Singer Martina McBride just released a version of “When I Stop Dreaming” in October. The recording was on a tribute to Emmy Lou Harris. The song was originally written and recorded by the Louvin Brothers.
It’s one of the most beautiful, aching long songs ever. It’s been covered by Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and all kinds of others, because people hear it and fall in love with it. But also because that’s the way country music works: There’s a venerable tradition and artists pay tribute to it, drawing inspiration and insight from the artists who came before. (The same is true in rock and jazz and other genres, but country seems to place less of a premium on asserting a new style or sound above all else.) The Louvin Brothers, for their part, paid homage to Roy Acuff, the Delmore Brothers and the Blue Sky Boys before them.
McBride released an album of R&B and soul covers in 2014. McBride, 50, isn’t necessarily some kind of conservation-minded preservationist, but she’s got a sense of country and pop of the past, while still pushing her music into contemporary settings, with touches of radio-ready production. Her latest record, “Reckless,” came out in April of this year. “The Real Thing,” off of the new record, is a song about craving something authentic, true and enduring in the face of our digital/virtual present.
Martina McBride plays at the Palace Theater, 61 Atlantic St., Stamford, Friday, Nov. 11, at 8 p.m. $40 to $85. palacestamford.org.
