Artist Profile - Sara Evans

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and multi-platinum entertainer  Sara Evans is about to put smiles on a lot of faces with her new album  Copy That (out today). The 13-song collection, spanning six decades, finds Sara putting her creative stamp on some of the most iconic songs in country and pop music. Copy That is Evans' first solo studio album since 2017’s critically-acclaimed Words  and the project is co-produced by Sara and Jarrad K (Ruston Kelly, Weezer, Goo Goo Dolls). This week TNB caught up with Evans and talked about the  new album, her upcoming memoir, and how she feels playing some of her biggest hits almost 20 years later. See the highlights from our conversation below.

TNB - On the surface, some of the song choices for this record seem a little out of the box, like My Sharona by the Knack. How did you go about picking songs for this project? Evans - I knew going into the song selection for this album that I wanted to cover multiple genres and decades. I grew up singing in bars starting at 4 years old and that’s what we did, was cover the popular songs at that time. So I grew up singing Country, Bluegrass, Rock, Pop - you name it, I sang it! I had a short list of certain artists and songs that I knew HAD to be on the project like Patsy Cline and Hank Williams, but the rest were a process of revisiting songs that I’d loved throughout my life. I listened to a lot of SiriusXM and played the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s stations and was reminded of so many songs that impacted me. My family, producer Jarrad K, and team also sent me ideas and we had a long running list that we eventually had to narrow down to 13. I have enough though for several more volumes! TNB - How did you know that producer Jarrad K would be the perfect fit for this album? Evans - My manager initially sent me a link to Ruston Kelly’s album “Dying Star” and recommended it to me. I fell it love with it from the first listen and my whole family became obsessed. We had it on repeat for months. When it came time to talk about producers for the album I said “Let’s find out who produced Ruston’s record because I love the creativity and sounds so much!” We tracked down Jarrad and he agreed to take a meeting with us. From that first time sitting together and talking about music I felt an instant creative connection. We just really vibed and he was open to all of my ideas and he had such great ideas as well. It just couldn’t have worked better. I can’t wait to work together with him again on my next album! TNB - It's hard to believe that songs like "Suds In The Bucket" and "Born to Fly" are almost 20 years old because they still sound so current. What do these songs mean to you today? Evans - I always work really hard to make all of my albums sound current yet timeless. I always say that a great lyric and melody can stand the test of time. If you chase trends, those are the songs that sound dated years later. I never get tired of singing “Born to Fly” or “Suds in the Bucket” 1) because they’re great songs and 2) I’m so thankful and proud of what they accomplished for me and my career and 3) I know they mean so much to the fans and bring joy to them.  TNB - You have a brand new memoir coming out in September. What can we expect from it? How did you know now was the perfect time in your life to put it out? Evans - I was actually approached by the publisher at Simon and Schuster who wanted me to originally write more of a parenting and marriage tips and tricks book, with a few of my stories thrown in to give context and keep it colorful. As I started writing it ended up becoming more of a memoir and that’s what the publisher ultimately steered me towards anyway. I still have so much more life to live so I wouldn’t call it an autobiography, but it really does tell a lot of my life story up to this point. From growing up on a farm in Missouri to almost dying at 8 years old, to getting a record deal, and so much more. I tried to keep my dry sense of humor and wit throughout the book, so I hope that came through. It was a hard process to write some of these stories but now that it’s done I’m more and more excited to get it in the hands of the readers and hear what they think!___________________________Evans is the fifth most-played female artist at country radio in nearly the last two decades. Listen to her new album here.