Trisha Yearwood Album: “Where Your Road Leads (International Release)”

How to fit it all in 1,000 words is going to be tough!!! Being the avid Trisha fan as I am, or rather FANatic, could you expect anything LESS than 5 stars from me? Onto Trisha

This could be her best album to date, no lie. The emotion in this album, along with jaw-dropping vocal performances leaves you in utter and complete awe. Each song in itself a masterpiece and each song in itself stands on it own. No surprise considering she's the best voice in "today's country music", and she has such talent finding songs with lyrics that SAY SOMETHING. That have a purpose.

With most albums there are one or two songs that you dislike, or that you simply like. Every song on the album is something that reaches to your very core and you love through and through.

Beautiful ballads such as "Never Let You Go Again" just makes you sigh, or "Love Wouldn't Lie To Me" that just breaks your heart. One of *my* favorites on the album, another ballad ! is "Heart Like A Sad Song" which could get the hardest-hearted person crying.

What I find most amazing on the album, is how although each song is diverse as it is, each album is so full of emotion. Nothing is half-..well yknow the rest.

For all of you wondering, yes there is a Diane Warren ballad on the album: "I'll Still Love You More" which seems to be a favorite among most of the people I know. With Diane Warren penning the song, I don't think you can go wrong anyhow.

Now what about those more blusy, rocking tunes?? well for that she's got "Powerful Thing", "That Ain't the Way I Heard It," "Wouldn't Any Woman," and "Bring Me All Your Loving." "Wouldn't Any Woman" is among my favorites, because of the lines: "I've loved you to the limits of my self-respect/Now I'm leaving with what's left/Wouldn't any woman."

Now, I know most of you are wondering about "Where Your Road Leads"! the title cut, which also happens to be a FANTABULOUS duet! with Garth Brooks. It is written by Victoria Shaw and Desmond Child, Victoria co-wrote "The River."

What else? Well there's a Carole King/Paul Brady tune called "I Don't Wanna Be The One" with one of the most outstanding vocal performances I'VE EVER HEARD.

If you don't get this album, you're nuts. Pure and simple. Sorry but it's true. It's an album that just grabs you and won't let go. The emotion in her voice, and the depth of her music can only be described as magic. The best album of the year. Period.

Of all the contemporary country singers to emerge in the nineties, Trisha was (and remains) my favorite although not by much. This album is typical, containing many great songs from some of the finest songwriters around (Annie Roboff, Jamie O'Hara, Al Anderson, Don Schlitz, Mark D Sanders, Dianne Warren, Carole King, Allison Moorer, Victoria Shaw and J D Souther among them), yet requiring several plays to really be appreciated. Many of the songs are ballads but there are some faster songs to provide variation. Trisha is always careful to select songs that mean something to her. I sense from the lyrics that her personal life was difficult at the time she recorded these songs.

The album opens with There goes my baby, a reflective ballad about a former lover. Maybe the second track, Never let you go again, is a sequel as it is about getting a second chance. Net comes a song about cheating, That ain't the way I heard it. Powerful thing (an up-tempo song about love) was a country top ten hit. After this comes a superb ballsd, Love wouldn't lie to me, but it did. As if to prove that love lies the next song, Wouldn't any woman, is about the end of a relationship. In contrast, I'll still love you more finds Trisha deeply in love. Heart like a sad song is about a woman (not Trisha) who cannot find lasting love whatever she tries. I don't want to be the one is about a relationship that is in difficulties. Bring me all your loving (the Allison Moorer song) is about missing somebody and wanting his love, not flowers. Allison's own version eventually appeared on one of her albums (The hardest part) two years after this album was released. The album closes with the title track, which is an excellent duet with Garth Brooks.

This is not as strong overall as some of Trisha's early albums but it is an album of very high quality that no Trisha fan should be without.

Where Your Road Leads is one of Trisha's strongest albums. The music is a cross between country, pop and adult contemporary. From the first single, the beautiful ballad There Goes My Baby, to the upbeat Powerful Thing, there's something that will appeal for everyone on here. However, the songs that weren't released as singles are the real gems in my opinion on the album. Heart Like A Sad Song has to be one of the best ballads Trisha has ever recorded, never have I heard such a sad story conveyed and sung with so much emotion from any performer. Love Wouldn't Lie to Me and Never Let You Go Again are beautiful ballads as well. There is also the title track, which is another duet with Garth Brooks. This is one of Trisha's strongest albums, you will love it.

On "Where Your Road Leads" Trisha continued her dominance of the country world and country charts, and it's a no brainer why this album somewhat underrated, cranked out 4 more top 10 hits for Trisha. "There Goes My Baby", was an instant hit, to go along with a very haunting video and powerful lyrics, then comes the Garth Brooks duet "Where Your Road Leads", the song is just so incredibly amazing it's simple to see why they have done so many duets with each other in the past. "Powerful Things" was also a big hit I'll be it a suprise hit, so energic and this also sticks in your head for a while. But the song that takes the cake and makes this album worthy is probably my favorite Trisha song, "I'll Still Love You More", this song just simply melts your heart and Trisha's voice has never sevred a song better and the video is so unlike Trisha, if there is a Trisha album to own this is it, she just continued to roll right along with this album, further putting her even more ahead of the competition. Once again Trisha shines through.

This is a very mellow CD by one of my favorite artists. While the songs lack the depth of some of her previous releases (especially the much-mentioned "Hearts in Armor"), it is none-the-less a must-have for any ardent fan.