“Born to Fly”
Sara Evans
Written by Sara Evans, Marcus Hummon, and Darrell Scott
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
January 20, 2001
Sara Evans was born to be a traditional country singer, yet she still managed to successfully navigate the crossover era of the early twenty first century with nimbleness.
In 2001, that was because she was smart enough to split the difference between the candy coated pop of Faith Hill and Shania Twain, and the rootsy girl power sounds of the Chicks. “Born to Fly” borrows heavily from “Wide Open Spaces,” and sprinkles enough sparkly glitter on top to help it fit comfortably next to the latest AC-baiting hits from Martina McBride and Jo Dee Messina.
Evans gives one of her most charming vocal performances here, tapping into the wide eyed innocence of a small town girl dreaming of a brighter tomorrow. There has to be a world with confidants beyond the preacher and the scarecrow, right?
Evans would struggle when she tried to go full pop, as she does on the follow up single, “I Could Not Ask For More.” But this is her wheelhouse, and she knocks it out of the park quite effortlessly.
“Born to Fly” gets an A.
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This is a nice song done well. I agree she was born for traditional country, but I can’t blame her for the attempts to be a bit more pop. For this song I would give it a solid “B”.
After a few years of struggling to find the right identity, Sara Evans definitely found it with this record. It’s clearly more of a pop-flavored lane that she intended to embark upon, but I’m glad she did. She was not only one of the few females to persevere after 9/11, but she projected a contagious ray of sunshine upon the listener with most of her material and vocal presentation. I certainly never considered her among the top tier of female artists of her era, and on numerous records I found some of the notes she hit to be downright displeasing to the ear, but I still thought she maneuvered as deftly as possible in her lane.
I felt bad for her in 1999, a year chockful of chart performance disappointment, when she telegraphed her pending lane shift with the fun “Fool I’m a Woman” but ultimately got overshadowed by the similarly titled Shania Twain song. “Born to fly” was a fitting metaphor for what came next as this song was a perfect representative of the feel-good country playlists of 2000 and she was poised to soar amidst it. While there were at least couple of songs from her hits roster that I liked better, I think it’s fair to say this was her career hit, and a deserved one. Bonus points to the “Wizard of Oz” themed video which really helped sell the premise.
Grade: B+
“I’ve been telling my dreams to the scarecrow.” Home run in the first line. I love how her voice sounds on this, and how the production adds pop without subtracting Country. Love everything about it. I do agree some of her later songs pushed a little too pop, but at the same time I don’t think she ever made a song I truly disliked.
…that first verse plus chorus would make it a great dedication to the late pope francis. note to self: check the calibration of your heathen nature and the engine oil.
if that thing is not uplifting, what is?
Great song from a great album. Definitely a shift in sound, but not a total pop grab a la Hill (Breathe) or McBride (I Love You). I will say that, like Patty Loveless, I’m not sure the pop lane is Evans’ strong suit (I thought I Could Not Ask For More was fine, if inferior to the Edwin McCain version). Her cover of Hornsby’s Every Little Kiss,however, is excellent.
An excellent song from Sara Evans indeed, though sadly, our radio stations never seemed to play this song despite it peaking at number one. They would always seem to play her next single “I Could Not Ask for more” more frequently, which in my humble opinion I do prefer over this song.
With that being said, revisiting “Born to Fly” a few years ago makes me really appreciate the mix of energy, instrumentation, and Evan’s vocal performance. And despite me preferring her next single, I do still listen to this song very frequently whenever it shows up on my playlist.
I would give the song a B+, great single overall.
This is one of my favorite singles of hers. I think my favorite singles of hers are “Suds in the Bucket” and “Coal Mine.”
Those are my top 3 by her, too, with “No Place That Far” really being the only other single I’d go to bat for. Like Jo Dee Messina, she has a very limited wheelhouse but can produce brilliant work when she actually operates within those limits.
Oops! Yes, “No Place That Far” is on my list of favorites of hers too.
Good choices. I got a preview of “Coal Mine” at my county fair in 2005 and really enjoyed it. I was sad when it flopped on the charts the next year.
Good song, well performed A-/B+. Along with “Suds In The Bucket” and “No Place That Far” my favorites among her songs
Those would probably be my Top 3, though I would add Backseat of a Greyhound Bus, Saints & Angels and Fool, I’m A Woman to round a Top 5 or 6.
