Sara Evans is another of those artists who people always told me I should listen to. That’s not to say that I’ve managed to avoid her all these years; I love her debut single ‘3 Chords and The Truth’, although admittedly it’s rather different to her later material, and my awareness of several of her hit singles throughout the years served me enough to understand who she is as an artist. Having said that, it didn’t stop me from being ultimately surprised when I listened to ‘Slow Me Down’ in its entirety and felt the full force of her pop sound; I guess I just simply wasn’t aware that she was so far across the crossover spectrum these days.
For much of the album Sara picks up where she left off in appealing to her strengths. In the lead single, doubling up as the title track, she sets the precedent for a record of mid-tempo power pop hits, centered around love, romance and heartbreak, and strong on emotions. We can see this on ‘Can’t Stop Loving You’, a guitar-driven duet with Isaac Slade of alternative pop band The Fray, and ‘Gotta Have You’, a piano-led and melodically cyclical love song, and the Gavin DeGraw cover/duet ‘Not Over You’. All of them showcase Sara’s powerful vocals and emotive delivery, combined with the sound and material we are used to hearing from her biggest hits. She also channels a more summery acoustic sound here however, such as on pretty heartbreak number ‘Put My Heart Down’, which launches into an early 00’s pop vibe for the chorus, and is definitely a grower. Its catchy chorus enables this and the same is true for ‘Sweet Spot’, a beautifully simple but cheery and feel-good love song that picks up the pace halfway through the record.
Sara also delves into R&B for the verses of ‘If I Run’, yet what becomes distinctly clear is that she’s afraid to allow these sounds to extend into the chorus, and they regularly switch into a more generic pop, full production sound on those refrains throughout the album. One exception is ‘You Never Know’, a Carrie Underwood, ‘Two Black Cadillacs’-esque rock-influenced and haunting take on the unexpected heartbreak that can spring out of nowhere. It does feel like at times they could have pushed things further production-wise with this song but what becomes apparent is the tentative way in which Sara approaches new sounds. Perhaps afraid to alienate long-time fans or simply not too keen to stray from what she knows, she simply offers peeks into what is musically possible for her.
Yet, the closing few tracks of the album display a tendency to drift backwards rather than forwards, which is certainly not a bad thing. I cannot comment on the representation of a truly country sound across Sara’s past albums, but it’s definitely present here, commanding a dobro lead and a very Sugarland style of song in ‘Good Love Is Hard To Find’, chanelling Jennifer Nettles’ classic soulful sophistication. There’s also hints of early Dixie Chicks here, resulting in an homage to rootsy yet commercial 90s/00s country, and one of the best tracks on the albums. Sara again reminds us of the music on the radio fifteen years ago or so with closer ‘Revival’, a heavy-hitting gospel-influenced number with a strong ‘90s sound, complete with touches of organ and reminding us just where she really shines, both musically and lyrically.
But it’s ‘Better Off’, her recording with Vince Gill, that stands out as by far the most superb cut on ‘Slow Me Down’. In case anyone forgot those gorgeous inflections and twang in her often smoothed-over vocals, well they’re on full display here, and that coupled with the wailing of a fiddle and a rather traditional, at times mountain bluegrass melody and style, makes for a perfect melding of influences that is topped off by a stunning contribution from Vince. If you thought Sara belonged in country pop, well you were wrong. It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter how commercial you push your sound, if you’re country, you’re country, and that’ll never go away.
Although pop isn’t really my thing, lots of these songs are growers, and once I got over the fact that much of it wasn’t trying to be country in any way, I began to like it a lot more. Sara is of course at home in her country roots and I desperately wish she would return to those more often, but I am quite happy with this selection and I hope it serves her well in both country and pop for the months (or years) to come.
