Everything That You Need in One Stop

In a career marked by more than one country music milestone, Waking Up Laughing is Martina McBride's strongest album yet. Fully realized in all respects, it finds the artist not only singing like there's no tomorrow but also co-writing a few songs and producing the entire affair. Steering her own record, she didn't cut corners. Her studio band includes stellar players on the order of guitarists Dan Dugmore, Bryan Sutton, and Steve Gibson; keyboardists Steve Nathan and Double Trouble's Reese Wynans; steel picker Paul Franklin; fiddler Larry Franklin; and the formidable rhythm section of drummer Matt Chamberlain and bassist Glenn Worf. These simpatico players impressively walk the line dividing traditional country stylings from more rhythmically driving, contemporary mainstream approaches (check out the pulsating, razor-edged attack on the rebound anthem, "Everybody Does," complete with snarling electric guitars and robust B-3 fills complementing its triumphant, soaring chorus). The lead single, "Anyway," a McBride co-write with Warren brothers Brad and Brett, alternates tender verses with a roaring, power-ballad chorus. "For These Times" by Leslie Satcher uses a guitar and mandolin attack to establish a down-home atmosphere for its musings on the dire state of the world and closes on an inspirational note with a full-on gospel chorus. McBride ends an album rich in topicality with "Love Land," a piano-driven ballad about a couple's sustaining love after losing a newborn child. Suffice to say that the touching final verse exemplifies the optimism and strength of character that makes Martina McBride's music so compelling. She chooses life.