Mcbride’S First ‘Issue’ Song Made Big Impact

Martina McBride’s impassioned vocal work on the “issue” songs “Independence Day” and “Broken Wing” has sharply delineated her from peers even in a group of female Nashville singers not noted for dodging controversy.

Today’s mainstream country radio is seen as less adventurous than when “Independence Day” was released in the early ‘90s, but McBride says she believes the song faced more difficult prospects when it came out than it would if it were released today.

“It was really the first song of the type, you know?” she says, meaning the first by a woman. “Since then, I guess we’ve had a few ‘issue’ songs, but, well, actually none about domestic violence.”

Most country fans will recall that “Independence Day” had to do with the death of an abusive husband in a fire that his battered wife and daughter survived. McBride says that at the time she “never really knew” if the song would be a single. “I always hoped it would be because I really thought it would make a difference to people, but it was very, very high risk.” She applauds RCA to this day for releasing it.

She recalls that the single engendered “a lot of controversy.

“There were a lot of radio stations that never played the song at all,” she recalls. “People think it was a No. 1 song, but really it only went to number 10 because a lot of stations just wouldn’t play it.

“I think it was really a brave move, especially for a record company. Their vision and belief in the music really paid off - not necessarily in a financial way but, I mean, I still get letters about ‘Independence Day’ every day. And the company that did the video still gets three or four requests every single week from, like, police groups and school groups wanting to show it as an educational piece.

“It made a very big impact.”

Cheap but good music

Kelly Willis, Texas alternative country and rock singer, whose fourth CD (”What I Deserve” on Rykodisc) is currently receiving high-profile praise, says the actual production cost of making her album was about $30,000, 20 percent less than the average cost of making a mainstream country album these days.

Willis’ husband and brother-in-law, Texas alternative country and rock singer-songwriters Bruce and Charlie Robison, both record for Sony-Nashville’s Lucky Dog label, where the usual recording budget is reportedly also around $30,000. Sony’s Lucky Dog idea is distinctive for a major label, and Willis says it’s also a good one.

“They’re saying there’s music here that’s worth a listen, and we’re going to help it, and maybe if something good happens we can run with it,” Willis says.