Trisha Yearwood is one of the greatest female country music singers of all time. While her biggest successes occurred in the 1990's as far as awards, album sales and charting singles, she continues to produce great music. (Wikipedia is a good source for information about her career highlights and how well her cd's and singles fared on the charts.) She's equally comfortable with power ballads and up-tempo rockers. There's definitely some Ronstadt in her.
As I pointed out in my posting about Hal Ketchum, if you're just discovering a great artist it could be a problem ($$$) if that singer has released a dozen or so cd's. That is the case with Trisha. She's had 10 studio albums, a Christmas cd and a few greatest hits collections. You could just buy her greatest hits cd's but you'd be missing quite a few terrific songs, including some on her new cd's. You could buy many of her early cd's for under $8 on various internet sources. Having the cd's is nice if you want the lyrics and information as to who wrote the songs, who sang backup, etc. Trisha's cd's have featured terrific singers who have provided back-up for her including Don Henley, Raul Malo, Vince Gill, Kim Richey and, of course, Garth Brooks. You could also buy individual songs on i-tunes or some other source after listening to sources like the 30 second snippets on i-tunes, Trisha's myspace or you-tube. I'll give you my opinion here as to what are the best songs on each cd. Tastes differ so I admit that this is not a perfect solution and I certainly claim no expertise.
Here are her cd's with the songs I liked best:
Her 1991 debut cd "Trisha Yearwood" featured her first big hit "She's in Love with the Boy" along with "The Woman Before Me", "That's What I like About You", "Like We Never Had a Broken Heart" and "You Done Me Wrong (And that Ain't Right)".
"Hearts in Armor" included "Wrong Side of Memphis", "Nearest Distant Shore", "You Say You Will", "Down on My Knees", "For Reasons I've Forgotten", "Walkaway Joe" and the title track. You get seven terrific songs and the other three aren't bad plus great backup singers contributing throughout, especially Don Henley on "Walkaway Joe" and Raul Malo on "For Reasons I've Forgotten".
1993 brought us "The Song Remembers When". Unfortunately, that great Hugh Prestwood song was the only song worth remembering from the weakest cd of her career.
In 1995 she bounced back with one of her best cd's, "Thinkin' About You". In addition to the title track, this cd featured "XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl)", "You Can Sleep While I Drive", "On a Bus to St. Cloud", "Those Words We Said" "O, Mexico", "I Wanna Go Too Far" and "Till I Get it Right".
"Everybody Knows" from 1996 featured "It's Alright" (great harmony again by Raul Malo), "Believe Me Baby I Lied", "I Need You", "Little Hercules", "Under the Rainbow", "Maybe It's Love" (great harmony by Vince Gill) and "A Lover is Forever" in addition to the title track.
1997 brought us "Songbook: A Collection of Hits. It included songs that had not appeared on her previous cd's such as "How do I Live" (better than LeAnn Rimes's version), "In Another's Eyes", a duet with Garth Brooks, and "Perfect Love". The biggest omission in my opinion was a Gretchen Peters song "On A Bus to St. Cloud". How could such a beautiful song not be a hit. According to wikipedia it only made it to #59 on the US Country chart.
"Where Your Road Leads" in 1998 featured "There Goes My Baby", "That Ain't the Way I Heard It", "Powerful Thing", "Love Wouldn't Lie to Me", "Wouldn't Any Woman", "I'll Still Love You More", "Heart Like a Sad Song" in addition to the title song, a duet with Garth Brooks.
The new century brought us "Real Live Woman". In addition to the title track it included "Sad Eyes", a Bruce Springsteen song, Linda Ronstadt's "Try Me Again", and a rocking "Too Bad You're No Good". The rest of the songs were ok at best. If I had listened to the cd before purchasing it, I would have just bought a few song on i-tunes if there was an i-tunes in 2000.
In 2001 things turned "Inside Out" with help from Don Henley. Other outstanding tracks included "I Would Have Loved You Anyway", "For a While", "Seven Year Ache" (with Rosanne Cash), "Harmless Heart", "I Don't Paint Myself into Corners", "Second Chance", "Melancholy Blue" and "When We Were Still in Love".
"Jasper County" came out just over 3 years ago in September '05. "Georgia Rain" was the first hit from that cd and "Trying to Love You", a better song in my humble opinion, was the 2nd and last single. There was a video for the latter song with horses that seemed a little strange since it didn't seem to connect with the song very well. The rest of the cd was pretty forgettable except for two songs, the sassy "Sweet Love" and the brilliant Maia Sharp and Sarah Majors song "Standing Out in a Crowd", an up-tempo uplifting tune. Both songs were better than "Georgia Rain".
Her latest cd (2007), "Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love", shows that she hasn't lost a thing. In fact, it is one of the best cd's she has ever made. In addition to the rocking gospel like title track, "This Is Me You're talking To", "Sing You Back to Me" and "The Dreaming Fields" are outstanding while "Nothin' 'Bout Memphis", "Let the Wind Chase You" (with Keith Urban), "Cowboys Are My Weakness", "Help Me" and "They Call It Falling for a Reason" are also very good songs. A story song like "The Dreaming Fields", penned by Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison, is probably too beautiful a song to ever be a single.
In addition to the above studio cd's, she came out with a Christmas cd, "The Sweetest Gift" in 1994. It didn't do much for me. The best song was "It Wasn't his Child" written by Skip Ewing. Loved her duet with Garth on "Squeeze Me In" from his "Scarecrow" cd. In '07 MCA came out with a second greatest hits cd and in '08 with a cd called "Love Songs". These cd's still leave out over 2 dozen outstanding songs that were not hits. I have mentioned in previous posts that I like to make up cd's to play on car trips from songs on cd's I own with an occasional add from i-tunes. I made up a great cd from these "non-hits" plus a 22 song cd I called "Mary & Trisha Rock" where I alternate Trisha songs like"Believe Me Baby I Lied", "You Say You Will" and "Seven Year Ache" with Mary Chapin Carpenter songs like "Shut Up and Kiss Me", "I Feel Lucky" and "I Take My Chances".
One final note: Trisha. Please play the beautiful Schermerhorn Symphony Center. My wife and I don't care for arena shows and the Ryman is so uncomfortable. A singer of your talents should be showcased in the best acoustic setting possible.
I totally agree with your estimation of Tricia - She is one of the best ever. I think songwriters should remember her in their wills, if she sings any of their songs. She can make very mediocre lyrics sound great just by the feeling and honesty she puts in her singing.
Posted by: Eileen | January 09, 2009 at 02:04 PM