Martina McBride Unleashes Love and Positivity in NYC

Lauren Alaina, Maggie Rose and Post Monroe joined Martina McBride's Love Unleashed / CMT Next Women of Country Tour at NYC's Playstation Theater.

Nearing the end of her Love Unleashed tour, Martina McBride made a stop in the heart of Times Square at the Playstation Theater. For this leg of her tour, McBride teamed up with CMT’s Next Women of Country program, bringing along American Idol alum Lauren Alaina, as well as Maggie Rose and trio Post Monroe. 

“What makes the second leg of this tour even more special is that we are partnering with CMT in their movement to support women in country music,” McBride said in a press release. “I have championed women in many ways through my music and charitable endeavors over the years and this movement really speaks to me. Not only is it a perfect fit for the Love Unleashed mission, it’s a perfect fit for me and what I truly believe which is that when one of us succeeds it’s a win for all of us, and when we, as women, support each other we are so much stronger.”

Over the course of McBride’s 20+ year career in music, she has sold more than 18 million albums, with 20 top ten singles and 6 number one hits. Last year she released her thirteenth studio album, Reckless – her first on BMLG’s Nash Icon label. McBride’s set in New York included a mix of her greatest hits, select covers, and some new songs from Reckless. She kicked things off with her 1999 single, Love’s The Only House.

In 2005 McBride released her eighth studio album, Timeless, which consisted of eighteen classic country covers. She included two of those covers in her set in NYC:Merle Haggard’s Today I Started Loving You Again and Lynn Anderson’s (I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden. When she finished the Haggard cover she said, “That’s a sad song – if I had a beer I’d be crying in it.”

McBride received multiple standing ovations throughout the night. Crowd favorites like Wild Angels, A Broken Wing and Independence Day had everyone all fired up. Towards the end of her performance she was joined on stage by Lauren Alaina for a duet on This One’s For The Girls.

McBride kept the evening’s theme of love and positivity going for her encore. She performed a very moving cover of The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love and ended with O.A.R.’s We’ll Pick Up Where We Left Off (the latter is also included on her album Reckless).

Check out our gallery of exclusive photos from McBride’s performance below, followed by a recap of the three opening acts.

 
Lauren Alaina burst on to the country scene during season ten of American Idol, where she finished as the runner up to Scotty McCreery. Earlier this year she released her sophomore album, Road Less Traveled, with the title track garnering Alaina her first top five hit (and currently still climbing). However, the road for Alaina hasn’t always been so smooth. Leading in to her performance of Road Less Traveled, she talked to the crowd about her struggles with an eating disorder:

“I was on American Idol when I was 15 years old. I was super young, and I had a lot of people who had a lot of opinions about me, and they were not always nice. I actually struggled with an eating disorder for about six years. Getting ready for this new album I got better and I wrote this song, and pretty much eleven other songs on the album, about this. There is always gonna be someone skinnier, or someone prettier, or someone smarter, or more handsome, but they are never, ever, ever gonna be you. We are all beautiful and unique, and we have to remember that.”

Maggie Rose and Post Monroe shared the stage to open the show. This summer Rose will be touring with Hunter Hayes and will then join Tim McGraw and Faith Hill for a couple stops on their Soul 2 Soul tour. Post Monroe, which consists of Ashlee Hewitt, Whitney Duncan and Shelby McLeod, got a great reaction from the crowd with their debut single, Red Hot American Summer.

 
Since its initial launch in 2013, CMT’s Next Women of Country has helped to promote talented female singer/songwriters in the genre. Previous years have included artists who have gone on to achieve tremendous success including Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini, Ashley Monroe and Maren Morris. CMT’s current class features Caitlyn Smith, Jamie Lynn Spears, Jillian Jacqueline, Kree Harrison, Logan Brill, Lucie Silvas, Maggie Rose, Margo Price, Post Monroe and Runaway June.

With the Love Unleashed tour wrapped up, McBride will be performing at several festivals over the summer. Head over to martinamcbride.com/tour for all the details.