1992–1995: The Time Has Come and The Way That I Am McBride released her debut studio album by RCA Records in 1992, titled
The Time Has Come. It was produced by
Paul Worley and Ed Seay. This album's
title track made it to number 23 on the country music charts, while the next two singles both failed to make the Top 40. Unlike her later
country pop-influenced albums,
The Time Has Come featured
honky tonk and
country folk influences.
The Way That I Am was McBride's second album. Its first two singles both brought her into the country top ten: "
My Baby Loves Me", the album's
de facto title song, peaked at number two, and "
Life No. 9" peaked at number six. The former was previously a Top 10 hit in Canada for
Patricia Conroy. However, it was the third single, "
Independence Day", which was prevented from reaching the Top 10 through the oppositions of many radio programmers, who objected to the song's subject of a mother fighting back against abuse by burning the family home to the ground. "Independence Day" won Video of the Year and Song of the Year at the
Country Music Association Awards, and has since become McBride's signature song. It also earned the song's composer,
Gretchen Peters, a nomination for the
Grammy Award for Best Country Song. The song also gave McBride a nomination for the
Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. McBride performed the song at the 1995 Grammys ceremony. The fourth and fifth singles from
The Way That I Am were less successful: "Heart Trouble" peaked at number 21, and "Where I Used to Have a Heart" fell short of the Top 40. She also sang duet vocals on "Chances Are" with
Bob Seger, featured on the soundtrack of the 1998 motion picture
Hope Floats. She had her second number one on the country charts with "
A Broken Wing", the second single from her
Evolution album, in late 1997.
Evolution went on to produce four more Top 10 hits at country radio: a re-release of "Valentine", "
Happy Girl", "
Wrong Again" (which also went to number one), and "
Whatever You Say". It included most of her major hits to that point, and the album track "Strangers" from the album
The Way That I Am, which she put on the album because she felt that it should have been a single. conversely, McBride sang backing vocals on Johnson's late-2000 debut single, titled "
Georgia". Late in 2002, McBride also sang backing vocals on
Andy Griggs's single "Practice Life". The album included cover versions of country music standards, such as
Hank Williams' "You Win Again",
Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough", and
Kris Kristofferson's "
Help Me Make It Through the Night". To make the album sound in its authentic style, McBride and her husband hired veteran Nashville session players and primarily incorporated vintage analog recording equipment. The album sold over 250,000 copies within its first week, the highest sales start for a McBride album. McBride later joined Canadian Idol on a tour in the Spring. In 2007, McBride also served as a guest coach on
Fox Networks television series,
American Idol. In 2007, McBride released her ninth studio album,
Waking Up Laughing. It was the first album in which McBride co-wrote some of the tracks. She set up her
Waking Up Laughing Tour in 2007, which included country artists
Rodney Atkins,
Little Big Town, and
Jason Michael Carroll. Its follow-up, "
How I Feel", reached the Top 15. In Spring 2008, McBride released
Martina McBride: Live In Concert, a CD/DVD set. McBride recorded an electronically produced duet with
Elvis Presley, performing his song "
Blue Christmas" as a duet with him on his latest compilation,
The Elvis Presley Christmas Duets. A compilation collection, titled
Playlist: The Very Best of Martina McBride, was released on December 16, 2008, as part of Sony BMG Playlist series. The album features 11 previously released tracks and three unreleased tracks.
2008–2010: Shine McBride wrapped up production of her tenth studio album in late 2008. The first single, "
Ride", was released to radio in October 2008 and debuted at No. No. 43 on the Hot Country Songs chart. It barely missed the Top 10 on the chart, peaking at number eleven in March 2009. A music video produced by Kristin Barlowe was also released at the end of the year. The album,
Shine, was released by RCA Records on March 24, 2009, and debuted at the top of the U.S. Country album chart and number 10 on the
Billboard 200. McBride co-produced the album with
Dann Huff, and it featured "Sunny Side Up", a song that she co-wrote. The second single, "
I Just Call You Mine", was released in May 2009 and reached the Top 20. The third single from
Shine was "
Wrong Baby Wrong Baby Wrong", which the Warren Brothers co-wrote with
Robert Ellis Orrall and
Love and Theft member Stephen Barker Liles. McBride also initiated the Shine All Night Tour, a co-headlining venture with fellow country star and friend
Trace Adkins and opening act
Sarah Buxton. The tour began in November 2009 and ended in May 2010. On June 10, 2010,
Billboard announced that McBride had collaborated on a song with
Kid Rock. In late June 2010, McBride was nominated for a Teen Choice Award, "Favorite Country Female Artist", alongside country stars Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift and Gretchen Wilson. In late 2010, McBride was nominated for two American Country Awards (Best Female Single & Touring Artist of the year w/ Trace Adkins.) Along with the ACA nominations, she received her 14th Female Vocalist nomination for Country Music Association in October.
