the Grammy and CMA award-winning singer and performer released her last country record, Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love. The critics called her voice robust and self-assured, and Yearwood one of the most "gifted female country balladeers to emerge in the last 30 years." She launched a cooking show, Trisha’s Southern Kitchen, on the Food Network channel, where fellow country stars such as Reba McEntire come over to make dishes like meatloaf. She joined her husband, Garth Brooks, on a three-year, 400-show tour. But it's time to get back to making music. Having released her new 14-song album, Every Girl, Yearwood comes to Stifel Theatre to perform October 25.
You know Yearwood for her powerful vocals (see: belting the lyric "She'd follow Tommy anywhere" from her 1991 hit “She’s in Love with the Boy") and young love themes (see: well, ditto). “Every Girl in This Town,” the single off the album—which debuted at number 21 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart—is a fresher take with no less impressive vocals. In it, Yearwood sings about being a girl with big dreams in a small town, not dissimilar to her childhood. And there's the ballad "Workin' on Whiskey," which kicks off the album with a poignant visual: "Never loved the way that I love you / You left a mark like an old tattoo." Every Girl also includes a cover of Bonnie Raitt’s “Home,” and guest spots with Brooks ("What Gave Me Away"), Kelly Clarkson ("Tell Me Something I Don't Know"), Patty Loveless ("Bible and a .44"), and sometime collaborator Don Henley ("Love You Anyway").
Here, St. Louis Magazine asks Yearwood about what’s different in making a country album after more than a decade and what she hopes St. Louisans take away from her upcoming performance.
How did you go about putting together the album? Why these songs?
When I started this project last year, I wasn't even thinking about radio or singles because I've been doing this for 28 years, and radio is a different beast than it was even 10 years ago, the last time I released an album. I didn't have any expectations of being played on the radio. I didn't know if we'd have a single, so it was kind of a freedom to just find songs that I loved. One of the first songs I found was “Every Girl in This Town,” and I don't remember thinking about the hit—I just remember thinking I love what it says.
I think the message resonates with a lot of women.
I do think it's a kind of girl power anthem without being preachy or on a soapbox. It's a song that hopefully girls and women see themselves in somehow. Just the struggles of having dreams and not giving up on those dreams and also realizing that whatever it looks like for you, it's OK. I love that line that says: “You got this, baby / So what if you don't.”
Do you see yourself in that song?
Definitely. The first line: “Every girl in this town's felt the wind in her hair / From the Ferris wheel spinnin' at the county fair”—yeah, I've been there. And that lyric: “Thinkin' it was love but it was just 17”—someone's been reading my diary [laughs]. That lyric takes you through all the growing pains of being a girl and all the dreams you have. … I remember having a dream of wanting to be a singer, and I was a little girl, and I lived in a very small town. There was no path that I could see to that. When you're little, you just go: “I don’t know how to do that. How am I going to get there?” But you're also at that age where you’re young enough to not really have doubts. … I think that song reminded me of all of that.
It's been 12 years since you made a country album and toured. What's different?
When I listen to the album, I hear joy in my voice. I also really like where my voice is living right now. I like the maturity of it—I don't know when that starts to go the other way [laughs]. But it feels good right now. It was fun to go in and just sing the songs and know that I could take them wherever I wanted to go vocally. Last night was our first show this tour. And I was really nervous because I haven't done it in a while, but being able to go out there and open your mouth and go, “OK, where do I want this to go?” and it went there—you know, it's fun. It feels more special than ever. And maybe it’s because I took that time to remember that this is something that is important for me to do for myself, that it feeds my soul.
You covered Bonnie Raitt’s “Home” on this album. Why that song? I read that you loved it as a young girl.
What's important to me is home and family. There's that feeling when you've been on the road, when you've been traveling and you’re coming back home. You get close to your house, and you just feel like you can take a breath. That's your sanctuary. As a kid, I loved that song. But I don't think it fully resonated with me until I traveled on the road all the time, to really get that feeling of going home. I felt that when I moved to Nashville at 19, and I was trying to get into the music industry. I would drive home to Georgia, and I’d get that feeling. ... That's kind of how I feel now when I come home to our house in Nashville. People always ask us about going on vacation, and we're like: “Well, we travel a lot. So our vacation really is that day that we get to sleep in, and I get to sit on the front porch and drink coffee. Maybe my husband gets on a tractor [laughs]—things that are really precious to us. That's what that song is about to me.
You have some impressive collaborators on this album—Kelly Clarkson, Don Henley, Patty Loveless, your husband, Garth Brooks...
After the songs are recorded, those voices you hear yourself singing harmony with kind of scream out. There's a couple of really high-soaring harmonies for a couple of songs that I just thought, “Man, I hear [Clarkson].” She's got another gear than most people—she's unbelievable … And then I think people assume that because I'm married to Garth Brooks that I can make him do anything—which might be true [laughs]. But I also don't want to abuse that relationship by expecting him to sing on the record. I wanted to make sure if I'm going to ask him to do that, that it is something special and it makes sense. The song is called “What Gave Me Away” and it's an intimate song about the person who basically has your number, and that's me with him. I couldn't imagine singing that with anybody but him. Henley and I have a history—he sang on “Walkaway Joe” [from Yearwood's 1992 album Hearts in Armor]. Growing up on The Eagles, to be able to sing with that voice is just surreal to me, and I never quite get over it. But when we recorded “Love You Anyway,” I really thought it was going to be a piano, vocals, and that would be it. And then I thought about Don Henley. And he was kind enough to do that. And Patty Loveless—I'm a fan. I kept hearing that kind of bluegrass harmony that she is so good at on "Bible and a .44." I think she made that record.
What do you hope concertgoers leave with on this tour?
Being on tour with Garth, I get to observe a lot. I watch people come in and be able to put the world outside the door for a couple hours. Just to be able to sit and hold hands with their person or put their arm around them and sing along to something that they remember. Now that I've been doing this for 28 years, to see people who liked “She’s in Love with the Boy” when they were kids and then they come to the show as adults and they're still singing along... to be able to escape whatever is happening in your life for a couple of hours is a good thing. I want it to feel like we got to visit together for a while.
