Martina McBride sings the national anthem surrounded by survivors at the NFL Breast Cancer Awareness Kick-Off Game in Baltimore on Oct. 2. / Gail Burton / Associated Press
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Martina McBride has been performing under a pink spotlight this month.
On Saturday night, she will flip a switch and turn the Opry barn and signage pink for “Opry Goes Pink” in honor of breast cancer awareness month.
Her current single, “I’m Gonna Love You Through It,” is written from the perspective of someone supporting a loved one through breast cancer, and the song has become an anthem for survivors and their families.
McBride sang the national anthem surrounded by survivors at the NFL Breast Cancer Awareness Kick-Off Game between the Baltimore Ravens and the New York Jets earlier this month. And during release week for her new album, Eleven, she teamed with breast cancer support group Pink Together and crossed the country in a pink-draped Amtrak train playing shows, culminating in a private concert for survivors on the 80th floor of the Empire State Building, which she turned pink, too.
But she says her participation in “Opry Goes Pink,” which this year benefits local breast cancer charity Women Rock For The Cure, will be her most personal event yet.
“I love the Opry and I’m a member, and it’s a special place and it’s iconic in our genre, and so I feel it’s going to be a really special night,” she says. “I’m really looking forward to it. Going back to ‘I’m Gonna Love You Through It,’ having the song makes all these experiences so much more powerful to me.”
In addition to McBride, ABC’s Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts, herself a breast cancer survivor, will serve as a guest announcer for a portion of the night’s first show. Ronnie Milsap, Lauren Alaina, Kellie Pickler, Eden’s Edge and Jeannie Seely are set to appear on both the 7 and 9:30 p.m. shows Saturday, and $5 from each ticket sold will go to Women Rock For The Cure. Money raised will go to support the charity’s community outreach programs, including their Young Survivors Retreat, which unites young women from all over the country who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
“Since breast cancer at this early age is rare, there is a real need for these women to meet others that they can relate to and realize they are not alone,” says Women Rock For The Cure co-president and founder Jensen Arrowsmith. “Every dollar raised will go to expanding our retreat programs and create more opportunities for young survivors to connect.”
Song shares hope
McBride says she never intended to find herself at the forefront of breast cancer awareness this month. She thought her focus would be on promoting Eleven, which was released Oct. 11. However, when requests started pouring in for the singer to make appearances — in large part because of the way “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” has resonated with survivors and their families — she couldn’t turn them down.
“I believe in the song and what it says,” she says. “I feel like it offers hope and inspiration and is so unique. It really says something for people who might not have the words to say that for themselves, and why wouldn’t I walk the walk? Why wouldn’t I go and sing at these events if it was going to do some good? I’ve always been about that anyway.”
Sonya Isaacs and Jimmy Yeary penned “I’m Gonna Love You Through It” from personal experience. Isaacs’ mother, Lily, is a 27-year breast cancer survivor, and the married couple says they know what it’s like to “fight that disease as a team.”
“We wanted to write this song to encourage other families who are loving someone through it,” Isaacs says. “We called Mom on the phone and asked her to tell us exactly how it happened and the real feelings she felt dealing with each step of the journey. When we finished it, we knew it was a special song but had no idea how many lives it would touch.”
McBride says when she heard “I’m Gonna Love You Through It,” it impacted her the same way as her first listen of “Independence Day,” which deals with domestic violence. While she’s never had personal experience with cancer or domestic violence, she knew the songs had the potential to not only touch people’s hearts, but also to change lives.
“I knew there were people out there that had and were experiencing (domestic violence) every day, and I thought, ‘I want to sing this song for them,’ ” she recalls.
“And when I heard ‘I’m Gonna Love You Through It,’ I felt … that someone out there needed to hear this song. And what I loved the most about it was that it was really a song about the people who are there to support the people who have cancer. I thought, ‘How amazing that all those people out there who are helping and loving those people, and now they have a song that says how they feel.’ ”
In her own words
“I’m Gonna Love You Through It” is one of 11 songs on McBride’s new album, her first new music since 2009. The singer co-wrote six of the cuts, which is something new for her. She says she’s been songwriting for years but didn’t feel confident enough in her abilities to co-write the bulk of an album until now.
“I just made a decision that this was the right time to focus on writing and give it my all and not cheat it and make no excuses,” she says. “Sometimes I’m afraid to do stuff because I don’t think I’ll do it perfect or that I’ll be very good at it, but when I finally said, ‘I’m just going to go for it,’ you realize you do have something to say in a unique way. And that’s really exciting for me at this stage in my career.”
But she’s also careful to point out that many of her favorite songs on her album were written by other writers and that she hopes people keep sending her their songs to record.
“I’ve heard it a lot that you can only get a cut if you write with an artist,” she says. “And here I sat down and wrote with everybody and sort of contributed to that, but I feel like that is so wrong. I’m a singer first and foremost, and, yeah, I have something to say and I’m learning how to express that in the form of songwriting. But I’m not a songwriter that’s been writing for 20 years. I don’t do it every day. I just want a song that sounds like it came from someone’s heart. I don’t want a song that sounds like it was written for me. I want a song where someone sat down and wrote and magic happened.”
Reach Cindy Watts at 615-664-2227 orciwatts@tennessean.com.
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