Martina McBride returns to No. 1

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Martina McBride's latest release has returned her to a familiar place — the top of the charts.

"Shine" debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's country-album chart this week, and it also debuted at No. 10 on the overall album chart. But for McBride, the success of the album isn't just commercial. She has spent the last few years expanding her skill sets, with more songwriting and production credits.

"You know, when I was making this record, it felt like, 'Ah! Here's what I've been looking for,' " McBride said while promoting the CD earlier this week. "We did the last couple albums kind of searching and finding, trying to find new inspiration and keep things moving forward. You know, it's always been important for me to just not make the same record over and over again. Yeah, this record felt like, 'Well, here it is.' "

With production by Dann Huff (Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts), there are power-pop hooks galore and a new, harder edge — shades of country's two top current acts, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift.

But McBride, 42, seemed uncomfortable with the suggestion that her new sound was influenced by the relative newcomers.

"I don't think this record is a reaction, sound-wise, to what's going on right now," she explained. "I'm using a new producer, Dann Huff, who has a lot of pop influences. That just sort of came out."

Huff also seems to have brought out the singer's vulnerable side, especially with the CD's showstopper, "I Just Call You Mine."

"It's not the kind of song that I would normally be drawn to," McBride said. "I'm a little bit leery of what I call, 'sappy love songs' — you know, songs that go, 'I can't live without you, I'm nothing without you.' I kind of shy away from that lyric for some reason ... But this song, I just kind of got over that, because I thought, 'You know what? I do have somebody I can sing this about,' and I think everybody wants a song like this, so that they can feel this when they sing it or hear it."

Yet it's not a lyric that the notoriously independent McBride would likely write herself.

"Probably not," she replied, with a laugh.

McBride, who has been married to sound engineer John McBride for 20 years, recently agreed to an interview with the leading gay magazine Out — a rare thing for an artist in the country genre; its fans and artists tend to be more conservative.