Cindy Watts, The (Nashville) Tennessean

Country singer Sara Evans wants to break your heart with her new album, Words.

Available Friday, Words is full of songs that address head-on life’s rawest emotional experiences.

“Every single song that we were getting was great,” says Evans, who explains that she and her husband often sat outside after their kids were asleep, listening to new material for her to record. “Everybody is recording beer songs. I would assume there aren’t that many artists who would take these kinds of songs (with depth).”

In Letting You Go, Evans shares the pride and heartbreak that comes as her son and oldest child, Avery, starts his senior year of high school.

All the Love You Left Me is an aching ballad about the loneliness that comes with the end of a relationship.

Night Light, which features the singer’s siblings, Matt Evans, Lesley Evans Lyons and Ashley Evans Simpson, on harmony vocals, is a song of comfort and reassurance.

And the album’s lead single, Marquee Sign, is a contemporary country take on recognizing the warning signs in a poor relationship.

Evans co-wrote three songs on the album, which reunites her with frequent co-producer Mark Bright. In addition to Evans, Words also features 13 additional female songwriters, including fellow country singers.

Ashley Monroe co-wrote Make Room at the Bottom with Brett James. Lady Antebellum singer Hillary Scott co-wrote A Little Bit Stronger and up-and-coming country singer Caitlyn Smith co-wrote I Don’t Trust Myself.

“I don’t sing songs about a truck, with a fake twang,” says Evans, who has had hits including Born to Fly, Suds in the Bucket and A Little Bit Stronger. “I’m still picking the same types of songs that always grab me in the same way. People are like, ‘She’s back with a new album.’ I’m like, ‘No, I didn’t go anywhere.’ ”

Words is Evans’ first album since her departure from her long-time record label group, Sony Music Nashville.

As she did with her previous albums, Evans hired studio musicians, took them into the recording studio and recorded as a band. However, there are some differences now that she’s releasing an album on her own Born to Fly Records.

Before, when she had to sign promotional copies of an album for her record label, she found the added work a nuisance. Now she laughs that she is extra careful writing her name on each copy because she had to pay for every one of them.

“Before, I would call the label and be like, ‘Can you send three boxes of CDs to my mom?’ ” Evans recalls. “Now I’m just going to send my mom one. Don’t lose it!”

She admits she’s nervous to release Words without the backing of a major record label, but she couldn’t be prouder of what she created.

“I feel like this album is so tear-worthy,” she says. “When was the last time you cried over an album like this? This album is very special. I feel like it’s blessed.”

Sara Evans: Words

Track List

1. Long Way Down (Tammy Rodgers / Liz Hengber / Jerry Salley)

2. Marquee Sign (Sara Evans / Jimmy Robbins / Heather Morgan)

3. Diving in Deep (Gordie Sampson / Hillary Lindsey / Steve McEwan)

4. All the Love You Left Me (Ben West / Hillary Lindsey / Gordie Sampson)

5. Like the Way You Love Me (Sara Evans / April Geesbreght / Jason Massey)

6. Rain and Fire (Claude Kelley / Charles Harmon)

7. Night Light (Daniel Tashian / Jaida Dreyer)

8. I Need a River (Marcus Hummon / Darrell Scott / Sonya Isaacs)

9. I Don't Trust Myself (Caitlyn Smith / Gordie Sampson / Steve McEwan)

10. Make Room at the Bottom (Ashley Monroe / Brett James)

11. Words (David Hodges / Jake Scott / Jimmy Robbins)

12. I Want You (Shane Stevens / Victoria Monet)

13. Letting You Go (Sara Evans / Emily Shackelton / Victoria Banks)

14. A Little Bit Stronger (Acoustic) (Hillary Scott / Hillary Lindsey / Luke Laird)