ST. LOUIS — Sara Evans' new memoir is called Born to Fly, also the name of her chart topping single, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
The reporter asked, "20 years since Born to Fly, can you believe that?” Sara responded, “I can't. Where did the time go? My oldest child just turned 21, and I'm just in shock."
The Missouri native is the fifth most played female artist at country radio in nearly the last two decades. She has five #1 singles and plenty of real life stories to write about in her new memoir. She raised three kids on the road, juggled being a mom a wife, having a career and being a stepmother to four kids. The book explains how she got to where she is today.
She said, "It’s all over the place emotionally. Sad, drama, it’s funny, and the second half is unsolicited advice from me to you and me to other moms…I don't understand the young mom thing about, ‘No we can't come to your cookout or birthday party because the babies nap time is 2, or bedtime is 7. If we had to get up early and fly to LA and their bedtime or nap time was messed up, so be it."
The book also talks about three near death experiences.
She said, "One that I've never spoken about publicly. Very harrowing. Yeah, a lot of stuff people don't know. I talk about my parents divorce. My divorce, sort of the inside, backstory of how did I really get started in the industry. And mom, being a farmer, but also having the entrepreneurial spirit to push my brothers and I to be in a band. And we were in a working band all over the state of Missouri from when I was 4 years old."
Sara grew up in New Franklin, about 30 minutes outside of Columbia, Missouri.
She said, "My mom, I mean probably if she were interviewed today, about this memoir she would say, ‘I don't know what pushed me other than it was kind of God saying you need to do this. What are the odds of me being from a town of 1,200 in Missouri and making it to the top of music charts and really coming from nothing?” She went on to say, “I just have such a competitive spirit. So that's very, very, very important. If you want to do something, like go to acting or being on Broadway or be a country music star, you have to be competitive and work while everyone is at home BBQing on the weekend. You have to be out there doing it, and no one is going to do it for you."
On Tuesday, September 8, she's holding a virtual book tour in a livestream Facebook event. It's hosted by Left Bank Books.To purchase the book and learn more about her virtual book tour, go to left-bank.com and look under the events tab.
