Martina McBride’s new album, Timeless, features a selection of classic country songs that were originally recorded 30 or 40 years ago. Naturally, when she started touring in support of the album, she wanted the look of the show to reflect the simple but eloquent nature of the traditional country sounds. Tom McPhillips of Atomic Design was an integral part of creating a set with those production values.
“The production is very analog and has a very organic sound, very warm and intimate,” he said, “a very loving recreation of those original versions of country classics. To support the album they had shot a special in a beautiful theatre in the Midwest. Martina felt that the theatre’s vintage atmosphere fit exactly the feeling of the songs. So for the first half of the show’s vintage country songbook, the upstage is a theatre proscenium—a gilded arch bordered by red velvet swags and filled with a translucent blue Austrian drape.”
Vintage Look with a Modern Touch
Although the look is strictly vintage, the technology is a bit more modern. “Upstage of the drape,” McPhillips said, “we have a full stage rear projection screen and a fiber optic star drop. In the first part of the show we also use a pair of cameo front projection screens on which we project still images of some of the originators of the various songs.”
For those fans with a taste for McBride’s many contemporary hits, the show changes pace midway through. “For the second half, which features Martina’s regular repertoire, we deploy seven rollers which carry laser cloth—a material that almost vanishes when it’s not lit and glows profusely when it is. So from something intimate we expand the set to something that’s capable of much bigger lighting looks,” McPhillips says.
The luminous soft goods on the show provided lots of surface to light. Lighting designer Abbey Rosen Holmes was appreciative of the lighting-friendly set and the lighting designer-friendly set designer. “This was a fun set to light,” she said. “Tom is very generous about taking time to work things out, making adjustments in placement to help out with lighting angles and positions.”
Her approach to the lighting design revolved around the idea of lighting the traditional country music in a manner that is true to its origins. “The first set is music from Martina’s new album, which is beautiful covers of older country songs,” she said. “The older material feels very different, and was originally performed long before the existence of automated lighting. I really wanted to respect that in the lighting. The lighting is warmer, with less movement and with simpler, more restrained cueing.”
From McPhillips’ point of view, the lighting worked with the set as well as the set with the lighting. “I like to work with people who understand how to light soft goods and who have what I would call a simple approach to going from one look to another in a way that maximizes what I think the set’s capabilities are,” McPhillips said. “I’ve worked with Abbey on many projects, and one of the greatest was one we did for Bonnie Raitt a few years ago where her talents really enhanced what I did to the point where set and lighting became one process. With the Martina show she came up with absolutely stunning looks, using a lot of gobos that she had designed specifically for the show. Many of the moments she created were truly magical.”
For the latter half of the show when the laser cloth is deployed, the simple set change had a big impact on the entire design. “Tom added really beautiful drape panels for the second act,” said Holmes. “They took light so well. The panels were translucent but even with the proscenium still visible they really transformed the look of the stage, allowing for the much more current looking lighting cues for the second half of the show.”
For lighting director John Lucksinger, who has worked with McBride for four years, the chance to work with a new lighting designer was an opportunity to view familiar material in a new way. “This is my first time working with Abbey, which was great,” he said. “It was nice to see the show through someone else’s eyes. I have been doing lights for Martina for a long time, and it was good to get a fresh look at the show.”
From Holmes point of view, Lucksinger’s experience with her boss was a big advantage. “Lucksinger does a great job with the show. He’s a real pleasure to work with and a tremendous help to us since he knew her music so well,” she said. She also acknowledged the work of programmer Kille Knobel, who she said “did a fantastic job.”
New Day, New Challenge
Despite the magic moments, the tour is not without its challenges. “The show has changed depending on the venue size,” said Lucksinger. “There have been days where we do not get the trim we need or the stage is smaller than what we need. So everyday I walk in and figure out what gear we’re going to use, which affects the show. It can be a challenge.”
Another challenge is matching the spontaneity of the artist. For one with as many hits as McBride, keeping up with her entire catalog can be difficult at best. “Martina has been doing audience fan song choice this whole tour,” Lucksinger said. “When Abbey did the programming she was given a list of songs Martina was going to do. Abby programmed about 45 songs, but depending on which song is chosen determines whether or not I have to program on the fly. It keeps me on my toes.”
A Lititz Affair
McPhillips company, Atomic Design, is based in Lititz, Pennsylvania. In fact, the audio supplier, Clair Brothers, and the set builder, Tait Towers, are also from the same town in Pennsylvania. “You might say this is an ‘all- Lititz show,’ ” says McPhillips. “It’s our own little corner of the rock n roll industry.” McPhillips started the company in 1994 after relocating from the U.K. In the beginning it was him and his assistant working out of one room. Today, the company has 30 employees working out of a 40,000 square-foot building. McPhillips credits Soren West for helping grow the company, and he says that without him, “Atomic would never have grown so exponentially to what we are today.”
McPhillips first worked with the McBrides, Martina and husband John, who runs audio, a few years ago. He designed a “simple, very portable set” for her that featured floor mounted swags that curved behind the risers. “They used it for a couple of years, and got a lot of mileage out it, so when they started thinking about the current set, it was great to hear from them again,” McPhillips said.
“Martina is very dedicated, very driven by what she does and very gracious and open to her fans,” McPhillips added. “She is one of the most professional artists I’ve ever worked with. The process was an entirely enjoyable one, and it was a great treat to be able to work with colleagues who are also friends. The amalgamation of Tait’s engineering genius and Atomic’s scenic expertise was an especially productive and satisfying experience, and one that I hope we will repeat many times over in the future.”
Holmes is equally complimentary of the artist and the crew. “It was such a pleasure working with Martina and John McBride,” she said.
“That also extends to e v e r y o n e who worked on the tour. What a great crew—Meesha the production m a n a g e r , Pat the stage manager and Tyson Clark, the set carpenter, were an immense help when we were putting the show together. They are some of the nicest people I have ever worked with, which made working on the show very enjoyable. Martina is really clear about what she does and doesn’t want, and along with great music, lighting her was so much fun. I loved working on this show!”
Bandit Lites was the lighting vendor. “They do a really fantastic job,” says Holmes, “and it was a pleasure to work with them.”
