Matraca Berg
Matraca Berg | |
---|---|
![]() Matraca Berg | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Matraca Maria Berg |
Born | [1] Nashville, Tennessee, United States | February 3, 1964
Genres | Country, pop |
Occupation(s) | singer-songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar, harmonica[2] |
Years active | 1982–present |
Labels | RCA Nashville, Rising Tide, Eagle |
Spouse(s) | |
Website | Matraca Berg Official Site |
Matraca Maria Berg Hanna (
Early history
Matraca Maria Berg was born February 3, 1964, in
Berg's mother found only limited success in the music industry and eventually became a nurse. Berg herself then took up songwriting with her mother's encouragement. When Berg played her songs for songwriter Bobby Braddock, he volunteered to co-write with her. She found her earliest success in their collaboration, "Faking Love", which was sung by Karen Brooks and T. G. Sheppard, topping the Billboard Hot Country Singles (now Hot Country Songs) charts on February 19, 1983.[1]
Career history
After her mother's death in 1985, Berg continued to have success writing songs for other performers.
and others recorded her songs.Berg signed to a recording contract with RCA Records Nashville in 1990, releasing her debut album Lying to the Moon that year. Its first two singles, "Baby, Walk On" and "The Things You Left Undone," both charted in the country top 40 at No. 36, followed by the No. 43 "I Got It Bad" and No. 55 "I Must Have Been Crazy."
Matraca was nominated for Top New Female Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music in 1991, losing to Shelby Lynne.[7]
What was to be her follow-up album, Bittersweet Surrender, was recorded in 1991. It featured the single "It's Easy to Tell," which charted in November 1991. The album was rejected by the label, which wanted a more mainstream-sounding recording instead. One of the songs from this canceled album, "Wrong Side of Memphis," later became a Top Ten hit for Trisha Yearwood. She continued to write for others, and in 1994, released a pop album The Speed of Grace.[8]
Berg's 1995 song, "You Can Feel Bad", co-written with Tim Krekel and recorded by Patty Loveless, was a Number 1 country single, spending twenty weeks on the charts.
Berg co-wrote "
In 2004 and 2005, Berg was nominated for induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, making her one of the youngest nominees in history. She was eventually inducted in 2008.[9] She continues to be a prolific and respected country songwriter.
Personal life
She currently lives in Nashville with her husband, Jeff Hanna, a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. They were married December 5, 1993. The couple met while touring with Clint Black in the late 1980s.
Discography
Albums
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
US Country | US
Heat |
CAN Country | ||
Lying to the Moon |
|
43 | — | — |
The Speed of Grace |
|
— | — | — |
Sunday Morning to Saturday Night |
|
48 | — | 22 |
The Masters |
|
— | — | — |
Lying to the Moon and Other Stories |
|
— | — | — |
The Dreaming Fields |
|
42 | 7 | — |
Love's Truck Stop |
|
— | — | — |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart |
Singles
Year | Single | Peak chart positions |
Album | |
---|---|---|---|---|
US Country | CAN Country | |||
1990 | "Baby, Walk On" | 36 | 61 | Lying to the Moon |
"The Things You Left Undone" | 36 | 44 | ||
1991 | "I Got It Bad" | 43 | 30 | |
"I Must Have Been Crazy" | 55 | 58 | ||
"It's Easy to Tell" | 66 | — | Bittersweet Surrender (unreleased) | |
1993 | "Slow Poison" | — | — | The Speed of Grace |
1997 | "That Train Don't Run" | 59 | 70 | Sunday Morning to Saturday Night |
"Back When We Were Beautiful"[10] | — | — | ||
1998 | "Back in the Saddle" | 51 | 74 | |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart |
Music videos
Year | Video | Director |
---|---|---|
1990 | "Baby, Walk On" | Dave Bridges |
"The Things You Left Undone"[11] | Geoff Adams | |
1991 | "I Got It Bad" | Dave Bridges |
"It's Easy to Tell" | Gustavo Garzon | |
1997 | "That Train Don't Run" | Roger Pistole |
1998 | "Back in the Saddle" (with Patty Loveless, Suzy Bogguss, Martina McBride, Faith Hill and Trisha Yearwood) | Steven Goldmann |
1999 | "Lying to the Moon" | |
2012 | "The Dreaming Fields"[12] | Jon Morgan |
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1987 | Made in Heaven | Studio Singer | Cameo; performed the song "We've Never Danced" |
Singles written by Berg
Year | Title | Artist(s) |
---|---|---|
1983 | "Faking Love" | T. G. Sheppard and Karen Brooks |
1987 | "The Last One to Know" | Reba McEntire |
"Just Enough Love" | Ray Price
| |
1989 | "Promises, Promises" | Lori Yates |
1991 | "I'm That Kind of Girl" | Patty Loveless |
1992 | "Wrong Side of Memphis" | Trisha Yearwood |
1993 | "Hey Cinderella" | Suzy Bogguss |
1994 | "XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl)" | Trisha Yearwood |
"Somebody's Leavin'" | Patricia Conroy | |
1995 | "Walk On" | Linda Ronstadt |
"You Can Feel Bad" | Patty Loveless | |
1996 | "Strawberry Wine" | Deana Carter |
"We Danced Anyway" | ||
"Give Me Some Wheels" | Suzy Bogguss | |
" Wild Angels "
|
Martina McBride | |
1997 | "Cry on the Shoulder of the Road" | |
"Still Holding On" | Martina McBride and Clint Black | |
"Everybody Knows" | Trisha Yearwood | |
"Oh Romeo" | Mindy McCready | |
1998 | "Somebody to Love" | Suzy Bogguss |
1999 | "Fool, I'm a Woman" | Sara Evans |
"All I Want Is Everything" | Mindy McCready | |
2001 | "If I Fall You're Going Down with Me" | Dixie Chicks
|
2003 | "You're Still Here" | Faith Hill |
" On Your Way Home "
|
Patty Loveless | |
2004 | "98.6 Degrees and Fallin'" | Jill King |
2005 | "I Don't Feel Like Loving You Today" | Gretchen Wilson |
2006 | "That Train Don't Run" | Pinmonkey |
2008 | "They Call It Falling for a Reason" | Trisha Yearwood |
"Misery Loves Company" | One More Girl | |
2011 | "You and Tequila" | Kenny Chesney and Grace Potter |
2013 | "Back When We Were Beautiful" | Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell |
References
- ^ Allmusic. Retrieved October 4, 2009.
- ^ "Sessions: Matraca Berg". American Songwriter. June 2, 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2013.
- ^ Nash, Alanna (September 21, 1990) ["Updated"; album was released in 1990]. "Lying to the Moon". Review. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
...name (pronounced Muh-TRAY-suh)...
- ^ Howard, Jason (2012). A Few Honest Words: The Kentucky Roots of Popular Music Lexington, KY: The University of Kentucky Press Retrieved May 29, 2016.
- ^ McCall, Michael (2009). "Poets and Prophets: Salute to Legendary Country Songwriter Matraca Berg." Country Music Hall of Fame (July 18, 2009). Retrieved May 29, 2016.
- ^ Gleason, Holly (2014). "The Daughter of Music Row." The Oxford American, 83, 1-22-2014. Retrieved May 29, 2016
- ^ "Winners database". ACM Country. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
- ^ "RCA Relays Matraca Berg's 'Stories' A Second Time". Billboard. July 10, 1999.
- Great American Country. October 27, 2008.
- The Los Angeles Times. pp. 68, 72. Retrieved December 13, 2021.
- Country Music Television. Retrieved October 14, 2011.
- Country Music Television. Retrieved March 30, 2012.