Martina McBride performs in Sarasota
She's usually considered a country star, and she's one of the biggest.
But on her current tour, which comes to Sarasota this week, Martina McBride is devoting a big chunk of the show the classic soul.
"About half the show is hits, and the other half songs from 'Everlasting,'" McBride said in a phone interview from he Nashville home. "And I think most people know those songs."
"Everlasting" is McBride's latest album, released to strong reviews earlier this year. Her music has always blended country and pop music, but on "Everlasting" she's moved into new territory.
The songs are all remakes, ranging from pure blues to soul-tinged rock, by such artists as Aretha Franklin, the Supemes, Van Morrison and Otis Redding. There's Sam Cooke's "Bring it on Home to Me," Willie Dixon's "My Babe," and Phil Spector's To Know Him Is to Love Him."
She's bringing the show to the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall on Thursday.
It's the most fun she's ever had on tour, she said. Because she's touring behind an album of classic songs, she has the freedom to mix up the setlist, instead of just highlighting the latest single and a couple of popular album tracks at each show.
Besides, she said, the show itself is as much fun for her as it is for the audience.
"I have an 11-piece band," she said. "We have a horn section and three amazing back-up singers and we all wear the same clothes. It has kind of a retro feel to it."
The crowds have been growing and getting more enthusiastic as the tour has gone on, she said, and the word has spread about how engaging and energetic a concert experience it is.
"People love this show,' she said. "They love to see the moves of the back-up singers and the horn section. There's just so much going on on that stage. We have people coming back to see the tour six, seven times. Sometimes there are three generations of a family coming to see this show."
It's long tour -- so long that it circles back around to west central Florida for a Jan. 24 show in Clearwater -- but McBride said she plays show mostly on weekends, and then returns home to Nashville in between.
Which gives her some free time, during which she wrote a book called "Around the Table." It came out earlier this month, on Oct. 7 to be exact, and when she's not performing concerts she's been making the rounds of the afternoon talk shows promoting the book.
"It's a cookbook and it also has a lot of tips and ideas for entertaining and decorating," she said. "I know it can be intimidating for a lot of people. It can be intimidating for me. This is something to help you get started."
Details: 8 p.m. Oct. 16, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets: $52.88-84.98. Information: 941-953-3368, vanwezel.org.
Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.
This story was originally published October 15, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Martina McBride performs in Sarasota ."