Twenty Greatest Albums of the CU Era: Trisha Yearwood, Heaven, Heartache, and the Power of Love

Trisha Yearwood

Heaven, Heartache, and the Power of Love

2007

Trisha Yearwood was already the most consistent albums artist in country music since Emmylou Harris when she switched labels and released Heaven, Heartache, and the Power of Love, her best album of the last twenty years.

Yearwood sticks to her tried and true formula of sophisticated songcraft delivered with precision and nuance. What elevates Heaven above most of her catalog is the strength of the material collected here.

We get both a catchy uptempo romp (“They Call it Falling For a Reason”) and a devastating ballad (“Dreaming Fields”) from the pen of Matraca Berg, the latter of which might be the finest song that Berg ever penned. Yearwood taps into her diva roots with tour de force vocals on “This is Me You’re Talking To” and the title track, where it sounds like the studio itself can barely contain her raw power. She’s more playful than she’s ever been on record on “Cowboys are My Weakness,” and anyone who has been touched by grief will need a box of tissues and some time to themselves after hearing the album closer, “Sing You Back to Me.”

What’s most interesting about the album is how loose Yearwood sounds, a word that could rarely be used to describe her consistently excellent material up until this point. This is particularly evident on “Drown Me,” her most ferocious performance yet. If you told me it was recorded live at a dive bar after midnight, I’d believe you. She sounds rejuvenated by the label switch, making her solid MCA swan song Jasper County seem timid and reserved in comparison.

Yearwood’s career took a different path after this set, and her recordings have been sporadic since then. I’m sure she’ll meet or exceed this highwater mark in the years to come, but for now, this is her finest effort of the last twenty years and her best set overall since 2000’s Real Live Woman.

More essential Trisha Yearwood from the CU era

Let’s Be Frank showcases Yearwood’s range as a vocalist better than any other album of hers to date
Every Girl was uneven by Yearwood standards, but “The Matador,” “Bible and a .44,” and the title track are as good as anything she’s ever recorded

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