| Restless - Sara Evans - Cut By Cut | |
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1. “Rocking Horse” (Sara Evans, Matt Evans, Marcus Hummon)
2. “Backseat of a Greyhound Bus” (Chris Lindsey/Hillary Lindsey/Aimee Mayo/Troy Verges)
3. “Restless” (Jeremy Stover/Willie Mack)
4. “Niagara Falls” (Sara Evans/Holly Lamar/Troy Verges)
5. “Perfect” (Sara Evans/Tom Shapiro/Tony Martin)
6. “Need to Be Next to You” (Diane Warren)
7. “To Be Happy” (William Crain/Kevin Fisher)
8. “Tonight” (Troy Johnson/Bonnie Baker)
9. “Otis Redding” (Angelo/Troy Verges/Hillary Lindsey)
10. “Feel It Comin’ On” (Sara Evans/Marcus Hummon/Darrell Scott)
12. “Big Cry” (Angelo/Brett James/Hillary Lindsey)
13. “Suds in the Bucket” (Billy Montana/Tammy Wagoner)
Album cover courtesy of RCA Nashville.
I think Marcus is just brilliant. He brought this idea out to me when I was on the road with Kenny Chesney last year. I’m telling you, I think this song rocks so hard. I used Matt Chamberlain on drums, who was such a big part of the Born to Fly album. And that’s Vince Gill singing harmony with me.
When I was out in Oregon last spring, people on Music Row were sending me songs all the time. I was outside working in the yard, so I popped this CD into the car and opened the doors so I could hear it. When this came on, both Craig and I said, “Wow. That is so moving.” The lyric didn’t scare me at all. Yes, she’s pregnant out of wedlock, but I saw the song as a major celebration of life. It starts out sad, like she’s been given a Scarlet Letter from the people in her small town. And then love comes to her with this baby.
This song makes me bawl. Every time. It was almost going to be the first single, because it’s my favorite song on the whole record. It’s our theme song. Because, seriously, Craig and I are both restless. We still don’t know where we should put down roots. As soon as we heard this, we went, “That’s us!” It hits so close to home that I just had to record it.
That’s my sister Ashley singing high harmony and my sister Lesley on low harmony. I use them all the time. In fact, Lesley is on almost every song. Growing up, this is how we sang. I always sang lead, and we’re so used to singing together that people sometimes think it’s me singing all three parts. The song was Holly’s idea. It was the first time I’d written with her or Troy, and I fell in love with them. She said, “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I’ve been wanting to write a song called “Niagara Falls” about falling in love.” I said, “Let’s go with that!” I wrote most of the melody, because I thought, “If this is going to be my big ballad, I want it to be really hard to sing.” And it is. I’ll never be able to sing it live!
Tom, Tony and I wrote “I Keep Looking” and “No Place That Far,” so we tend to have really good luck together. This song was considered for the first single. I wanted to come out with something serious, because I’d just had a baby and I was feeling serious. Having children makes you feel powerful. The reason I like these lyrics is that it’s saying that we don’t have to be perfectionists. And I struggle with that a lot.
Actually, Diane called me up about another song. It was a great song, but it just wasn’t for me. This one is a country remake of the same song that Leigh Nash from Sixpence None the Richer had recorded for the soundtrack of that Gwyneth Paltrow movie Bounce. So I loved it already.
I hope that this song inspires people. Sometimes it does keep on raining, but we must persevere and at least try to be happy. Once that chorus breaks in, you feel that.
This one will probably be a single. I love the organ on there. Plus, it’s just a sexy song. It reminds me of that rock band Fast Ball.
Yes, that’s a bongo drum on there. We’re so weird. My feeling is that you’ve got to stay ahead and on top of things with your sound, to try to be different. You’ve got to try and make yourself stand out. I asked Hillary to come in and sing the harmony parts just the way she did on her demo. I think she rigged up something with the telephone originally, but we just punched a few buttons in the studio to get that same sound. This is the one song I wasn’t so sure about when we finished recording. I thought, “I just don’t know if this is really true to who I am, if this is really me.” I was so afraid that people would laugh at it or something. I still think it’s really, really, really different for me.
Proudly, I can say this is one song I’ve cowritten with Marcus where it was my idea. It’s funny, because we write together so much, like three times a week for this album. So I was thinking, “All right. One of these times when he gets over here, I am going to have the idea started.” I wanted it to have a bluegrassy feel. But it turned out to be hard for Marcus, because it wasn’t his creation. We stumbled along. Having Darrell there really, really helped, because he wrote the whole “bridge.”
11. “I Give In” (Sara Evans/Marcus Hummon)
This is my husband Craig’s favorite song on the record. Marcus flew out to Oregon to write it with me. I love that opening line, “When I look at you I see the souls of our unborn children.” I think especially girls feel that way when they’re dating someone. Women always think, “What would our kids look like?” That’s why the line seems so sweet and intimate to me. I don’t think it’s about sex. It’s about love. At least that’s what I was thinking when I wrote it. She doesn’t want to get her heart broken, and she’s just so afraid, because she really does see herself with him.
I loved this when I heard it, but I wondered if I’d be able to sing it. I was a little intimidated because Hillary is so phenomenal as a singer that her demos sound like records. But I loved that line, “Just one big cry/Big tears in my eyes/To wash you away from me.” I went, “Ooh, that rocks! Why couldn’t I have written that?” The sound is very different for me, but I knew I wanted to sing a song like this, with horns and r&b singers.
This is so-o-o-o much fun. I love the song because the story is so hilarious. And I still need to have that element in my albums. There’s definitely nothing else like it on the record.