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Born to Fly Bottom Line:

After releasing two previous albums, Sara achieves commercial success with Born to Fly, which is her biggest selling album to date, with over two million copies sold. The album is firmly in the pop country format, so anyone that was a fan of her debut album and its classic feel may not enjoy much of this release. Three of the four singles were Top 5 hits, including the No. 1 title track.

Added to the original songs are two covers -- Edwin McCain's "I Could Not Ask For More" and Bruce Hornsby and the Range's "Every Little Kiss."

A little bit country and a lot of pop

Sara Evans' third album Born to Fly is filled with enjoyable, mostly pop country songs that should please most country fans. That is, unless you are a traditional country purist. Then, you should pass over this release, and instead pick up her very traditional sounding Three Chords & the Truth. If you do enjoy pop country, however, read on. Sara has eleven tracks of music that should float your boat.

Family affair

This album for Sara was definitely a family project. Her brother Matt plays bass in her band, and she flew in her two sisters, Ashley and Lesley to sing on the album, as well as her sister-in-law, Melody. Then to top it off, Sara's son, Avery even got into the act, cooing at the start of "I Keep Looking."
The title cut speaks of reaching for your dreams and making them come true. This is one of the more traditional sounding tracks.

It has a strong percussion line, but Sara's twangy vocals add a country feel to it, and by the time the chorus kicks in, we are treated to both fiddle and banjo as well.

The second song, one of the four singles, "Saints & Angels," is firmly planted in pop music, and is the first of many more similar pop-feeling songs. It showcases Sara's vocals with a lot of range, and uses piano as well as guitar for the main instrumentation.

The emotive ballad "I Learned That From You" heads back into a traditional sound, even including lap steel parts. While Sara can belt out a song, she wisely holds back on this one. She gives us melancholy lyrics, without getting too weepy.

Cover songs

Sara includes two cover songs on this disc. The first is a true power ballad, penned by Diane Warren. This was originally recorded by pop singer Edwin McCain. Sara's version was a No. 2 country hit, and a Top 40 pop hit as well, and this truly puts the emphasis on her strong vocals, and you won't hear any country twang. Not a fiddle or banjo in sight.
The other cover song is "Every Little Kiss," originally recorded by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. On this track, Sara has a more country twang in her voice, but the emphasis is on the electric slide guitar, rather than lap steel.

All in all this is an enjoyable CD, if you lean towards pop country. Sara certainly has a pleasurable listening voice, and the songs are catchy. The one thing I did miss was having lyrics printed in the liner notes. Most artists do include them in their booklets, and it seemed skimpy that they were not included here.

Release date: October 10, 2000 - RCA Nashville

Born to Fly Track List:

1. "Born to Fly"
2. "Saints & Angels"
3. "I Could Not Ask For More"
4. "I Keep Looking"
5. "I learned That From You"
6. "Let's Dance"
7. "Why Should I Care"
8. "Four-Thirty"
9. "Show Me The Way To Your Heart"
10. "You Don't"
11. "Every Little Kiss"