Martina McBride: Ready To Hit The Road Again
Martina McBride: Ready To Hit The Road Again
Country singer Martina McBride will get the party started April 9, 2022 in the Events Center at Seneca Allegany Casino Resort in Salamanca, NY.
“It’s finally happening,” said McBride about the postponed show during the pandemic. “I’m excited to come there and see all my fans,” she added.
McBride is one of the most well known country female vocalists, having won the Country Music Association's "Female Vocalist of the Year" award four times and the Academy of Country Music's "Top Female Vocalist" award three times.
Fulfilling one of my “bucket list” interviews, I talked to McBride on the phone recently. We discussed the pandemic and a very special project that came out of the quarantine period, her Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit, advice from country music legend Garth Brooks, and what the best thing is about being Martina McBride.
The singer has had some iconic songs throughout her career, including “A Broken Wing”, “This One’s For The Girls” and probably one of the most well known songs in country music history, “Independence Day”, which won Video of the Year and Song of the Year.
Bringing attention to women’s issues like domestic violence and equal air play for female country music artists, McBride is a formidable advocate. Starting “Team Music Is Love” with her fans is her own global charity initiative dedicated to making the world better through the power of music. “Team Music Is Love has provided so much for people in need all over the world,” stated the singer. “We bring people and music together to do good. We help with various needs such as feeding the homeless and people in need of a good meal after disasters hit by donating truckloads of food and holding mass food distributions. We turn several tour stops a year into an opportunity to give back to towns that I perform in. There are so many ways to help that we really don’t limit where and who we help, from giving grants for cancer research and working to help homeless children and those who have been victims of human trafficking here in the U.S. and Latin America.”
All of this benefits the singer even more than the initial satisfaction she gets through these good acts. Raising three daughters with her husband, there can’t be a better role model for them to learn from. The values and humanity and compassionate lessons that come from watching their parents will follow them throughout their life … and that is the best thing of all.
For more info on Martina and her Team Music Is Love organization visit martinamcbride.com. For ticket info visit senecacasinos.com and click on Seneca Allegany.
A CONVERSATION WITH MARTINA McBRIDE
HULICK: When did you start your tour?
MCBRIDE: We actually started in July of last year. We tried to reschedule as many dates as we could. We took a couple months off, so we are just starting up for this year. I believe this show at Seneca Allegany was postponed a couple times, so I’m excited to finally come there.
HULICK: You are celebrating your 30th year in the industry. That’s exciting.
MCBRIDE: I am excited about that. I can’t believe it’s gone by so fast.
HULICK: You released your “Greatest Hits” album and your Christmas album on vinyl last year. They both are available in colored vinyl, which sure takes me back to when I was a kid and Elvis Presley’s “Moody Blue” album was blue. That was like nothing I’d ever seen before.
MCBRIDE: Me too! My dad got that album when I was a kid and it was so cool. Of course back then colored vinyl blew my mind. That’s the first thing I thought of when we were doing these albums.
HULICK: I miss those days when you went to a record store and bought an album and you’d run home to open it to see what was inside … photos, artwork and so much more.
MCBRIDE: Oh absolutely! I still love vinyl, that’s why I was so thrilled to have these two albums on vinyl. For me that was kind of what I dreamed of as a kid … to have myself recording an album and what it would be like for people to open mine. It was such a ritual wasn’t it … you get it home, you can’t wait to open it up, you took it to your friends house to play it. I still play vinyl. I have a record player in my kitchen and another room in my house. We listen to a lot of vinyl around here.
HULICK: I’m glad it’s making somewhat of a comeback. You get to have that visual again.
MCBRIDE: Definitely!
HULICK: You started out pretty early in music in your family’s band. Did you always want to be in the music business?
MCBRIDE: Yes. I didn’t know of it as the music business then, but I always wanted to sing, make records, travel and tour. That was always my dream from the time I was seven or eight years old. My dad had a band as a hobby and I started singing in the band when I was about seven. He sang and played guitar, so music was already a huge part of my childhood and my identity.
HULICK: Does he still sing and play?
