On This Day in 2005, Martina McBride Was at No. 1 With a Covers Album Inspired by a Buck Owens Classic

On this day (November 12) in 2005, Martina McBride was at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart with Timeless. It retained the peak position for three consecutive weeks. The album’s title is fitting. It contains 18 covers of classic country songs popularized or written by some of the genre’s biggest trailblazing stars.

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McBride saw success throughout the 1990s and early 2000s with hits like “Concrete Angel,” “Independence Day,” and “Wild Angels.” Her smart blend of contemporary country and pop production helped send those songs to the upper reaches of the country chart and kept her in heavy rotation on the radio. However, after singing an old Buck Owens song, she felt the urge to record an album that more accurately represented her country roots.

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She grew up on classic country. Artists like Owens, Hank Williams, Lynn Anderson, and Loretta Lynn brought her to the country world. So, it only makes sense that she decided to pull from their extensive catalogs to build an album that stands as a tribute to those who inspired her.

How Buck Owens Inspired Martina McBride’s Nostalgic Hit Album

According to an interview with Today, Martina McBride recorded a cover of Buck Owens’ hit “Together Again” for Hallmark in 2004.

“As I was recording that one, I had so much fun with the musicians and that classic sound. I thought, ‘I would love to do a whole album of this kind of music,” she recalled. She then took the idea to Joe Galante at RCA Records, who immediately signed off on the concept.

“I really wasn’t interested in making these songs my own. I wanted to do them to pay tribute to the original artists and writers and musicians,” McBride said. As a result, she went back to the original recordings of the songs she planned to cover and recreated their classic styles.

McBride went the extra mile when recording Timeless. She enlisted session musicians who had been playing in Nashville for decades. Additionally, she found vintage equipment, including microphones from the 1930s, to capture the throwback sound. The result was a highly successful tribute to artists who defined the early decades of country music.

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