Patricia Lynn ‘Trisha’ Yearwood was born on September 19,
1964. She is a member of the Grand Ole
Opry and was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2000. She put out her self-titled debut album in
1991, which spawned her first No 1 song ‘She’s in Love with the Boy’. REAL LIVE WOMAN (2000, MCA Nashville) was her
eighth album. It reached No 4 on the
Billboard Country Albums chart. It
followed her second divorce, in 1999.
Trisha: “This is the album I have always wanted to make”. It was produced by Trisha and Garth
Fundis. In the CD booklet she includes
Zephaniah 3:17, which if you look it up, reads: “The Lord your God in your
midst/The Mighty One, will save/He will rejoice over you with gladness/He will
quiet you with His love/He will rejoice over you with singing”.
‘Where are you Now’ written by Kim Richey and Mary Chapin
Carpenter starts things off. It uses
bouzouki, lap steel, and B-3 organ. It
is about lost love: “You used to soothe me/You used to swear with/Heart crossed
conviction/That you’d be there/Where are you now?/Well, I’m good, one of a
kind/But I would rather be two.../Weren’t we something back then/Thick as
thieves/Who would have ever thought that/You and me/Would let forever come
to/Used to be?” Musically, ‘One Love’
sounds like it could be a Bonnie Raitt song.
It uses religious language to describe a human love relationship: “You
came to me like a revelation/In your arms I found salvation/One love took me to
the mountaintop/Showed me a world I’d never seen/One love took me down to the
riverside/Opened my heart and washed me clean/Nothin’ less than a miracle/Sent
from Heaven above/One love”.
Next up is Bruce Springsteen’s 1998 composition ‘Sad
Eyes’. It is a soft ballad with Jackson
Browne on harmony vocals. It finds
Trisha patiently waiting for her lover to return to her: “Every day here you
come walkin’/I hold my tongue/I don’t do much talkin’/You say you’re happy and
you’re doin’ fine/Well, go on baby/I got plenty of time/Cause sad eyes never
lie/Sad eyes never lie../You show up and then you shy away/But I know pretty
soon you’ll be/Walkin’ this way/Cause sad eyes never lie/Sad eyes never
lie”. ‘Some Days’ is a quiet country
tune that finds Trisha fighting depression: “And even tomorrow is tinged with
sorrow/When one fool longs for another/This can’t last forever, just like the
weather/Some days are better than others/If you see dark skies in my sad
eyes/It just means that I can’t find no cover/These ghosts that haunt me/Take
me when they want me/And some days are better than others/Some days are better
than others”.
‘I Did’ includes harmony vocals by Stephanie Bentley. This song speaks of the ups and downs of
love: “I took my chances/Laid my heart open wide/I felt the rush/I lost my
head/I learned to laugh/Oh, but then I learned to cry, I did”. ‘Try me Again’ was penned by Linda Ronstadt
and Andrew Gold in 1976. Trisha’s version
includes great electric guitar work by Kenny Vaughan. This is the song of one desiring a second
chance in love: “Well, I drove past your house last night/And I looked in your
window/Lately I ain’t been feelin’ right/And I don’t know the cure, no/Still I
can’t keep from wonderin’/If I still figure in your life/Could you take me back
and try me, try me again?/Could you try me again?”
‘Too Bad You’re No Good’ finds Emmylou Harris on harmony
vocals and uses acoustic slide guitar, piano, fiddle, and mandolin. It is the only upbeat song musically on the
album and is a catchy country one about a woman hopelessly drawn to a bad boy:
“Call the preacher, call the police/With a man like you, it’s famine or
feast/You made me love you so bad (3X)/Too bad you’re no good/Well, I talked to
your mother/She knows I tried/I talked to your brother/He was on my side/But
the hardest thing to comprehend/If I had it to do over/I’d do it again”. The title track, ‘Real Live Woman’, was
written by Bobbie Cryner and is a terrific country ballad. It hit No 16 on the Billboard Country Music
charts, and takes a shot at the media’s idea of beauty: “I don’t need to be
nineteen years old/Or starve myself for some weight I’m told/Will turn men’s
heads, been down that road/And I thank God I finally know just who I am.../I’m
a real live woman/In love with this man I see lying here next to me/Lost in the
way that he’s holdin’/This real live woman/In the arms of a man where I’ll fall
asleep knowing/There’s nothing on earth he loves/More than this real live
woman”.
‘I’m Still Alive’ makes the point that there is life after
love: “Since I let you go/Well, what do ya know/Guess I fooled everybody/Said
I’d love you till the day that I die/Even if you didn’t love me/Sorry baby, I
guess I lied/You’re gone and I’m still alive/Oh yeah”. ‘Wild For You Baby’ uses strings arranged and
conducted by David Campbell. It finds
Trisha love sick: “Nights I can’t sleep, my tears are cheap/I’m losin’ hold of
my senses/And I can’t contain all of this pain/And it’s makin’ me wild for you
baby/I’m down on my knees/Hear me cry for you baby/Cold misery/I would die for
you baby/I pray you will see/These tears I cry”.
‘Come Back when it ain’t Rainin’’ is a mid-tempo country
song that finds Trisha being frank with a man who pops in and out of her life:
“Can’t believe the way I let you use me/Can’t believe all the wasted time/For a
while baby you confused me/When you said I was your sunshine/But I’m just
someone to call/When you need a place to fall/Baby, come back when it ain’t
raining/Come back when your skies are blue”.
The album ends with the Matraca Berg/Ronnie Samoset song ‘When a love
song Sings the Blues’. Gordon Kennedy
and Wayne Kirkpatrick, both familiar names to Contemporary Christian music
fans, are on harmony vocals. This is an
intimate, sad song: “I see my reflection on the black keys/Where the tears fell
from my eyes/I wanna play out every memory/Every last goodbye/Till the whole
world cries/So make it sad, so sad/Like ‘Faded Love’ or ‘Born to Lose’/Cause
it’s sad when a love song sings the blues/And I don’t want to cry alone”.
Trisha Yearwood has one of those voices you could listen to
sing the phone book. REAL LIVE WOMAN is
a very mellow, contemplative, introspective, album of country music. It is a mature album with true emotions born
out of her life experiences. Greg Morrow
of DeGarmo and Key plays drums on ten of the twelve songs. The best way to enjoy this record is to turn
your lights down, sit in a rocker, and sip on a cold one. I’m rating it 90%. For more info visit: www.trishayearwood.com.