''Unbroke'' is the eleventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

artist

Sara Evans Sara Lynn Evans (; born February 5, 1971) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is also credited as a record producer, actress, and author. She had five songs reach the number one spot on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboar ...

. It was released on June 7, 2024, by Melody Place Records and Evans's own Born to Fly record label. The 11-track album chronicles her separation from husband

Jay Barker Harry Jerome "Jay" Barker (born July 20, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he won a national cha ...

and their reunification. The songs on the album were mostly written by Evans and were co-produced with

Jeff Trott Jeffrey Robert Trott is an American songwriter and record producer from San Francisco, California. He is perhaps most well-known for his collaborations with American singer Sheryl Crow, having co-written some of her biggest hits, including "If ...

. It was preceded by the release of the lead single "

Pride Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

" on March 21, 2024.

Background

During the 2000s, Sara Evans found commercial success recording both country ballads and uptempo love songs. Five of her singles topped the country charts, including "

Suds in the Bucket "Suds in the Bucket" is a song written by Billy Montana and Tammy Wagoner and recorded by American country music singer Sara Evans. It was released in May 2004 as the third single from Evans' 2003 album '' Restless''. It became her third number-on ...

" (2004), "

A Real Fine Place to Start "A Real Fine Place to Start" is a song co-written and originally recorded by American country music artist Radney Foster, taken from his fifth studio album '' Another Way to Go'' (2002). Foster wrote the track with George Ducas and produced it as w ...

" (2005) and "

A Little Bit Stronger "A Little Bit Stronger" is a song written by Luke Laird, Hillary Lindsey, and Hillary Scott and recorded by American country music artist Sara Evans. It was released in September 2010 and as the first single from Evans' 2011 album '' Stronger''. T ...

" (2011). In 2015, she left her long time label,

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

, and founded her own recording company. Evans has released two more studio albums independently since her departure. In 2023, it was announced that she signed a new contract with Melody Place Records and that her next album would be released through the label. During this time, Evans and her husband

separated. He was then arrested after an incident involving the couple and their daughter in 2022. Evans then filed for divorce but ultimately reunited with Barker after the couple underwent counseling services. During this period, she began writing "really sad songs" about her difficulties with Barker. Ultimately, Evans chose to record an album that centered on the couple's separation and reunification.

Recording and content

''Unbroke'' was recorded at Sound Emporium, a studio located in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. The project was co-produced by Evans and

. Known for his production work with

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...

and

Stevie Nicks Stephanie Lynn Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, known for her work with the band Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist. After starting her career as a duo with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham, releasing the album ...

, Jeff Trott was sought out by Evans. The two met at Trott's home where they unpacked her personal challenges and started writing songs. Evans believed that Trott "really understood" her "vision for the project" and decided he would serve has her co-producer. ''Unbroke'' consists of 11 tracks, ten of which were co-written by Evans. The album's songs were described by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' as having "traditional country lyricism" that resembled

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...

Tammy Wynette Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a ...

. Evans described the album's concept as going "from break down to breakthrough". The songs discuss that challenging feelings she had and ends with her reconciliation with Barker. The opening track "Pride" was written following Barker was arrested and her feelings surrounding the incident. The second track "21 Days" is an uptempo song that was inspired by a conversation Evans had with her therapist about separating from Barker. "A relationship can be a habit, or you can take 21 days and start a good habit like running every day," she told ''

Woman's World ''Woman's World'' is an American supermarket weekly magazine with a circulation of 1.6 million readers. Printed on paper generally associated with tabloid publications and priced accordingly, it concentrates on short articles about subjects suc ...

''. The third track "Mask" described the emotional abuse Evans faced with Barker. The fourth track, "Cleaning Out Your Closet", was described by Evans as being about the damage

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

can have on others. In the ninth track, "Better Than This", Evans explores the lighter times of her marriage to Barker. On the title track, Evans explained that the song has "a double meaning" because it is about the "generational trauma" people bring into relationships but also about how her relationship with Barker has ended "in a good place". The final track "Gypsy Ways" describes being away from a partner.

Release, promotion and singles

''Unbroke'' was preceded by the release of the album's lead single "Pride". The song was released on March 21, 2024. "Pride" debuted (and peaked) at number 60 on the ''Billboard''

Canada Country The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart week dated April 13, 2024, becoming Evans' first single to chart there since "

Slow Me Down ''Slow Me Down'' is the seventh studio album by American country music artist Sara Evans, released in 2014 by RCA Nashville. Content Evans co-wrote three of the album's eleven tracks and co-produced the record with Mark Bright, whom she previou ...

". The same day of the song's release also saw the debut of Evans'

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

called ''Diving in Deep with Sara Evans''. A music video for "Pride" premiered on March 27. ''Unbroke'' was then released on June 7, 2024, by Melody Place Records, in conjunction with Evans's Born to Fly imprint. It was distributed as both a

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

and a

vinyl LP The LP (from long playing or long play) is an analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specificati ...

. It was also released to digital platforms, which includes

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

Track listing

Personnel

All credits are adapted from the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

of ''Unbroke''. Musical personnel * Jazz Davis – vocal harmony *

Fred Eltringham The Wallflowers are an American rock solo project of American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jakob Dylan. The Wallflowers were originally a roots rock band formed in Los Angeles by Dylan and guitarist Tobi Miller. It has undergone ...

– drums * Avery Evans – electric guitar * Olivia Evans – vocal harmony * Sara Evans – lead vocals, vocal harmony * Todd Lombardo – acoustic guitar,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

* Billy McClaran –

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

Chris McHugh Chris McHugh (born 1964) is an American musician from Camden, NJ. He began his career as the drummer of Christian rock band White Heart from 1986 to 1989. McHugh toured and played as a session drummer with artists such as Aaron Neville, Pe ...

– drums * Rob McNelley –

twelve-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 string (music), strings in six Course (music), courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lo ...

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Sche ...

, electric guitar * Russ Pahl –

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

* Phil Towns – flute,

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

hammond B3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

, keyboards, strings,

Wurlitzer electronic piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...

* Jeff Trott – acoustic guitar,

dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

, strings, Wurlitzer electronic piano * Craig Young – bass Technical personnel * Sara Evans – producer * Justin Francis – engineering, mixing, percussion * Pete Lyman – mastering * Buckley Miller – engineer * Mike Moore – design * David Paulin – assistant * Jordan Reed – engineer * Leigh Shockey – executive producer * Jeff Trot – producer

Release history

References

External links

Sara Evans albums discography at Sara Evans.com
{{Authority control 2024 albums Albums produced by Jeff Trott Sara Evans albums