In 2019, iconic country music vocalist
Trisha Yearwood
returned to recording with the self-released
Let's Be Frank
, a
Sinatra
tribute, and
Every Girl
, an excellent return to pop-country that went to number five. In 2022
Yearwood
ended her successful Food Network program, Trisha's Southern Kitchen, before she and husband
Garth Brooks
built Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky Tonk, a multi-story club on Nashville's Lower Broadway.
designed its restaurant and menu (and of course it's called Trisha's Southern Kitchen). In returning to recording,
took a different approach: For the first time she co-wrote and co-produced all 15 tracks on
The Mirror
. It is the most self-reflective, poignant, and rocking outing in her career. Her co-writers include sister
Beth Yearwood Bernard
,
Leslie Satcher
Erin Enderlin
Rebecca Lynn Howard
Sunny Sweeney
Bridgette Tatum
Melissa Fuller
Emma-Lee
, and
Rachel Thibodeau
. She cut it with a crack Nashville studio band and invited guests.
The opener "Bringing the Angels" was co-written with
Bernard
Satcher
Tatum
. Steeped in 21st century outlaw country, it's a rocking anthem to spiritual roots and self-determination: "I'm about to stand on the solid rock/Had enough of this shaky ground/ 'm about to rise, knock the ashes off/No fire gonna burn me down¿." amid roaring guitars and a gospelized backing chorus. "The Wall or the Way Over" is polished pop-country;
's narrator exhorts a male lover to step up or get left behind. "Little Woman" is a hard-choogling first-person, girl's-night-out stomper, cautioning men not to underestimate her friends. The slower title track offers an irresistible hook and a bold admonition to her younger self to practice self-acceptance and acknowledge her worth and beauty, inside and out. The ballad "Fearless These Days" illustrates the previous song's principles while recognizing and forgiving past mistakes.
Lady A
's
Charles Kelly
joins on the existential "The Record Plays On," a modern country-waltz with glorious electric/acoustic guitar interplay and the best harmony on the record. "Girls Night In," co-written with
Howard
and
Thibodeau
, is a shuffling rocker that underscores power and healing in women's friendships.
Hailey Whitters
duets with
on the bluesy honky tonk strutter "Drunk Works." The tender "The Ocean and the River" is offered from a man's deeply grateful perspective of his beloved. The use of strings, painterly pedal steel, and ambience is gorgeous. The rootsy honky tonk stroll in "The Shovel" is given added dimension by
Jim Lauderdale
.
Few people can sing a country love song like
. "Goodnight Cruel World" is a sweet, poignant ballad with a whining pedal steel and lyrics about being overwhelmed by its troubles but remaining uncowed; she'll face it with renewed commitment and fortitude after some rest. The closer "When October Settles In" is a chamber strings-and-piano ballad about the enduring gift of love no matter life's changes.
has outdone herself on
. Its production, though predictably polished, isn't overly laden with effects or gimmicks. Its musical maturity seamlessly juxtaposes radio-friendly contemporary country with the singer/songwriter's soulful neo-traditionalist roots. It's a masterpiece. ~ Thom Jurek