2010–2016: Eleven and Everlasting McBride exited RCA in November 2010 and signed with
Republic Nashville. She began working on a new studio album with producer
Byron Gallimore. Her first single for Republic Nashville is "
Teenage Daughters", which she also co-wrote with the Warren Brothers. McBride told
Country Weekly that she co-wrote eight of the eleven songs on the album; she decided to write more frequently because she felt more confident in her songwriting ability after "Anyway" had become a hit. An album track, "One Night" was released as a promotion for
NASCAR with a music video in June 2011. "
I'm Gonna Love You Through It" was released as the album's second single on July 25, 2011. The song became a critical and commercial hit, peaking at number 4 and becoming her first top five hit since 2006's "Anyway". The album, titled
Eleven, was released on October 11, 2011. Its third single was a cover of
Train's "
Marry Me", recorded as a duet with Train lead singer
Pat Monahan. In September 2011, McBride was nominated for the CMA's Female Vocalist award for the 15th time, and 14th time consecutively.
RCA Records released two compilation albums in 2012,
Hits and More in January and
The Essential Martina McBride in October. McBride released
Everlasting, a collection of R&B and Soul covers, on April 8, 2014, via
Kobalt Label Services. The album includes duets with
Kelly Clarkson and
Gavin DeGraw, and was produced by
Don Was. In September 2014, McBride received her 17th Female Vocalist nomination from the Country Music Association. She was tied with
Reba McEntire for most nominations in any vocalist category, until McEntire's 18th nomination in 2017.
2016–present: Reckless and Vocal Point podcast In 2016, McBride released a new single called "Reckless", the title track for a new album.
Reckless was released on April 29 through Nash Icon Records. It was recorded at Blackbird Studios and produced by Nathan Chapman and Dann Huff. The album includes 10 songs, one of which is the previously released single "Reckless". According to McBride, making this album felt like "coming home".
Reckless debuted at number 2 on the
Billboard Top Country Albums Chart. On June 8, 2016, McBride debuted the video for her second single, "Just Around The Corner", during the CMT Music Awards. This song is the official Band Against Cancer anthem. Band Against Cancer is a community-based movement led by Sarah Cannon (the cancer institute of HCA) in partnership with Big Machine Label Group and McBride, which aims to raise awareness, support and resources to those diagnosed with cancer. The initiative includes a series of concerts across United States, with McBride as a headliner. In August 2016, the singer announced a new tour called "Love Unleashed". According to McBride, the purpose of the tour was to unite people and spread love through the power of music as a response to the "tragedy and uncertainty in the world". She was also selected as one of 30 artists to perform on "
Forever Country", a mash-up track of
Take Me Home, Country Roads;
On the Road Again; and
I Will Always Love You which celebrated 50 years of the
CMA Awards. In July 2017, McBride revealed she is planning on releasing a Christmas album, of which she said " It won't have as many hymns on it. It will be more things like 'Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town' and 'It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas.'" She later announced that it would be released in 2018, "One is a new Christmas album, which will come out in 2018." The Christmas album ''
It's the Holiday Season'' was released on October 19, 2018. Its release would accompany a Christmas tour, called "Joy of Christmas" as well as a cookbook called "Martina's Kitchen Mix: My Recipe Playlist for Real Life" released on October 30, 2018. This was McBride's second cookbook, following her 2014 release called "Around the Table: Recipes and Inspiration for Gatherings Throughout the Year". McBride also launched a show on Food Network, airing on Sundays at 11am eastern. In 2019, McBride began the podcast
Vocal Point, a "free-wheeling, wide-ranging" topical conversation series. On May 4, 2020, McBride appeared in the second-season episode of
NBC's
Songland and released the song "Girls Like Me". In March 2022, McBride sold her Master Royalty Rights to Primary Wave. The company also took ownership and distribution rights for her
Everlasting album and the singer's ''
It's the Holiday Season'' Christmas album. McBride was announced as the opening act for
The Judds Final Tour, scheduled to begin in summer 2022. However,
Naomi Judd died before the tour could begin. Her daughter,
Wynonna, announced at her memorial that she and McBride would honor the tour dates as a tribute to Naomi. ==Personal life==