Born to Fly

Born to Fly is the third studio album by American country music artist Sara Evans. It was released in October 2000 via RCA Records Nashville. The album produced four singles with its title track, "I Could Not Ask for More" (a cover of an Edwin McCain song), "Saints & Angels", and "I Keep Looking", all of which reached within the Top 20 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. The title track reached number one, "I Could Not Ask for More" and "I Keep Looking" both broke the Top 5 at numbers 2 and 5 respectively, and "Saints & Angels" peaked at number 16. Born to Fly has been Evans' highest-selling album to date, having been certified 2× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for U.S. sales of two million copies. The album was also one of the most successful of the year. Evans was nominated for five CMA Awards: Album of the Year; song, single, and music video (for the title-track); and Female Vocalist of the Year. She won her first CMA award for music video of the year. The international version of the album includes a bonus track, "You", which was later released in North America as a bonus track on her 2005 album Real Fine Place. Born to Fly was a defining album for Evans. Her earlier albums had more of a neotraditional country sound, while all of her later albums had a more crossover-friendly country pop sound, similar to Martina McBride and Faith Hill.

Track listing

Personnel

Compiled from liner notes.

• Sara Evans – lead vocals, backing vocals
• Steve Nathan – acoustic piano, Rhodes piano, Hammond B3 organ, synthesizers
• Matt Rollings – Hammond B3 organ
• Tim Lauer – accordion
• Bruce Hornsby – acoustic piano, Wurlitzer organ
• Dan Dugmore – acoustic guitar, steel guitar
• Marcus Hummon – acoustic guitar
• B. James Lowry – acoustic guitar
• Randy Scruggs – acoustic guitar, banjo
• Biff Watson – acoustic guitar, bouzouki, mandolin
• Paul Worley – acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitars, electric rhythm guitar, six-string bass
• Jerry McPherson – electric guitars, electric rhythm guitar
• Jerry Douglas – dobro
• Robby Turner – steel guitar
• Aubrey Haynie – fiddle
• Jonathan Yudkin – fiddle, mandolin
• Glenn Worf – bass
• Matt Chamberlain – drums
• Karen Winkelman – string arrangements and orchestrations
• The Nashville String Machine – strings
• Wes Hightower – backing vocals
• Troy Johnson – backing vocals
• Lesley Evans Lyons – backing vocals
• Melody Schelske – backing vocals
• Ashley Evans Simpson – backing vocals
• Ricky Skaggs – backing vocals

Production

• Sara Evans – producer
• Paul Worley – producer
• Clarke Schleicher – recording, mixing, additional recording
• Todd Gunnerson – additional recording, recording assistant
• Erik Hellerman – additional recording, recording assistant, mix assistant
• Mike Poole – additional recording
• Sandy Williams – additional recording, recording assistant
• Wade Hachler – recording assistant
• Rich Hanson – mix assistant
• Eric Conn – digital editing
• Carlos Grier – digital editing
• Denny Purcell – mastering
• Paige Connors – production coordinator
• S. Wade Hunt – art direction
• Missy McKeand – design
• Andrew Eccles – photography
• Joel Green – hair stylist
• Mary Beth Felts – make-up
• Claudia Fowler – wardrobe stylist
• Brenner Van Meter – management
• Mixed at Loud Recording (Nashville, Tennessee).
• Mastered at Georgetown Masters (Nashville, Tennessee).

Charts

Singles

Certifications