All told, this is the perfect CD to revel in McBride's stunning voice showcased by sensational lyrics and musicianship from some of Nashville's best writers and players. With Waking Up Laughing, McBride delivers the goods on arguably her best creative effort yet.


 

The record label has gotten incredible response to this when they’ve played it for radio stations. And I think if you want to come out of the box with a sure-fire, number-one smash, this is the one. As soon as I started listening to it, it just floored me. Basically, it talks about a guy who thinks maybe he has cancer. He’s going in for surgery and talking to a best friend about looking after his family if something should happen. I actually thought these songwriters had gone and called my family, because my grandpa Clyde passed away with cancer, and my grandmother’s name was Kathryn. Her best friends were Mary Ann and Bobby, who spent time with her, took her to movies and took her out to eat after my grandfather died. As soon as I heard those names in the chorus, I said, “All right. Turn it off. I’ll cut it.” It instantly brought tears to my eyes. There are some other things on down deep in the song that are just as uncanny. So this song is about a part of my life. I could’ve written it myself. I think this came my way because it was meant to.

This is kind of a different feeling song for me (Tracy Byrd). It's still a country record, but it's almost got a folk influence to it with the mandolin. It's another song that allows me to stretch out on the chorus. That high note in the song is at the very top of my scale. The song reminded me of when I was a kid and grew up out in the middle of the country. We used to run the bridge over the river where the train ran. That was the first thing that came to mind when I heard the song. I never jumped off the bridge, but I certainly thought about it a few times.