Three Chords and the Truth

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Professional reviews
Three Chords and The Truth

Studio album by Sara Evans
Released	September 30, 1997
Genre	Country
Label	RCA
Producer(s)	Pete Anderson
All Music Guide (4/5) link
Sara Evans chronology
	Three Chords and The Truth (1997)	No Place That Far (1998)

Three Chords and The Truth is the first album released by country music singer songwriter Sara Evans.

1 Theme and Critical Acclaim
2 Reception
3 Track listing
4 References

[edit] Theme and Critical Acclaim

Sara Evans first album consists of mostly traditional country. It was hailed by critics as one of the best albums of the year and made the critics top ten of the year lists for The Washington Post, Billboard, Dallas Morning News, Request, and Country Music People . The album itself as brought prestige and was nominated for many awards such as an Academy of Country Music Nomination for "Top New Female Vocalist." The video for the title track was nominated for "Country Video of the Year" by the 1998 Music Video Production Association and for "Best New Clip" at the 1997 Billboard Music Video Awards. In addition, Evans was named one of Country America's "Ten To Watch In 1998/Top 10 New Stars Of 1998." At this time Sara Evans was still an unknown artist to the general public so to catch the eye of so many critics and be nominated for so many awards was a major compliment to Evans herself.

[edit] Reception

At a time when singers such as Shania Twain and Faith Hill were becoming major crossover stars, country music seemed to be leaning more in the pop direction. Unfortunately for Evans, Shania Twain's massive selling Come on Over was released the same year Three Chords and The Truth was. Despite having much critical acclaim and having been nominated for so many awards, Three Chords and The Truth sold poorly. It débuted at #56 on the Top Country Albums chart. Her lead single "True Lies," which was intended to make Evans a star, was ignored by country radio and only got to #59 on the country charts. Such a low performance on radio angered many country traditionalists who saw country music headed in the wrong direction. Once the failure of "True Lies" had quickly entered and exited the charts Evans tried to release a new single, the title track "Three Chords and The Truth." This time the single included a music video and was hoping to get better airplay; she did, but not by much. "Three Chords and The Truth" only got to #44. The next single "Shame About That" only got to #48. It was her only album not to receive RIAA certification.

Realizing the failure of her début, Evans went back in the studio to record a new album leaning toward a more country pop and a larger fan base. Though Three Chords and The Truth was a commercial failure, it has been praised by many critics claiming it to be one of her better albums.

One of the reasons for the failure is that country radio was not interested in the type of country that Evans album had consisted of. Country radio was playing more country pop songs than traditional county (a trend that would continue until Gretchen Wilson's Here for the Party (2004).Sara eventually realized the change in radio play and her future albums would reflect that. Up until Real Fine Place (2005) many fans and critics believe Three Chords and The Truth was her only "traditional country" album.