Hits and More Showcases Martina McBride’s Many Sides

Artist: Martina McBride

Title: Hits and More

Label: Sony Nashville/RCA

For many artists, the requisite greatest hits project usually marks the end of something significant—a relationship with a particular record label, a familiar stylistic direction, and when the worst case scenario plays out, even (gasp!) the end of their career altogether.

But for Martina McBride, the recipient of countless accolades in her storied 20+ years in the music biz, the release of her best-of collection, Hits and More, is really just the beginning of the next chapter. Now signed to Republic Nashville with a new co-writer and management to boot, Hits and More offers a particularly revealing glimpse of McBride's past, present and future.

Not surprisingly, the monster hits that have made her a household name in country and pop radio alike are front and center and include everything from "My Baby Loves Me," to "Independence Day" to "Concrete Angel."

For those who already have all these songs downloaded to your iPod, Hits and More also features three new songs that showcase her burgeoning songwriting talent since she's often relied on other people's words in the past.

And for anyone who may have hopped on the bandwagon a little late in the game, it's also an opportunity to hear her work before 2003's This One's For the Girls took over multiple radio formats. Funny enough, while the soundtrack itself has undoubtedly changed a little through the years, a necessity for survival in the ever-changing entertainment industry, her voice certainly hasn't. If anything, Hits and More showcases how remarkable of an instrument that confident but unpretentious voice is.

Delivering on the showbiz adage of "always leaving the audience wanting more," Hits and More also offers a few clues of what's next with tracks like "Surrender," one of the new tunes. Like her previous work, the song balances the joys and heartaches of this journey called life with strong sense of hope in the struggle—precisely what we've grown to expect from this thoughtful artist.

*This review first published 1/25/2012

**Listen to this album on Spotify