I know I’ve said it before, but gosh I just love most mainstream country music from this late 90s/early 2000s period, specifically 1997 to about the first half of 2001. Something about country from this period just fires on all cylinders for me, especially when concerning melodies, production styles, instrumentation, striking a nice balance between contemporary and traditional styles, and the variety of artists still being played on the radio. I also love that so many female artists were still represented on country radio during that time. It’s easily one of my most favorite periods in mainstream country besides the late 80s and early 90s.
And like the period that it was released in, Kevin described “Born To Fly” perfectly in that it gets the balance between traditional and contemporary just right. I love that while it features a bouncy pop beat, a cheerful sing along melody, and subtle drum programming (which was making its way into mainstream country around this time), there is also a large dose of fiddle and lovely dobro playing by Jerry Douglas throughout. I also love Sara’s charming, enthusiastic vocal performance. I especially always thought the intro was pretty cool and unique with the fancy drumming in the beginning and then Sara singing “I’ve been telling my dreams to the scarecrow…” with just an acoustic guitar and a cool, snappy drum beat in the background, which definitely made it stand out on the radio when it came out. I also like how things quiet down after the dobro instrumental break with just a gentle acoustic guitar and Sara softly singing the first part of the final chorus. Also, I love the joyful choruses, which can easily get stuck in your head (In the beginning, I used to think she was saying “Howdy away for Heaven” instead of “How do you wait for Heaven,” lol). Like so many other feel good songs from this period, there’s no way I can NOT be in a better mood after hearing it!
Unlike the anonymous poster above, our two main stations DID play this song a lot when it came out in 2000 and it remained a popular recurrent after its chart run was done. After not having heard from Sara ever since the underrated “Fool, I’m A Woman,” from the Summer of 1999 unfortunately didn’t become the hit it should’ve been, I remember thinking “Well, she’s finally got a hit on her hands now!” Even “No Place That Far,” her first number one, wasn’t getting as much recurrent airplay as I would’ve liked, so it was neat to see her finally getting a lot more attention on the radio. And thankfully this did turn out to be one of the few late 90s/early 2000s country hits that wasn’t forgotten by the mid 2000s. I remember hearing it on countless car rides with my parents all throughout 2000 and 2001, and once again, it takes me back to times we spent in York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania during that time. The joyful melody, along with the fiddle, acoustic guitar, and dobro playing always reminds me of being in Pennsylvania around Amish Country with lots of beautiful farm and country scenery all around, and it feels like I’m back there whenever I hear the song again. :)
I’ve always really loved seeing the music video whenever it came on GAC, as well. I thought the Wizard Of Oz theme was cute, and I especially liked the funny faces the Wicked Witch actress made, the old farmer couple with the pitch fork, plus the tornado scene and seeing those other guys floating in the wind outside the house, lol. I always thought Sara looked absolutely gorgeous in this video, as well, and I loved her outfits. It’s still definitely my favorite video of hers and one of her coolest!
Born To Fly is another one of my favorite albums from Sara, along with her first two. Teaming up with Paul Worley, who was most famous for producing The Chicks and Martina McBride at the time, was such a smart move by her, and I love his style of pop country production all throughout the album (Worley also produced two more of my other favorite female country albums from the early 2000s: Carolyn Dawn Johnson’s Room With A View and Cyndi Thomson’s My World). Besides, “Born To Fly,” I also love the other three singles “I Could Not Ask For More,” “Saints And Angels,” and “I Keep Looking,” which all hit my early 2000s pop country sweet spot. I especially always thought “Saints And Angels” was very underrated and has such a pretty melody. Also, it’s hard to believe “I Keep Looking” never went to number one, since our stations played it quite a lot in 2002. I love the bright and sunny pop melody of that song, along with another charming vocal from Sara, despite the lyrics about never being satisfied. Other songs I really enjoy off the Born To Fly album are “I Learned That From You,” “Why Should I Care,” “Four-Thirty,” “Let’s Dance,” and “You Don’t.” And yes, I also love her cover of “Every Little Kiss,” as someone who has always loved the original by Bruce Hornsby and the Range.
