Martina McBride joins I Miss…90s Country Radio with Nick Hoffman and goes in depth on why she first decided she wanted to be a country singer, how she became the opening act for Garth Brooks, and her iconic song “Independence Day.” Tune in and listen to the episode in-full today (Oct. 16) at 8am PST / 10am CST / 11am EST or anytime on-demand here.
Martina McBride on her father’s bar band, how she got into music
He played guitar and sang. And he had a band, a local band, that would play like VFWs, and Elks Clubs, and wedding dances. And we were the local band. And I started singing in the band when I was about seven years old. You know, I look back on it now and it’s like, we were the only kids hanging out there. But at the time it felt okay. My mom ran the soundboard, so I was with my parents. And he raised us to love music.
Martina McBride on when she knew she wanted to be a country singer
It hit me one night. I was like, “This is what I want to do.” And so, I told John [McBride, her husband] on the break, “I want to move to Nashville and I want to be a country artist,” because I’d been just kind of conflicted about what direction I wanted to go in. So, he said, “Okay.” And literally, we moved to Nashville six months later. It was January of 1990.
Martina McBride on moving to Nashville
I knew nothing about the music business. I didn’t know anybody in Nashville. We didn’t know anybody. We moved literally with whatever we could pack in a truck. And John moved his sound company and we just, on a wing and a prayer, we moved to Nashville and said about making some connections and figuring it out.
Martina McBride on how she started selling merch for Garth Brooks
And I’m back in Nashville, waiting tables in Donelson and singing a few demos here and there and just really missed my husband [John McBride]. And so I just said to him, “Is there a job I can do on the road? This is dumb. I don’t want to be here and you’re gone 200 days a year.” So he went to the merch guy and asked him if I could come out and sell merch. And he said sure.
Martina McBride on how she started to open for Garth Brooks
He invited us over to the house and he asked me to sing something acapella, which I did. And he said, “How would you like to open all my shows for me next year?” And I was like, “I mean, dude, you don’t know if I can perform. I don’t know if I can perform.”
Martina McBride on how she got to open for Garth Brooks, continued
They [the record label] were like, “Yeah right. You’re going to open for Garth Brooks. Your record isn’t even finished.” And I was like, “Well, I mean, that’s what he said. I don’t know. He offered me the opening act spot and I think I should take it.”
Martina McBride on “My Baby Loves Me”
I don’t think we made a conscious decision to not make another really traditional country record. I think that we just started hearing these songs and I was just drawn to… I heard “My Baby Loves Me” and I was like, “I love that song.” I thought, “This is so great.” It’s positive, and affirming and strong and I felt strong when I sang it. I loved it from the first time I heard it.
Martina McBride on “Independence Day”
I heard it in Paul’s [Worley] office and I got to the first chorus, after the first chorus, and I said, “I have to record that song. That’s my song.” It’s one of those songs that didn’t go Number One, but it changed my life. Not just my career, it changed my life.
I mean, that song awakened a passion in me to try to help do something about domestic violence, which was something I had never really thought about before. I mean, growing up in such a small town, I know that it existed, but we didn’t really even think about it. I had such compassion for these women and children that just live in terror and are trapped.
There was real resistance at radio to play “Independence Day” and there are, I think, 10 stations that never ever played it during that time. And I don’t know what they were so scared of. I was like, “No, this is not going to happen on my watch.”
Martina McBride on featuring empowerment in her music
I always knew that I wanted to record songs that portrayed women with dignity, and strengths and power. I didn’t want there to be any kind of trite, fluffy, that I couldn’t like, sort of stand behind and feeling like it had some power to it.
Martina McBride on “A Broken Wing”
I thought it was an answer to “Independence Day.” I thought this is about a whole other kind of abuse that goes on that nobody really talks about, the emotional abuse. I just knew from all the letters and feedback that I got from women from “Independence Day,” I knew this would be a song that would also speak to someone and make someone feel like they had a song that talked about what they were going through, had been through, or their friend had gone through, or whatever. It was just a song I felt that women could have that would be a point of connection, where they wouldn’t feel like they were the only one. And that happened.
