Sara Evans Bio
Sara Lynn Evans (born February 5, 1971) is an American country music singer and songwriter whose career has spanned more than two decades. Raised in Missouri, she began performing as a child with her family band before moving to Nashville in 1991 to pursue a professional music career. She signed with RCA Nashville and released her debut album in 1997, going on to earn recognition for albums such as Born to Fly (2000), Restless (2003) and Real Fine Place (2005).
Throughout her career, Evans has charted five number one country singles and sold over six million albums. She has received awards from both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association, and she continues to record and tour. In addition to her work as a singer, Evans is also a songwriter, record producer, author and occasional actress, and she was inducted as an official member of the Grand Ole Opry in 2023.
Early Life and Background
Sara Lynn Evans was born on February 5, 1971, in Boonville, Missouri, and raised in the nearby town of New Franklin. She is the daughter of Pat Evans and Jack Evans, and she grew up as one of seven children on a 400-acre farm that produced crops and livestock. To help support the family, her mother worked as a school bus driver while her father worked as a pressman for the Columbia Daily Tribune newspaper.
Evans discovered her singing ability while her two older brothers were taking guitar lessons, and her mother organized the children into a group known as the Evans Family Band. She began performing lead vocals with the band at the age of six and later learned to play guitar, mandolin and drums. When she was about ten years old, she recorded a song and traveled to Nashville to promote it at Fan Fair, and she later performed on a local program called Country Stampede.
When she was eight years old, Evans was hit by a car after crossing the highway that faced her family’s farm. She suffered a concussion and a leg injury that required pins to be drilled into her knee, and she spent six weeks unable to leave her hospital bed. The accident later contributed to post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. Her parents divorced in 1983, and after her mother remarried in 1985, the family moved to a tobacco farm in New Franklin, where the Evans Family Band continued to perform on weekends.
Path to Music
Evans graduated from high school in 1989 and accepted a full music scholarship to Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri. After one semester, she decided to leave school and pursue a country music career, returning to her mother’s farm in New Franklin, where she took a job waiting tables at a local Holiday Inn. With the money she saved, she and her older brother Matt moved to Nashville in 1991.
In Nashville, Evans continued to work as a waitress at another Holiday Inn, where she met Craig Schelske, who would become her first husband. The couple moved briefly to Aumsville, Oregon, before returning to Nashville in the mid-1990s. Through her lawyer, she found work as a demo singer, and one of her recordings caught the attention of veteran Nashville songwriter Harlan Howard, who helped arrange a live audition for executives at RCA Records.
Following a successful audition for RCA executive Joe Galante, Evans signed a seven-album deal with the label. She chose to record her first project with producer Pete Anderson, known for his work with Dwight Yoakam, and she temporarily relocated to Los Angeles to begin recording.
Sara Evans Career
Early Career (1997–1999)
Sara Evans released her debut studio album, Three Chords and the Truth, in July 1997 on RCA Nashville. The record centered on a traditional honky-tonk country sound and drew critical praise, with Billboard writing favorably about her blend of country tradition and contemporary style. However, country radio programmers refused to add the singles, claiming they sounded “too country,” and the album peaked at number 56 on the Billboard country albums chart.
In October 1998, Evans released her second studio album, No Place That Far, which she had shaped to be more contemporary without abandoning her musical roots. The title track reached number one on the Billboard country songs chart after a successful private showcase for radio programmers in Cincinnati, Ohio. Around the same time, Evans discovered she was pregnant with her first child, which created friction with her label as they encouraged her to lose weight quickly after the birth.
Breakthrough (2000–2005)
Inspired by the success of Faith Hill’s “Breathe” and the bluegrass sound of the Dixie Chicks, Evans enlisted producer Paul Worley and drummer Matt Chamberlain to record her third studio album, Born to Fly, released in October 2000. The album certified double platinum from the Recording Industry Association of America and produced the number one country hit “Born to Fly,” along with top-five singles “I Could Not Ask for More” and “I Keep Looking.” Evans received five nominations from the Country Music Association in 2001 and won Music Video of the Year for the title track.
Her fourth studio album, Restless, followed in August 2003 and debuted at number three on the Top Country Albums chart, eventually being certified platinum. The album featured “Suds in the Bucket,” which became her third number one country hit. In 2005, Evans released Real Fine Place, her first album to top the Billboard country albums chart, which was certified platinum and included the number one single “A Real Fine Place to Start.” That same year she received the Top Female Vocalist award from the Academy of Country Music.
Notable Works and Milestones
Five of Sara Evans’s singles have reached the number one position on the Billboard country songs chart, including “No Place That Far,” “Born to Fly,” “Suds in the Bucket,” “A Real Fine Place to Start” and “A Little Bit Stronger.” She has been nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year by both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, and she has released more than ten studio albums across her career.
Sara Evans Award Nominations
Sara Evans has received multiple nominations from both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music throughout her career. These include nominations for Female Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year, Album of the Year and Top Female Vocalist. She has also been nominated for her songwriting, music videos and album projects across various years.
Sara Evans Awards Won
Sara Evans has earned one award from the Country Music Association and one award from the Academy of Country Music. Her Country Music Association win came in 2001 for Music Video of the Year for “Born to Fly,” while her Academy of Country Music award came in 2005 for Top Female Vocalist.
Sara Evans Family
Sara Evans married Craig Schelske in 1993, and the couple had three children: a son, Avery Jack, born in 1999, and two daughters, Olivia Margaret, born in 2003, and Audrey Elizabeth, born in 2004. Their divorce was finalized in 2007 after a widely publicized legal process. In 2008, Evans married Jay Barker, a former University of Alabama quarterback, and the couple blended their families.
Personal Life
Evans resides in Nashville, Tennessee. She has openly discussed her struggles with anxiety and panic attacks, including episodes triggered by personal and professional pressures during the mid-2000s. She has also served as a spokesperson for the National Eating Disorders Association and has written a memoir about her life and career.