Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sara began with a traditional country album, August 23, 2003
This is unlike Sara's subsequent albums, which have enabled her to achieve great success as a contemporary country singer. Produced by Pete Anderson (famous as Dwight Yoakam's producer), this is one of the finest traditional country albums to appear on a major label in recent years. The Bakersfield influence is reinforced by the inclusion of I've got a tiger by the tail (one of the best covers of a Buck Owens song I've heard) and another up-tempo song, If you ever want my lovin', that sounds like it could be a Buck Owens song but is actually an original, one of seven songs here that Sara co-wrote.Among the other songs are two other covers of country oldies from the sixties - Imagine that (Patsy Cline) and Walk out backwards (Bill Anderson). They are excellent, but what really makes this album are the brilliant original songs, Sara's great voice and Pete's tasteful production. Sara proves to be equally capable of the slow songs (including the poignant title track) and the rousing up-tempo numbers. I enjoy Sara's subsequent albums but this seems likely to remain my favorite. If you enjoy traditional country music, especially if you like Dwight Yoakam, you'll love this. If you became a Sara fan because of her more recent albums (especially Born to fly) and you're not sure about this, you ought to hear some samples before buying this. Note that the USA and European versions of this album have different packaging but the music is identical.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Traditional Country with a spin..., September 11, 1998
By A Customer
Sara Evans' debut CD, Three Chords And The Truth, is truly fantastic. She has a wonderful, powerful voice, which can go from belting out the gospel-flavored "The Week The River Raged", to the hushed, breathy verses of "I Don't Want To See The Light". Evans sticks mainly with traditional-sounding songs on this one, but it's easy to hear some modern influences. For instance, the piping organ background on "Shame About That" would be just as much at home in a song by one of today's ska bands. Overall, the title track, "Three Chords and the Truth" and "I Don't Want To See The Light" are my picks for the strongest songs on this album. How can you go wrong with a line like, "Found a pay phone at a truck stop / Said a prayer as the quarter dropped / Oh, please be home, I know that I was wrong..."? I'd say that fans of Patty Loveless will probably appreciate this album, I hear definite parallels, musically and vocally, between the two. Ms. Evans also gets a couple of extra points in my book for having a hand in writing a lot of her own music... 7 out of the 11 songs on the album have her name listed as one of the song's writers. As someone who grew up listening to bands like Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, and AC/DC... I can't really be called the world's biggest country music fan. I like some country music, I can't stand some... but this album has a place of honor on my CD rack. It's definitely a keeper.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sara's debut album--and her best, December 20, 2000
This is Sara Evans' debut CD and it is by far the best of the three she has released so far. Her powerful vocals are at the forefront with a (relatively) simple arrangement for most of the songs. Sara wrote or co-wrote 7 of the 11 songs and the writing is truly superb. If you ever want to know why people listen to country music at all, the title track explains it thoroughly. Sara displays a little attitude with the upbeat numbers "Shame about that" and "If you ever want my lovin'". "I don't want to see the light" and "Unopened" are, along with the title track, some of the best country ballads to come along in recent years. "The week the river raged" is an impressive semi-gospel number and her cover of the Buck Owens classic "Tiger by the Tail" is very well done--it so impressed the song's co-writer Harlan Howard that he helped her get a record deal.Sara Evans music has devolved in her last two albums to something you wouldn't recognize as country at all. It's hard to blame her given that she's on a major label and radio has essentially blacklisted anything traditional. Still it is a sad development when you know what kind of talent she has. If you pick up any Sara Evans CD, get this one. It's all downhill from there.
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