Commercial country music has become so slick and predictable that when an artist emerges who conveys even the slightest bit of mold-breaking potential, their name rolls off the lips of critics like an answered prayer.
Missouri-raised siren Sara Evans has that potential, and uses it sparingly on Restless, her fourth record for RCA.
The spirited opener, "Rockin' Horse," features fellow crooner Vince Gill on harmony, and impeccable playing from Nashville's finest.
"Backseat of a Greyhound Bus" is a lush tale of redemption that sounds like the musical sister to Train's 2001 smash, "Drops of Jupiter." The Celtic-flavored "Restless," the obvious single, is tailor-made to fit in between the Dixie Chicks and Shania Twain on any FM station.
After these three songs, Evans goes on autopilot, exploring the generic world of crossover country like a Shakespeare scholar in remedial English.
She sounds bored.
Time crawls from ballad to boogie, until finally reaching the tune "Big Cry." This is an outstanding country-soul hybrid recalling early k.d.
lang and a direction that Evans would do well to inspect further.
Like fellow producer Mutt Lange, Paul Worley knows how to work the machine, and Restless plays like a Nashville tutorial on the polished, hit-song assembly line.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rockin' HorseMatt Evans, Sara Evans, Marcus Hummon | Sara Evans | Play | 03:58 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Backseat of a Greyhound BusChris Lindsey, Hillary Lindsey, Aimee Mayo, Troy Verges | Sara Evans | Play | 05:33 | 12 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | RestlessWillie Mack, Jeremy Stover | Sara Evans | Play | 04:14 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | NiagaraSara Evans, Holly Lamar, Troy Verges | Sara Evans | Play | 05:34 | 12 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | PerfectSara Evans, Tony Martin, Tom Shapiro | Sara Evans | Play | 04:01 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Need to Be Next to YouDiane Warren | Sara Evans | Play | 04:29 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | To Be HappyBilly Crain, Kevin Fisher | Sara Evans | Play | 03:49 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | TonightBonnie Baker, Troy Johnson | Sara Evans | Play | 05:26 | 12 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | Otis ReddingHillary Lindsey, Troy Verges | Sara Evans | Play | 04:37 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | Feel It Comin' OnSara Evans, Marcus Hummon, Darrell Scott | Sara Evans | Play | 03:02 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 11 | I Give InSara Evans, Marcus Hummon | Sara Evans | Play | 04:53 | 11 MB | 0 MB |
| 12 | Big CryBrett James, Hillary Lindsey | Sara Evans | Play | 03:17 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 13 | Suds in the BucketBilly Montana | Sara Evans | Play | 03:46 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 56 mins | 130 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bob Bailey | Vocals (Background) |
| 2 | Bonnie Baker | Composer |
| 3 | Glen Caruba | Percussion |
| 4 | Matt Chamberlain | Drums |
| 5 | Paige Conners | Production Coordination |
| 6 | J.T. Corenflos | Guitar (Electric) |
| 7 | Billy Crain | Composer |
| 8 | Eric Darken | Drum Programming, Percussion |
| 9 | Matt Evans | Composer |
| 10 | Sara Evans | Composer, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals (Background) |
| 11 | Kevin Fisher | Composer |
| 12 | Kim Fleming | Vocals (Background) |
| 13 | Claudia Fowler | Stylist |
| 14 | Vince Gill | Guest Artist, Vocals (Background) |
| 15 | Barry Green | Horn |
| 16 | Adie Grey | Vocals (Background) |
| 17 | Vicki Hampton | Vocals (Background) |
| 18 | Richard Hanson | Assistant |
| 19 | Mike Haynes | Horn |
| 20 | Aubrey Haynie | Fiddle |
| 21 | Erik Hellerman | Assistant, Digital Editing, Engineer |
| 22 | Wes Hightower | Vocals (Background) |
| 23 | John Hobbs | Keyboards, Organ (Hammond) |
| 24 | Jim Horn | Horn |
| 25 | David Lyndon Huff | Drum Programming, Percussion, Shaker |
| 26 | Marcus Hummon | Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Mandolin |
| 27 | Brett James | Composer |
| 28 | Troy Johnson | Composer, Vocals (Background) |
| 29 | Holly Lamar | Composer |
| 30 | Troy Lancaster | Guitar (Electric) |
| 31 | Chris Lindsey | Composer |
| 32 | Hillary Lindsey | Composer |
| 33 | Willie Mack | Composer |
| 34 | Tony Martin | Composer |
| 35 | Astrid Herbold May | Art Direction, Design |
| 36 | John Mayfield | Mastering |
| 37 | Aimee Mayo | Composer |
| 38 | Chris McDonald | String Arrangements, String Conductor |
| 39 | Jerry McPherson | Guitar (Electric) |
| 40 | John Mock | Concertina, Penny Whistle |
| 41 | Billy Montana | Composer |
| 42 | Gary Morse | Dobro, Guitar (Steel) |
| 43 | The Nashville String Machine | Strings |
| 44 | Steve Nathan | Keyboards, Piano |
| 45 | Mike Poole | Engineer |
| 46 | Michael Rhodes | Bass |
| 47 | Tom Roady | Percussion |
| 48 | Vanessa Scali | Make-Up |
| 49 | Clarke Schleicher | Engineer, Mixing |
| 50 | Darrell Scott | Composer |
| 51 | James Darrell Scott | Bouzouki, Dobro, Guitar (Acoustic), Mandolin |
| 52 | Tom Shapiro | Composer |
| 53 | Ashley Evans Simpson | Vocals (Background) |
| 54 | Jeremy Stover | Composer |
| 55 | Bryan Sutton | Banjo, Mandolin |
| 56 | Ashlie Tucker | Vocals (Background) |
| 57 | Troy Verges | Composer |
| 58 | Diane Warren | Composer |
| 59 | Biff Watson | Guitar (Acoustic) |
| 60 | Ruby Weiser | Hair Stylist |
| 61 | Glenn Worf | Bass |
| 62 | Paul Worley | Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Producer |
| 63 | Jonathan Yudkin | Cello, Celtic Harp |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |