“Coalmine” (Roxie Dean/Ron Harbin/Richie McDonald): “‘Coalmine was just a crazy song. ..crazy lyrics, and not something people sing about that often—a sexy coal-miner husband. When you go in to record, you never really know for sure if a song is going to translate with your voice and your personality. It’s like trying on clothes—it looks great on the hanger, and then you put it on, and it sucks. ‘Coalmine’ fit perfectly, and it was so much fun.
“A Real Fine Place to Start” (Radney Foster/George Ducas): “I went to Radney’s house to write, and we wrote this great song called ‘You Won’t Let Me Down,’ but by the time we got close to recording, it wasn’t really fitting the album. He sent me home that day with a CD and said, ‘Can I shamelessly pitch you some songs right after we just wrote?’ I am such a fan of Radney Foster. The Del Rio, Texas album is just one of my all-time favorites, and the song he pitched me, ‘ A Real Fine Place to Start’ was one of those great Radney Foster songs. I called my brother and said, ‘You’ve got to hear this song’ and played it for him on the phone. I knew that was my first single right there. It was the first song we recorded on the whole project, and it’s risen faster on the charts than any single to date.”
"Cheatin’” (Brett James/Don Schlitz): “ Somebody sent me this song, and I hated the demo. At our song meeting, I had this whole list of songs that I wanted to cut, but everybody else in the meeting had ‘Cheatin’ on their list. I disagreed, but my husband, Craig, said, ‘Hon, you’re cutting this song. It’s a great song, and it is totally you.’ I agreed, but my assistant producer, Matt, and I were convinced it would never make the record. Then we got in the studio and the band started to play it, and it sounded phenomenal. The kind of groove that [bass player] Dave LeBruyere and [drummer] Matt Chamberlain were putting on it was totally different from the demo, and then I loved it! When we got done tracking it, everybody was clapping, and I was like, ‘Yes!’ So I admit it, I was completely wrong, completely wrong.”
“New Hometown” (Sara Evans/Matt Evans/Shaye Smith): “‘New Hometown’ is a song that Matt and I wrote with Shaye Smith, and it was Matt’s idea. He wanted to write a song called ‘Little Earth to Stand On,’ something he got from a book he read, that he thought was a good idea for a song…the dream of getting away from your life and moving somewhere where it’s simpler. I think a lot of people yearn for a simpler life. You don’t have to be from New York City to understand what this song is all about: Let’s go find out own little piece of earth to stand on. We changed the name to ‘New Hometown, though.’”
“You’ll Always Be My Baby” (Sara Evans/Tony Martin/Tom Shapiro): “This is a song I wrote with Tom Shapiro and Tony Martin. We always write these incredible songs but right after we write them, I start to doubt whether or not they’re any good. Every time—‘Perfect,’ ‘I Keep Looking,’ ‘No Place That Far’—I never like them. Then Tom goes and makes these amazing demos. He is an awesome producer. ‘Always Be My Baby’ was one of those. It made us crazy. It was so sweet, especially the last verse where it talks about ‘There he is my little man.’ It’s just a love song about loving your family.”
“Supernatural” (Marcus Hummon/Mark Prentice): “‘Supernatural’ is a Celtic, funky, incredibly strange Marcus Hummon song that had to go on the record. There were no two ways about it. I have to have that element on all of my records. I love the sound of his music, I love the way he writes, I love the lyrics that he chooses: ‘I’m a bee charmer for you, baby’—the song is actually very sexual.