Yearwood Returns With New Album, Tour
Save for a handful of one-off performances and appearances, Trisha Yearwood has not been on the road in three years. That will change this fall with a 27-date tour that will open Sept. 29 in Mesa, Ariz., and run through a Nov. 19 show in Robinsonville, Miss.
Yearwood will be touring in support of her new album, “Jasper County,” due Sept. 13 from MCA Nashville. The Garth Fundis-produced set is the follow-up to 2001’s “Inside Out.”
“I’ve never taken this long to make a record,” Yearwood says. “I’ve never recorded as many songs. I’d never completely started over on an album like I did on this one. Overall, it was a two-year process to make this record.”
In fact, Yearwood and Fundis scrapped an album’s worth of material and decided they could do better. “Once we did that, we were able to get to the next layer of songs, to dig a little deeper,” she says. “When we got into the second set of sessions, it felt instantly right. That’s when I knew. You could just feel that it was special.”
The album is led by the single “Georgia Rain,” which is No. 18 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. The song features a harmony vocal by Yearwood’s fianc√àe, country superstar Garth Brooks. Fans who pre-order the album through Apple’s iTunes music store beginning Aug. 30 will receive a bonus acoustic version of the single.
Also contributing guest vocals to the album are Brooks & Dunn’s Ronnie Dunn (“Try Me”) and Beth Nielsen Chapman, who sings on the ballad she co-wrote, “Trying to Love You.” Other “Jasper County” cuts include the bluesy opener “Who Invented the Wheel” and the upbeat songs “Baby Don’t You Let Go,” “Gimme the Good Stuff” and “Pistol.”
Yearwood has a few appearances planned prior to the tour’s kick off. Tomorrow (Aug. 20) she’ll be in St. Paul, Minn., to perform at the Starkey Hearing Foundation’s So the World May Hear Awards Gala, which Brooks will also attend. Michael Bolton, Donny Osmond and Paul Williams will also perform at the event, which aims to raise $3 million for the charity.
As previously reported, Yearwood has been tapped to sing the National Anthem Sept. 8 as part of the NFL Kickoff 2005 ABC special before the opening game of the professional football season.
Also on tap are appearances on NBC’s “Today” morning show, as well as the network’s “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” CBS’ “The Late Show With David Letterman,” ABC’s “Good Morning America” and “The View” and the syndicated “Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “Martha.”
Yearwood is expected to be on hand in January for Nashville’s inaugural Sound and Speed Presented by SunTrust, a Motorsports and Music Celebration.
Here is the “Jasper County” track list:
“Who Invented the Wheel”
“Pistol”
“Trying to Love You”
“River of You”
“Baby Don’t You Let Go”
“Standing Out in a Crowd”
“Georgia Rain”
“Sweet Love”
“Try Me”
“Gimme the Good Stuff”
“It’s Alright”
Here are Yearwood’s tour dates:
Sept. 29: Mesa, Ariz. (Mesa Performing Arts Center)
Sept. 30-Oct. 1: Las Vegas (Las Vegas Hilton)
Oct. 2: Pomona, Calif. (Los Angeles County Fairgrounds)
Oct. 4: Palm Desert, Calif. (McCallum Theatre for Performing Arts)
Oct. 5: Escondido, Calif. (California Center for the Arts)
Oct. 7: Santa Rosa, Calif. (Luther Burbank Center for the Arts)
Oct. 8: Reno, Nev. (Reno Hilton Theater)
Oct. 9: Jackson, Calif. (Jackson Rancheria Casino)
Oct. 15: Norfolk, Va. (Fleet Rec. Park)
Oct. 17: Atlanta (Symphony Hall)
Oct. 18: Jacksonville, Fla. (Florida Theatre)
Oct. 20: Melbourne, Fla. (King Center)
Oct. 21: West Palm Beach, Fla. (Kravis Center for the Performing Arts)
Oct. 22: Clearwater, Fla. (Ruth Eckerd Hall)
Oct. 23: Fort Myers, Fla. (Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall)
Oct. 27: Prior Lake, Minn. (Celebrity Palace)
Oct. 28: Joliet, Ill. (Rialto Square Theatre)
Nov. 2: Glenside, Pa. (Keswick Theatre)
Nov. 3: Easton, Pa. (State Theatre)
Nov. 4: Mashantucket, Conn. (Foxwoods Resort and Casino)
Nov. 5: Albany, N.Y. (Palace Theatre)
Nov. 6: Waterbury, Conn. (Palace Theatre)
Nov. 10: Baltimore (France-Merrick Performing Arts Center)
Nov. 11: Atlantic City, N.J. (Atlantic City Hilton Casino)
Nov. 18: Shreveport, La. (Sam’s Town)
Nov. 19: Robinsonville, Miss. (Sam’s Town)
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