A dog barks in the background as Martina McBride discusses her “family show.” The country star is calling from her Nashville home, which she shares with John, her husband of 16 years, and their two daughters: Delaney, 10, and Emma, 6.

“I got one on the way,” says the singer, who’s three months pregnant. “We don’t know what we’re having yet.”

Before she gets further along in the pregnancy, McBride hit the road with her extravagant family-oriented holiday show, “The Joy of Christmas.” McBride has been doing the concert for the past three years.

I wanted to put together a show that combined elements of Broadway, says the 38-year-old Kansas native and four-time winner of the Country Music Assn.’s award for female vocalist of the year, including this year. “I wanted it to be more than just singing in a gown in front of an orchestra. It’s kinda multimedia with enormous screens in the back behind the props. We have a scene where we’re in Victorian England, and you see the English clock tower on the screens. It’s not just my face on the screens all the time.”

There’s a nativity scene, and McBride’s two daughters are among the show’s cast members. “It’s been a great experience for them to feel like they contribute every night,” the singer says.

In the two-hour show, which includes a 20-minute intermission, McBride performs such tried-and-true holiday standards as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)” and “Silver Bells.” Those songs and others are also included on the artist’s “White Christmas” album. Released in 1999, it is still a consistent seller, garnering a platinum certification last year.

Her latest album and seventh overall, “Martina,” is her strongest set to date. It came out last September, selling more than 2 million copies. The record boasts tuneful, intelligent songs, emotive vocals from McBride and warm, consistent production by the singer and Paul Worley. The album was recorded in a state-of-the-art Nashville studio McBride and her sound engineer husband recently purchased. She was able to lay down her vocals and take breaks to cook dinner for her family in the studio’s kitchen.

“For me, it’s just an immediate reaction to a song,” says McBride, who generally reviews between 1,500 and 2,000 song submissions when she prepares to record an album. “It’s what hits me and moves me when I’m working on an album.”

Kansas native Martina McBride has combined elements of Broadway in her family-oriented holiday show.

For the past decade, the artist has been one of the premier women in country with more than 15 million albums sold and six No. 1 singles, including her signature, 1993’s “Independence Day.” But despite the commercial success and the demands that come with it, McBride stays grounded: Family comes first. She tours only when the kids are not in school. She still drives her 1992 Honda and shuttles the girls to school and to extracurricular activities.

“There’s no question about where my priorities are,” McBride says. “I just love where I am right now in my career.”