Sara Evans
Sara Lynn Evans is an American country music singer and songwriter. She had five songs reach the number one spot on the Billboard country songs chart and has sold over six million albums. Nine additional singles have reached the top ten of the Billboard country chart, including "I Could Not Ask for More", "I Keep Looking", and "Cheatin'". Among her top 20 charting singles are "Saints & Angels", "Backseat of a Greyhound Bus", and "As If". She has won accolades from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. She has also been nominated for several more accolades from both associations, including Female Vocalist of the Year and Single of the Year.
Evans grew up in New Franklin, Missouri, and started performing alongside her siblings in The Evans Family Band. The group performed throughout her childhood and early teenage years in her local area. During her teenage years, Evans and her older brother Matt formed their own band before moving to Nashville in 1991 to pursue a country music career. In Nashville, Evans met her first husband Craig Schelske and briefly moved to Aumsville, Oregon, before returning to Nashville. Upon moving back to Nashville, Evans found work as a demo singer, which led to her signing a recording contract with RCA Records. Her first album Three Chords and the Truth was released in 1997. It was followed by No Place That Far, whose second single of the same name topped the Billboard country chart.
Evans reached her peak success in the 2000s with the albums Born to Fly, Restless and Real Fine Place. The discs sold over one million copies each and included the number one country singles "Born to Fly", "Suds in the Bucket" and "A Real Fine Place to Start". In 2006, Evans appeared as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars before subsequently dropping out. Evans took steps back from her recording career to focus on her family life, only releasing a Greatest Hits package in 2008. She re-launched her career in 2011 with her sixth studio album Stronger. It was supported by the two-week number one single "A Little Bit Stronger". After the release of Slow Me Down, Evans left RCA and formed her own record label. In 2017, she released her first album through the label, Words.
Early life
Sara Lynn Evans was born in Boonville, Missouri, on February 5, 1971. She was raised in New Franklin, Missouri by parents Pat and Jack Evans. She was one of seven children. The Evans family was raised on a 400-acre farm that included several crops and livestock. To make ends meet, her mother became a school bus driver while her father became a pressman for the Columbia Daily Tribune newspaper. Evans's family discovered she had a natural singing ability after she started singing along with her two older brothers who were taking guitar lessons. This prompted Evans's mother to put her siblings into a band which they later called The Evans Family Band. Evans started performing lead vocals in the band when she was six years old. She later learned to perform guitar, mandolin, and drums.Evans was raised on a farm in New Franklin. When she was eight years old, Evans was hit by a car after crossing the highway that faced her family's farm. She was thrown onto the hood of the car and eventually landed in a grassy field along the highway. She had suffered a concussion and a leg injury. Due to the severity of her injuries, Evans was sent to the University of Missouri Hospital, located 30 miles from her hometown. To avoid having a deformed left leg, doctors had to drill pins into Evans's knee. She was unable to move from her hospital bed for six weeks. According to Evans, the accident itself and being tied to the hospital bed resulted in her having post-traumatic stress disorder. "I had severe PTSD and anxiety, but it was the '80s, and I didn't have a name for it," she explained.
In 1983, Evans's parents divorced. Her mother remarried in 1985 and the couple had two more children. After her mother remarried, the family moved to a tobacco farm, also located in New Franklin. The Evans Family Band continued performing as well. The group often performed on weekends and later had a manager. When she was about ten years old, Evans recorded a song called "I'm Gonna Be the Only Female Fiddle Player in Charlie Daniels Band". She then traveled to Nashville alongside her manager to promote the song at Fan Fair. Evans later performed on a local program called Country Stampede and briefly formed a band with her brother Matt. In 1989, Evans graduated high school. She accepted a full scholarship to study music at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri. However, she left after one semester once realizing she wanted to pursue a country music career. She returned to her mother's New Franklin farm where she got a job at the Holiday Inn as a waitress. With the money saved from waiting tables, Evans and her brother Matt moved to Nashville in 1991.
After moving to Nashville, Evans got a job waiting tables during the breakfast shift at another Holiday Inn restaurant. At the restaurant she would meet her first husband who was also a waiter at the Holiday Inn. The couple started dating and temporarily moved to Aumsville, Oregon, in 1992. In Oregon, she performed billed as Sara Evans & North Santiam. The couple married while in Oregon and spent three years there before returning to Nashville in the mid-1990s. Through her lawyer, Evans got a job as a demo singer. Among the demos she recorded was a cover of Buck Owens's "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail", which was originally intended to be sent to Patty Loveless. Her demo was heard by Nashville songwriter Harlan Howard who was impressed by Evans's traditional country singing style. Howard convinced executives at RCA Records to hear Evans sing. In a live audition for RCA executive Joe Galante, Evans sang three songs. The same day, Evans was offered a recording contract from RCA Records. She accepted and signed a seven-album deal with the label.
