“I just wanted to be the best songwriter in the world.”

Well, if I was an angel I could fly over Jordan

And I wouldn’t need no Greyhound to save my soul

But maybe that’s a good thing ‘cause I’ll be home before I know

And if I was an Angel I’d have a long way to go.
“If I Were An Angel” – Matraca Berg, Gary Harrison, Kim Carnes
(1997)

Born in Nashville in 1963, with a mother and aunts involved in the music business, it seems almost inevitable that Matraca Berg should gravitate towards the country music scene. But her family moved to the mid-west when she was still quite young, and it wasn’t until she dropped out of high school that she returned to her home town. So it was that Matraca co-wrote (with older songwriter Bobby Braddock) her first number 1 hit, “Faking Love,” at the age of 18. In rock or pop terms, this does not seem so young, but in the deeply conservative world of country music, Matraca was barely hatched.

This could have been a one-hit wonder, but in the ensuing years Matraca Berg’s name has graced the writing credits of some 350 songs (as listed by BMI), many of them top 40, top 10, or Number 1 hits, recorded by artists such as Randy Travis, Pam Tillis, Deana Carter, Patty Loveless, Trisha Yearwood, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Linda Ronstadt, Suzy Bogguss, Sarah Evans, Chely Wright and more.

Purple Patch

In 1997, her song “Strawberry Wine” won the Nashville Songwriter’s Association International and the Nashville Music Awards, as well as Country Music Association Song (and Single) of the Year and a Grammy nomination. Recorded by Deana Carter on her album Did I Shave My Legs For This? it was almost impossible to avoid Matraca’s songs in this purple patch of her career. That year, she wrote or co-wrote a total of five No. 1 country hits for Nashville's female singers.

But it’s only likely you’ll have heard of her if you pore over the songwriting credits of country music hits. Her own career as a performer has suffered a series of disappointments. Signed in the early 1990s to RCA, she recorded two rock/pop albums, Lying to the Moon and The Speed of Grace, which were well-reviewed commercial failures. It’s hard to say what was missing from these records. Perhaps it’s because, while Nashville’s Music Row has many faults, Nashville producers do have a knack for bringing out the best in Berg’s songs. On her early 90s (Los Angeles) recordings, she sounds a little flat, uninspired, and unconvinced. What she needs is something to cut against her irony, but unfortunately the backing often sounds plodding, muddy, and unimaginative.

One further album, Wild Angels was recorded but never released, as RCA dropped her from their roster. Wild Angels is instead the title of a Martina McBride album, and the title track, written by Berg, was (of course) a Number 1 hit. Selections from the two earlier albums were released a couple of years ago as Lying to the Moon and other Stories. Some copies may still be available.

Sunday Morning to saturday Night

The signs were hopeful for Berg when she released her 1997 album Sunday Morning to Saturday Night on the since-defunct Rising Tide record label. Critically acclaimed, the album was poorly supported by Country radio, and is now unavailable. But it was produced in Nashville by Patty Loveless’ partner-producer Emory Gordy, Jr., bears the right mix of traditional country instruments and modern production values, and doesn’t contain a single dud among its 11 tracks.

What characterises a good Matraca Berg song? There tends to be a natural and evocative wit, with lines like “We’ll dance all night till your belt buckle shines,” or (on the subject of being single, in the song "Everybody Knows," a hit for Trisha Yearwood), “I don’t want a shrink/Don’t even want a drink/Give me some chocolate and a magazine.”

On the darker side, a sense of melancholy often pervades her work, a sense of missed opportunity and lost innocence. For example, in the song "Emma Jean's Guitar," recorded by Chely Wright on her album Let Me In, Berg writes,

You could tell by the fingerboard her painted nails were long

She only needed three chords to play those good old country songs

And her name's etched in the finish, like a fading battle star

This 1950 Gibson was Emma Jean's guitar
"Emma Jean's Guitar" - Matraca Berg, Jeff Hanna, Gary Harrison (1997)

Interestingly, angels make frequent appearances. While a whole thesis could be written on the subject of angels, for Matraca they perhaps represent that lost innocence and unattainable joy. Sometimes an angel is something you can never be; other times, an angel (usually one of the wild ones) might be looking after you, even if you don’t feel you deserve it. On the cover of Sunday Morning to Saturday Night, Matraca sits on a staircase looking rather lost, but an angel at the top of the stairs is watching over her. In the booklet, various angels in silhouette dance with each other and the odd cowboy (hopefully making his belt buckle shine). It’s a beautiful record by a beautiful woman.

Seek out albums by the following artists to find key Matraca Berg songs: Trisha Yearwood (e.g. The Song Remembers When, Everybody Knows), Faith Hill (Faith), Patty Loveless (Strong Heart, The Trouble with the Truth), Suzy Bogguss (Something Up My Sleeve), Martina McBride (Wild Angels, Emotion). One tip with Country music is to avoid the sanitised/remixed European releases and get the original U.S. release.

I’d rather break down on the highway

With no one to share my load

And cry on the shoulder of the road.
“Cry on the Shoulder of the Road” – Matraca Berg, Tim Krekel
(1995)

Discography

Further Info