Country artist Sara Evans is releasing her seventh studio album March 11 on RCA Records, and she’s pretty excited about it. “I’ve been saying this, and I truly believe it, that this is my favorite record I’ve ever made. I’ve been in a good space writing songs. There’s been lots of good songs coming out of Nashville,” Evans said in a telephone interview Monday from her Birmingham, Ala., home. Evans will perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 7 at the Honeywell Center in Wabash. Tickets are $34, $48 and $75. She said the album, titled “Slow Me Down,” was two years in the making. “The songs are the most challenging I’ve worked on,” she said. It features three collaborations. She duets with Isaac Slade, of The Fray, on “Can’t Stop Loving You,” and covers Gavin DeGraw’s “Not Over You” with DeGraw. Vince Gill sings harmonies on Evans’ song “Better Off.” For “Can’t Stop Loving You,” Evans said she loved the song and always knew she would record it. She has always been a huge fan of The Fray, so when she was talking with her people about who to duet with on the song, Slade felt like a perfect fit. “He said yes. He hit it out of the park,” Evans said. “That’s the way I feel about the whole album. The stars were just aligned.” She said of all the songs on the album, she wrote three, including “Sweet Spot” and “If I Run.” She couldn’t remember the title of the third song, but she said she often can’t remember the titles of her songs. Parts of “Slow Me Down” are more pop than anything else she’s ever done, Evans acknowledged. Other parts of it are more country than she’s ever attempted. In taking two years to make the album with co-producer Mark Bright, Evans said part of the reason was because she was touring and really busy. She was busy writing songs as well as looking for material for a new album. There is a little bit of a musical theme to the album, she said. “In some ways it’s more pop,” she explained, and it’s a really vocally strong album. Evans said she really pushed herself on the album, and she found herself singing in higher keys than she ever did before. “Slow Me Down” is also the lead single off the new album. When that song came to Evans, she said, “We all jumped for joy. It’s not every day that a song like it is sent to me.” For the Feb. 7 performance, Evans said she will perform “Slow Me Down” and one more song from the album. At the end of February, she and her band will go into the studio to learn songs off the album. She said it’s fun to watch her audiences as a single climbs the charts. When she announced in July that “Slow Me Down” would be the first single, her audiences acted modestly when she performed it. Now that it’s rising on the country charts, audiences are reacting more strongly to it when the song starts instead of around the chorus. During the two weeks around the album’s March release, Evans said she’ll be doing all the publicity that comes with a new album, including an appearance on “Good Morning America.” With three children who have their own schedules, she said it becomes incredibly challenging to play out as much as before they were in school. However, Evans said she wants to be a great mom and wife. She also wants her career, but she will always choose her children first. Don’t expect her personal life to be reflected in her songs too much though. “I get asked a lot if the songs reflect my life. When I write songs, it’s to escape reality ... I don’t really write about myself,” she explained. The song most about herself was “Born to Fly,” she said. “The other stuff I write is me needing to create something. If I’m under a lot of stress, I can’t write.” Influences from her high-drama life sometimes creep into her music, but she doesn’t knowingly write about her own life, she said. The single “Slow Me Down” is available now on iTunes. The album can be pre-ordered on iTunes and will be released everywhere March 11. For more information on Evans, visit her website at saraevans.com For more information on the Honeywell Center or on tickets to the Feb. 7 show, visit www.honeywellcenter.org