MCBRIDE: You know it’s funny … one thing I got to do during this pandemic was record a record on my dad. He’s 84 years old and he came and visited me in Nashville and right before quarantine hit we put a little band together with some great musicians here and he said he wanted to make a record. So I produced a record on him called “Satisfied”, which is such a treasure to me, but I think is also great for anybody who’s a traditional country music fan. It has a lot of classics on there and I sing two songs that aren’t available anywhere else. It was just so great to sit in the studio and hear him sing those songs that I heard him sing my whole life and be able to share that with whoever wants to share in that. That record is available on my website. So that’s one of the things I was able to do during the “down time”. I was really blessed to be able to have that time to be able to do that with him.
HULICK: You recorded the song, “Girls Like Me” during the pandemic, which had to be very difficult because you couldn’t have anyone in the studio with you.
MCBRIDE: It was. Luckily before everything shut down I had talked to the producer Nathan Chapman, who I’ve worked with before, and he was able to do everything at his house. He played every instrument and sang all the background vocals and I was able to go to my studio and do my vocals. So it was a very isolated process. We did the video with just me (chuckles) … I was thinking there’s nobody else … just me. I never did that before, which made it interesting and it was kind of a lot of pressure, but it ended up being really great.
HULICK: You had to postpone the opening of your exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame because of the pandemic. It’s open now, right?
MCBRIDE: Yes! It’s open now through August of this year and it’s beautiful! They did a beautiful job with it. I’ve always wanted to have an exhibit in there so it’s a dream come true. There’s a lot of stuff from my childhood you don’t see anywhere else. There’s a lot of stage costumes, clothes from some of my album covers and memorabilia that’s really interesting. It’s so exciting to think people are coming from all over the world and seeing it.
HULICK: One of the things I thought would be something to see is the quilt your grandmother made you.
MCBRIDE: Yes. She sewed and actually made most of our clothes. We would go pick out some fabric from the Ben Franklin store in town and a pattern and she would make our clothes. She saved a lot of the scraps then she made me a quilt with the scraps of the clothes she made me as a kid. So it’s a special thing.
HULICK: You were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 1995. Who was the person that inducted you?
MCBRIDE: Loretta Lynn.
HULICK: Oh my!
MCBRIDE: I know! She was one of my heroes and actually ended up being a friend of mine, which is so crazy for me to even say the words out loud. I just talked to her recently on the phone. She’s doing really well.
HULICK: Where were you the first time you heard your song on the radio?
MCBRIDE: I was in my little duplex apartment in Donelson, Tennessee, which is a suburb of Nashville, with my husband. We didn’t have a stereo at the time, we had a boombox, and somebody told me they were playing the song on this show called “Newest from Nashville” broadcasting out of Kentucky. So we listened and sure enough they played “The Time Has Come”.
HULICK: Was there any advice someone gave you as you were coming up in the business that you took?
MCBRIDE: Garth Brooks told me to make sure to take the time to enjoy it and really be in the moment. He said it’s going to happen so fast and go by so fast so make sure you take the time while you’re doing these milestone things, or everyday ordinary things that you get to do in this career. That’s hard advice to follow when you’re just starting out because that’s something you see in hindsight … so I’m really glad he told me that.
HULICK: You’ve recorded, produced, written cookbooks. Is there anything you’d like to do that you haven’t?
MCBRIDE: That’s a good question. At the moment nothing comes to mind. I’m pretty much at this point taking what comes along and looking for new opportunities. I’d love to produce another artist. I think that would be really fun because I love being in the studio and creating music. It would be fun to create music with someone just starting out.
HULICK: What is the best thing about being Martina McBride?
MCBRIDE: Oh, wow … I think having a family and a career and being able to have the best of both worlds without sacrificing one for the other.
HULICK: Do you have a message to your fans coming to your show April 9th?
MCBRIDE: Yes! Come out! We’re finally going to make it and we are so excited and it’s going to be a fun night. You walk in the door and we can leave everything outside the door that belongs out there. Bring your positive energy and light. We’re going to have a GREAT time!