Career
1997–1999: ''Three Chords and the Truth'' and early success
Evans quit her job following the signing of her contract. She chose to have her album produced by Pete Anderson, a producer and guitarist best known for his work with Dwight Yoakam. To record the album, she moved to Los Angeles. In July 1997, Three Chords and the Truth was released on RCA. The album's sound centered around traditional honky tonk country and drew critical acclaim. Allmusic's James Chrispell positively commented, "This disc rings out with an air of originality helped along by great tunes and solid backup musicianship." Billboard commented, "At once a preserver of the best of country's history and a progressive writer and singer forging a timeless contemporary country sound, she invites favorable comparisons to the best country divas." However, the album was not commercially successful. The disc peaked at number 56 on the Billboard country albums chart. Its three singlesin order of release, True Lies, the title track, and "Shame About That"peaked outside the Billboard country songs top 40. According to Evans, country radio refused to play the singles, claiming they were "too country". "It was the most disheartening experience of my life–at least to this point," she reflected in her memoir.In an effort to have commercial success, Evans went back into the studio to record her next album. She intended to cut an album that was contemporary yet "without compromising" her musical interests. The result was No Place That Far, released in October 1998 on RCA. The project peaked at number 11 on the Billboard country albums chart. While its lead single peaked outside the country top 40, its second single reached the number one spot on the Billboard country songs chart. Its success was due to the buy-in from country radio programmers who were invited to a private showcase of her new repertoire in Cincinnati, Ohio. "By the end of the show, they were all eating out of my hands and singing my praises," Evans recounted. The album's final single "Fool, I'm a Woman" only reached number 32 on the country songs chart, which disappointed Evans. "It felt like I was constantly starting over, like in Groundhog Day, with these people at country radio," she commented. To rebuild career momentum, Evans hired a co-manager. Evans also discovered she was pregnant with her first child during this time. This caused friction with her record label who encouraged her to "lose the baby weight as soon as possible".
2000–2005: Peak success
Evans was motivated to make shifts in her career after watching Faith Hill's "Breathe" music video. "I'm going to lose this weight, grow my hair long, and make the best album Nashville has ever heard," she recounted. She was drawn to the bluegrass sound by Dixie Chicks and sought out their producer, Paul Worley. She also sought out rock session musician Matt Chamberlain to play drums. Together, they would craft Evans's third studio album. In October 2000, Born to Fly was released on RCA Nashville. Evans co-produced the project with Worley. The disc became Evans's breakout album, certifying double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over two million copies in the United States. Critic Thom Jurek took notice of the record. He described Evans as having the "confidence and authority of a seasoned veteran who is in control of her work." Born to Fly peaked at number six on the Billboard country albums chart and number 55 on the Billboard 200.Four singles were released from Born to Fly. First was the title track, which Evans co-wrote with Darrell Scott and Marcus Hummon. This reached the number one spot on the Billboard country singles chart and number 34 on the Hot 100. Next was a cover of Edwin McCain's "I Could Not Ask for More", followed by "Saints & Angels" and "I Keep Looking", the latter a top-five country hit in 2002. In 2001, Evans received five nominations from the Country Music Association Awards. This included Female Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year. She later won Music Video of the Year for Born to Flys title track. The Academy of Country Music Awards also nominated her for Top Female Vocalist. With her new success, Evans joined Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Jamie O'Neal, and Carolyn Dawn Johnson on the all-women headlining Girls Night Out Tour in 2001.
In August 2003, her fourth studio album Restless was released, with Evans and Worley continuing to co-produce. Restless was met with mixed reviews. Writer Edward Morris described it as being "more pop than country in sound and attitude". James Christopher Monger found it to be "slick and predictable". Restless debuted at number three on the Top Country Albums chart reached number 20 on the Billboard 200 and certified platinum in the United States. While the lead single "Backseat of a Greyhound Bus", reached the top 20, its second single, "Perfect", climbed to the number two spot on Billboard country chart. The album's third single was the traditionally-sounding "Suds in the Bucket". The song was not intended to be part of the project's track list but Evans pushed for its inclusion. It became her third number one song on the Billboard country chart. The fourth and final single "Tonight" was less successful, peaking outside the top 40 of Hot Country Songs in 2005. Evans was subsequently nominated for several awards by the Academy of Country Music in both 2003 and 2004 She received similar nominations from the Country Music Association. In 2004, she co-headlined the Mud & Suds Tour with Brad Paisley.
In 2005, Evans released a cover of Radney Foster's "A Real Fine Place to Start". It became her fourth number one song on the Billboard country survey and her fourth song to reach the Top 40 on Hot 100. It would serve as the title track to her fifth studio album Real Fine Place, which was released in October 2005. Unlike her previous albums, Evans co-produced with Mark Bright. Sue Keough of BBC called it "the perfect balance between radio-friendly country pop and the rootsy sounds she offered with her 1997 debut Three Chords And The Truth." Meanwhile, Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keefe gave it 2.5 stars, calling its notoriety in her catalog "less than essential". Despite mixed reviews, the disc was her first to top the Billboard country albums chart. It also debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. Like its predecessors, it also certified platinum in sales. Real Fine Place also included the single "Cheatin'", which reached the number nine spot on the country chart. While the follow-up single "Coalmine" faltered on the charts, follow-up "You'll Always Be My Baby" reached number 13 in 2006. She would also win the Top Female Vocalist award from the Academy of Country Music.