Trisha Yearwood - Trisha Yearwood / Real Live Woman (1991/2000) Lossless

Hindsight being 20/20, when Trisha Yearwood's eponymous debut was issued in 1991, it was obvious a star had been born. From the choice of players, to Garth Fundis' snappy crisp production, to the songs written by the cream of the crop of Nashville's new generation -- including a pair by Garth Brooks, Pat McLaughlin, Carl Jackson, and one by Kostas and Hal Ketchum. What set Yearwood apart is her enormous voice; coming from Georgia, there is no lilt in it -- she can go from a whisper to a full-throated wail in a second, and her pitch is spot on every time. Fundis and MCA chose the kinds of songs Yearwood sings better than almost any of her peers -- working-class love songs, from the opener, the simple mid-tempo rocker "She's in Love With the Boy," to the ballads such as "Like We Had a Broken Heart," written by Brooks with Pat Alger. Brooks sings backup here, and the pace of the song is slow. Its poetry is in the emotion her voice conveys rather than the lyrics, which aren't bad; they just aren't special. But it's "Fools Like Me" (by Kostas and Ketchum), where Yearwood lets every bit of what's inside of her out. A slow rocker with a Hammond B-3 swirling gently in the background played by Al Kooper, this is the broken love song at its best. When Yearwood sings, "You go your way baby, and I'll go mine/I'll go crazy like the wind," the entire track just comes apart before she reaches the end of the verse. The vision of a goodbye said in some motel parking lot or suburban driveway is almost unbearable. Yearwood was the first female country singer of her generation that didn't try to be a sex symbol, and she didn't try to project anything other than the fact that she was a good singer. And she was and is a fine singer, and this is a very classy debut that stands the test of time.

Once an artist like Trisha Yearwood enters her second decade of recording, it's easy to take her for granted. Why? Well, consistency doesn't make for quite as dramatic a story as dramatic swings between brilliance and failure. That may be unfair, but that's the way it is. Yearwood has never swung between such extremes. She has released some exceptional albums, plus a couple of sub-par efforts, but for the most part, she has remained an artist that is reliable -- you pay your money, and you know you'll get something satisfactory. Real Live Woman is one of those records; it may not rock your world, but it will hardly disappoint. A little more mature and straight-ahead than even her latter-day efforts, Real Live Woman is a measured, deliberate record in the best possible sense. The tempo never gets too heated, but the songs never drift into laziness, either. The tunes are always melodic and always well-chosen. They don't just play to Yearwood's strengths, but they're solid songs in their own right, whether it's a new Matraca Berg and Al Anderson song ("I'm Still Alive"), an overlooked Springsteen tune ("Sad Eyes") or a Linda Ronstadt chestnut ("Try Me Again"). Yes, there are a couple of moments where the momentum drags ever so slightly, but as soon as they occur, the album perks back up with the next song. Real Live Woman isn't significantly better or worse than the average Trisha Yearwood album, but that's not a bad thing, since few people do this mainstream country -- meaning, by late-'90s/early-'00s standards, country music that still sounds country but is also melodic enough for pop -- quite as well as this.