Btw, when watching an episode of Sara’s podcast a while back, I thought it was pretty neat to learn that she actually got the inspiration for the bouncy tempo and flow of “Born To Fly” from “Two Princes” by The Spin Doctors (another one of my favorite non-country songs) to “juice it up” and make it livelier.
As for my top 3 Sara Evans songs: They would be “No Place That Far,” “Fool, I’m A Woman,” and “Born To Fly.” As I said though, I generally enjoy her first three albums a lot. One of her later efforts, 2017’s Words, also has quite a few gems on there I like. Despite her having the perfect voice for traditional country and sounding great on her traditional leaning efforts, I also think she mostly pulls off pop/AC flavored country very well. I’m glad she was able to stick around for the rest of the 2000s and some of the early 2010s, unlike so many other female artists from this time.
Probably should have rephrased my statement before posting.
What I meant to say was that I don’t ever recall our radio stations playing “Born To Fly” in recurrent status long after the song had peaked at number one throughout the 2000’s decade. However, the single that was released afterwards, “I Could Not Ask For More”, was one that I remembered they had played on our stations more recurrently in the 2000’s than the previous single, despite that song not reaching number one on the either charts (In fact, “Ask for More” charted higher on both year end charts than “Fly” so I think my memories still kind of stand.)
Keep in mind that I was a kid in the 2000’s so maybe I’m completely misremembering something, and “Fly” probably did play once or twice that was a lost memory to me. Regardless, still really like Born to Fly, and I’m glad that it became a hit. My memories of me not remembering if the song had played on our radio stations does not reflect how I feel about the song in general.
Hey, no worries! I pretty much assumed that’s what you meant. I probably should’ve worded my sentence on that better (I’m autistic, and sometimes don’t word things the right way at the right time). Some stations have different recurrent habits than others, so I don’t deny that your stations played “I Could Not Ask For More” as a recurrent more than they did “Fly.” For my stations, it was the other way around, though, I do remember “Ask For More” having a fairly long recurrent life on our stations, as well. I started gradually checking out on country radio by 2004-2005, so I’m not exactly sure how accurate my assessments are, either. I love both songs, regardless!
I really love her first two albums and would be partial to “No Place that Far” from a sound that blended traditional and country pop effectively.
There was a podcast called the neon eon where Sara states that she signed the largest album deal from a female ever and when her debut album came out radio was strong holding her record label for stuff or they wouldn’t play the record pressuring the record company to give in. “Three Chords in the Truth” is a fantastic song and vocal performance. She did state that even though the record failed through no fault of her own she wanted to change her sound as she was influenced by the Dixie chicks, Martina McBride and Faith’s sound and wanted to be a sex symbol which i’d say from her next 3 albums she was but her albums had diminishing returns compared to the first two. Although I love “I Learned that From You”.
No Place That Far is probably my overall favorite album of hers, as well. It was definitely a perfect mix of late 90s contemporary country and traditional country. Such a shame it didn’t do as well on radio besides the title cut. It still baffles me why the lead single, “Cryin’ Game,” wasn’t a bigger hit. It’s a song that should’ve been right at home on country radio in 1998, imo. I do remember Sara mentioning on her podcast that radio wanted her and the label to change a melody line in “Fool, I’m A Woman”, and THEN they would play it more. I can definitely understand why she was frustrated with country radio during that time.
And yes, I also love “Three Chords And The Truth,” and it would probably go in my top 5 favorite songs of hers. I loved when she sang part of it with just acoustic guitar backing on the episode of The George Jones Show she appeared on. I also love “True Lies” from that album (How cool it was to have an old fashioned honky tonk sounding song with the same name as a popular Arnold Schwarzenegger film from a few years earlier). There’s so many other gems on that album, including her versions of “Walk Out Backwards” and “I’ve Got A Tiger By The Tail,” plus “Imagine That,” “Shame About That,” “Even Now,” and “Unopened,” and “I Don’t Want To See The Light.” I just love the retro vibe of the entire album, and it’s too bad it couldn’t have been her breakthrough.
Interesting backstory about her debut album! I love Three Chords and the Truth, and while Sara might have wanted to pivot a bit anyways, I wonder how that album might’ve done if she debuted in 1992 versus 1997. I think her cover of Walk Out Backwards is my favorite of many, though Rick Trevino has a real nice version too.