Sunday Morning to Saturday Night

Matraca Berg | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rising Tide
• ASIN: B000ACDG6S
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259,031 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Matraca Berg "Sunday Morning To Saturday Night" 1 - Along For The Ride 2 - That Train Don't Run 3 - Back In The Saddle 4 - Here You Come Raining On Me 5 - Some People Fall, Some People Fly 6 - Back When We Were Beautiful 7 - Sunday Morning To Saturday Night 8 - Good Ol' Girl 9 - Give Me Tonight 10 - If I Were An Angel 11 - The Resurrection

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Songwriter never made it as a singer, April 10, 2006

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sunday Morning to Saturday Night (Audio CD)

During the nineties, Matraca became one of the most successful songwriters in country music. This was one of her rare attempts to make it as a recording artist. Like her previous albums for RCA, this album is packed full of great song, superbly sung (at least to my ears) but American country radio stations weren't interested so, once again, Matraca failed to make that breakthrough.

So she remained a songwriter, writing plenty of songs for others to have hits with. On this album, Matraca wrote one song alone and co-wrote the others. From the late eighties onwards, many country singers (mainly the women) have recorded Matraca's songs including Tanya Tucker, Reba McEntire, Patty Loveless, Martina McBride, Linda Ronstadt, Deana Carter, Trisha Yearwood, Highway 101 (in their original line-up), Pam Tillis and Suzy Bogguss. George Strait had a huge hit with Chill of an early fall, one of the most notable successes by a male singer with one of Matraca's songs.

Of the songs on this album, I know that Alecia Elliott recorded Some people fall some people fly and I expect that some of the others have also been covered by other singers. The songs here are a nice mix of different types of song - some are fun, some are serious, some are up-tempo, some are slow - but they are all wonderful. Perhaps the most touching song is Back when we were beautiful, in which an old widow discusses aging. The music is a nice blend of traditional and contemporary.

It remains a mystery to me that Matraca never made it as a singer, but this album is of a very high quality - a real treat for country music fans.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A GREAT DISC BY A GREAT SONGWRITER, August 21, 2005

By 

Nick Cotrufo (Pasadena, Ca) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sunday Morning to Saturday Night (Audio CD)

BACK IN 1997 WHEN THIS WAS RELEASED I SAW THE VIDEO FOR BACK IN THE SADDLE AND WAS FLOORED A GEORGEOUS WOMAN, A GREAT VOICE, WITH 5 OF THE TOP FEMALE SINGERS EQUAL IN TALENT 1.SUZY BOGGUSS 2.FAITH HILL 3.PATTY LOVELESS 4.MARTINA McBRIDE & MATRACA BERG SINGING THE CHORUS THAT SEXUALLY CHARGED "OH, PUT ME IN YOUR BIG Ol' PICK UP TRUCK-TAKE ME TO THE RODEO-I DON'T KNOW A THING ABOUT BRONCIN' BUCKS-AND I CAN'T DO-CI-DO-BUT I CAN PUT YOU BACK IN THE SADDLE, BABY-YEAH,STAND YOU UP TALL-I CAN PUT YOU BACK IN THE SADDLE, BABY-YEAH, AND THAT AIN'T ALL." GOT A YOUNG SINGLE MANS BLOOD FLOWIN'. THEN I SAW HER ON THE COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS DO THE SONG "BACK WHEN THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL" WRITTEN FOR HER MOTHER WHO WAS BATTLING BREAST CANCER AND DISCOVERED WHAT A TRUE SONGWRITER SHE WAS.

THIS DISC IS FULL OF GREAT SONGS AND SHE'S PENNED GREAT SONGS FOR ALOT OF OTHER BIG ARTISTS LIKE MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND BY THIS ONE. LISTEN TO THE SONG SNIPPETS BELOW AND YOU'LL SEE.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It will stand you up tall., April 27, 1998

By 

Allen Stairs (Takoma Park, MD United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Matraca Berg/Sunday Morning to Saturday Night (Audio CD)

Even though she's only 34, Matraca (pronounced "mahTRAYzah") Berg has been in the music for fifteen years. She has three previous albums and a songwriting resumé that includes hits for such well-known singers as Suzy Bogguss, Deana Carter and Pam Tillis. For some reason, her own career as a performer has never really taken off.

That is a real shame. Matraca Berg is _very_ good. Her lyrics are smart, her melodies strong and her voice southern sultry and well-seasoned.

Berg can tell a story. "If I Were an Angel" is about a woman who followed the wrong man to the middle of nowhere where she waits tables and contemplates her destiny, caught between eternity and the next bus home. The rollicking title track puts us in the pew one Sunday next to Jimmy Miller, whose wife just left for Memphis in Jimmy's new car. The congregation -- a bit like God -- knows all and forgives all, not least themselves. And "Back in the Saddle" is in the raucous voice of a dude ranch refugee who meets a bow-legged hunk in a cowboy bar: "I can put you back in the saddle, baby/Yeah, stand you up tall."

I believe she surely could.

Perhaps the high point of the album is "Back When We Were Beautiful," a clear-eyed meditation on the soul-aches and ironies of growing old. The melody manages to be substantial and delicate all at once, and the accompaniment -- piano, two violas and a bowed bass -- is a sumptuous surprise.

This is a fine and polished disk by a gifted artist. With any luck, it will help make Matraca Berg known as something more than just a writer of other singers' songs.