Gwendolyn
If you’d like a refresher course in why Trisha Yearwood has two CMA Female Vocalist trophies to her credit, all you need to do is pick up her new Let’s Be Frank record. Trisha’s first full-length studio album since 2007 becomes widely available today, after being exclusive to Williams Sonoma since December.
In the tribute, Trisha covers tunes from the classic American songbook, particularly ones by Frank Sinatra. But she admits there are definitely other influences on the collection.
“I narrowed this album down to a hundred songs at first,” she explains. “And I’m like, ‘Okay, how do I pick twelve songs?'”
She adds: “So the cool thing was that even though I do cover ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ and you might associate that more with Judy Garland, there is a Frank version.”
“But I learned things, like there’s a song on here called ‘Drinking Again.’ There’s a really cool Frank version and there’s a really cool Aretha Franklin version,” Trisha continues. “So I sort of listened to both and kind of picked a couple licks from Aretha, but mainly focused on the Frank version.”
There was one rule Trisha applied while selecting songs: She’s such an admirer of Linda Ronstadt, she didn’t let herself duplicate anything the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer did on her three similar albums with Nelson Riddle in the eighties.
“I’m an impersonator, anyway!” Trisha laughs. “…I would’ve done ’em the way she did ’em… In my head, I’m like, ‘I don’t know what else to do to those songs.'”
Trisha expects to release a country album before the end of the year, but hints this may not be her last big-band effort: “I hope I get to do more of these, because I had a blast,” she teases.
Copyright © 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
