Sara Evans

Sara Lynn Evans was born in Boonville, Missouri, on February 5, 1971. She was raised in New Franklin, Missouri by parents Pat and Jack Evans. She was one of seven children (which also included her half siblings after her mother remarried). The Evans family was raised on a 400-acre farm that included several crops and livestock. To make ends meet, her mother became a school bus driver while her father became a pressman for the Columbia Daily Tribune newspaper. Evans's family discovered she had a natural singing ability after she started singing along with her two older brothers who were taking guitar lessons. This prompted Evans's mother to put her siblings into a band which they later called The Evans Family Band. Evans started performing lead vocals in the band when she was six years old. She later learned to perform guitar, mandolin, and drums.

Evans was raised on a farm in New Franklin. When she was eight years old, Evans was hit by a car after crossing the highway that faced her family's farm. She was thrown onto the hood of the car and eventually landed in a grassy field along the highway. She had suffered a concussion and a leg injury. Due to the severity of her injuries, Evans was sent to the University of Missouri Hospital, located 30 miles from her hometown. To avoid having a deformed left leg, doctors had to drill pins into Evans's knee. She was unable to move from her hospital bed for six weeks. According to Evans, the accident itself and being tied to the hospital bed resulted in her having post-traumatic stress disorder. "I had severe PTSD and anxiety, but it was the '80s, and I didn't have a name for it," she explained.

In 1983, Evans's parents divorced. Her mother remarried in 1985 and the couple had two more children (Evans's half sisters). After her mother remarried, the family moved to a tobacco farm, also located in New Franklin. The Evans Family Band continued performing as well. The group often performed on weekends and later had a manager. When she was about ten years old, Evans recorded a song called "I'm Gonna Be the Only Female Fiddle Player in Charlie Daniels Band". She then traveled to Nashville alongside her manager to promote the song at Fan Fair. Evans later performed on a local program called Country Stampede and briefly formed a band with her brother Matt. In 1989, Evans graduated high school. She accepted a full scholarship to study music at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri. However, she left after one semester once realizing she wanted to pursue a country music career. She returned to her mother's New Franklin farm where she got a job at the Holiday Inn as a waitress. With the money saved from waiting tables, Evans and her brother Matt moved to Nashville in 1991.

After moving to Nashville, Evans got a job waiting tables during the breakfast shift at another Holiday Inn restaurant. At the restaurant she would meet her first husband who was also a waiter at the Holiday Inn. The couple started dating and temporarily moved to Aumsville, Oregon, in 1992. In Oregon, she performed billed as Sara Evans & North Santiam. The couple married while in Oregon and spent three years there before returning to Nashville in the mid-1990s. Through her lawyer, Evans got a job as a demo singer. Among the demos she recorded was a cover of Buck Owens's "I've Got a Tiger by the Tail", which was originally intended to be sent to Patty Loveless. Her demo was heard by Nashville songwriter Harlan Howard who was impressed by Evans's traditional country singing style. Howard convinced executives at RCA Records to hear Evans sing. In a live audition for RCA executive Joe Galante, Evans sang three songs. The same day, Evans was offered a recording contract from RCA Records. She accepted and signed a seven-album deal with the label.