Martina McBride keeps family life and music in balance during tour

Balancing career, life and family is a difficult task for any touring artist, but country star Martina McBride seems to have found just the right recipe.

“We cut our touring back to mostly weekends and the summer,” said McBride, whose Saturday show at Wind Creek Wetumpka has been sold out for several weeks — the tickets were gone almost as quickly as they went on sale.

“I’ve just now figured out, after doing this for 30-something years, how to tour where I go out for chunks at a time, and then I’m home for a time,” said McBride, who has grown to really enjoy time off the road. “So we get a good balance that way, instead of going out every single weekend all year long — which is what I did for many, many years.”

She and husband, John, have been married since 1988. McBride said a touring music life was actually a little easier back when their three young adult daughters — Delaney, Emma and Ava — were little.

“We could just take them with us wherever we went,” McBride said. “We’d put them on a bus and we toured a lot more.”

Family time was essential to her during the pandemic. While some other artists were busy writing and recording, she decided real life was more important.

“My kids were here. We were all together. We really got into walking and playing games, sitting around the table and eating meals together. I had a big garden,” McBride said. “After so many years of touring and making new music, touring and making new music — just that cycle over and over again — honestly, it was really nice for me to just disengage a little bit and just enjoy being at home.”

These days, McBride said she still loves family time and gardening. “I love having all the kids here and cooking for everybody, and just kind of experiencing the slowdown,” she said.

That said, McBride has more new music on her mind. It’ll come, maybe next year, but for now she’s not feeling pressured to release it immediately. Though she’s a homebody at heart, it’s just a step to keep creative and honor her fans.

“I’m working on an idea for a new album, a couple of them actually,” she said. “Hopefully, there will be new music coming in 2024.”

That’ll come with another big tour with her longtime bandmates.

“Some have been with me 26 years,” she said. “It’s like family. We love to get together and play music on stage.”

Looking back on an iconic song

“I’m at the place in my career where I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of songs that have meant something to people,” McBride said. “There’s a lot of songs that have a lot of memories attached to them for people.”

For those fortunate enough to have tickets to see McBride this weekend, she said to expect a lot of fun — some new music, fan favorites, deep cuts, and a few covers. She’s got a lot of emotional ballads, and tries to keep live shows from getting too heavy with them.

She weighs that against songs she knows her fans want to hear, like “A Broken Wing,” “My Baby Loves Me” and “This One's For The Girls.”

Of course, there’s “Independence Day,” McBride’s iconic song from 1994 about a young girl, her mother, and an abusive husband. The mother burns down the house on the 4^th of July, with the husband inside. The song was written by Gretchen Peters.

The song inspired a film released last year by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, “Martina McBride’s ‘Independence Day’: The Story and People Behind a Song with Lasting Impact.”

When “Independence Day” was first released, McBride said she didn’t know it would become what it has.

“I knew it was special, and I didn’t know if we would release it to radio,” she said. “I just wanted it on my album. I wanted to sing it live at my shows. I felt like there was somebody out there that needed to hear those words.”

Something new she's offering on vinyl from her website martinamcbride.com is "Martina McBride - Greatest Hits: The RCA Years."

A part of touring today that McBride enjoys is seeing new generations in the audiences experience the music.

“It’s really something to be around that long that you can start to have people pass the music down to their children,” she said.

Eating healthy on the road

Among her many interests, cooking is a special one for McBride. She was always interested in it as a youth, but didn’t get to cook much then.

“It just wasn’t really encouraged when I was growing up,” she said. “But then I got older, got my own apartment, and cooked very simple things for a long time.”

Getting married, having children and, of course, traveling all over the world raised her cooking game dramatically. She's since authored cookbooks "Martina's Kitchen Mix" and "Around the Table."

“It just blossomed, and it’s a huge passion of mine now,” McBride said. “I love it so much. My favorite thing to do is to make a meal for my friends and family. I think it’s like music in the way it brings people together. It’s about sharing and it’s about comfort.”

So what’s a touring artist to do for good food when she’s out on the road? Instead of eating out all the time, McBride prepares things to take with her like steamed vegetables and salads, so that’s she’s not tempted by things like wings and pizza that are always around.

“If we’re out for three or four days, I’ll make enough at home to bring with me on the road,” McBride said. “I like to try to eat healthy.”

She’s also been known to break out a grill and cook for the whole crew. “Which is a lot of fun,” McBride said.

Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel covers things to do in the River Region. Contact him at sheupel@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Martina McBride keeps family life and music in balance during tour