Hemingway's Whiskey

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Hemingway's Whiskey
Kenny Chesney - Hemingway's Whiskey.jpg
Studio album by Kenny Chesney
Released September 28, 2010 (2010-09-28)
Genre Country
Length 43:58
Label BNA
Producer Buddy Cannon
Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney chronology
Greatest Hits II
(2009)Greatest Hits II2009		 Hemingway's Whiskey
(2010)		 Welcome to the Fishbowl
(2012)Welcome to the Fishbowl2012
Singles from Hemingway's Whiskey
  1. "The Boys of Fall"
    Released: July 12, 2010
  2. "Somewhere with You"
    Released: November 8, 2010
  3. "Live a Little"
    Released: March 14, 2011
  4. "You and Tequila"
    Released: May 31, 2011
  5. "Reality"
    Released: October 3, 2011

Hemingway's Whiskey is the thirteenth studio album by American country music artist Kenny Chesney, released on September 28, 2010, by BNA Records.

This album received generally positive reviews from music critics. It debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling approximately 183,000 units in its first week, and has since been certified Platinum by the RIAA. It produced five singles on Billboard Hot Country Songs chart between 2010-2011. Four of those five singles "The Boys of Fall", "Somewhere with You", "Live a Little", and "Reality" have all number 1.

Background

In an interview with The Boot, Chesney explained the reasoning behind the title of his new release, citing the influence of Guy Clark, saying "I was sitting in my truck and a friend had given me Guy's album, which had just come out. It's a song that talks about living life to its fullest, being a man about your responsibilities and not compromising. As soon as I heard it, I knew I had to cut it -- and call the album that -- because it says everything about the way you live your life, and what life can be if you refuse to buy into limits, which, as someone who's read all his books, is everything Hemingway's novels revolved around."[1]

In a CMT blog, Chesney also commented saying that he wanted the album to be "something more " than its predecessor, Lucky Old Sun: "I came to town to write songs, to make records, to create something that spoke about how I lived, and the people who I knew who were just like me and my friends lived."[2]

"Small Y'all", a duet with George Jones, was previously recorded by Jones on his 1998 album It Don't Get Any Better Than This, and before that by Randy Travis on his 1994 album This Is Me.

Reception

Commercial

The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling 183,000 copies in its first week of release. The release is his sixth number one album, thus ranking him second among country acts with the most number one albums, only behind Garth Brooks.[3] In its second week of release, the album dropped to number two on the Billboard 200, selling 65,000 copies.[4] In its third week of release it fell to number six on the Billboard 200, selling 40,000 copies.[5] In its fourth week of release, the album fell to number thirteen on the Billboard 200 selling 26,126 copies.[6] As of the chart dated July 2, 2011, the album has sold 850,706 copies in the US.[7] As of 9/23/2011 it has been certified platinum by the RIAA.

Critical

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Engine 145 3.5/5 stars[8]
About.com 3.5/5 stars[9]
Allmusic 3/5 stars[10]
American Songwriter 4/5 stars[11]
Chicago Tribune 2/4 stars[12]
The Dallas Morning News B+[13]
Entertainment Weekly B+[14]
Rolling Stone 3.5/5 stars[15]
Roughstock 4/5 stars[16]
USA Today 3/4 stars[17]

Upon its release, Hemingway’s Whiskey received generally positive reviews from most music critics.[18] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 67, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[18] Jon Caramanica with The New York Times referred to the album as "darker" than his previous work, saying "on Hemingway’s Whiskey, though, his voice sounds smoother and deeper than usual, and he’s using it to more potent effect."[19] He also preferred Chesney's version of the title track over Guy Clark's, saying "His version of the title track is of course far cleaner than Guy Clark’s, whose original take on it was practically withering on the microphone, but Mr. Chesney sounds studious and earnest."[19] Matt Bjorke with Roughstock gave it a four-star rating, saying "Hemingway’s Whiskey is a record that finds Kenny Chesney feeling recharged. It’s a record that runs the gamut of human emotion and paints stories the way Hemingway’s novels did."[16] Stephen Thomas Erlewine with Allmusic referred to the album as "burnished and classy" and admired the amount of 'slow' material on the album.[10] American Songwriter critic Rick Moore gave it a four star rating. Calling it "a solid effort", he commented on the songwriting of the album, saying it "pays homage to Nashville’s songwriting community".[11] At Rolling Stone, Jody Rosen found that "Chesney serves up the usual carpe diem anthems", however he noted that "when the mood turns serious, he slips: He can't muster the gravitas to pull off the title track, a maudlin tribute to Ernest Hemingway."[15] In addition, Rosen concluded with "as long as the weather's sunny and the blender's whirring, Chesney's fine company."[15] Robert Silva of About.com called it a "solid effort".[9] At USA Today, Brian Mansfield proclaimed the effort to be "finely aged country".[17]

Bill Friskics-Warren with The Washington Post called it "his most stylistically wide-ranging [album] to date" and recommended the title track and "Small Y'all" as the best on the album.[20] Blake Boldt with Engine 145 gave it a 3½ out of 5 star rating; he called Chesney "the hillbilly king of the Caribbean" and said "with [the album] he maintains that image and proves that he can still let loose occasionally."[8] Mario Tarradell with The Dallas Morning News called it his "first exceptionally good CD since 2002's No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems.[13] Greg Victor with Parcbench called it his "first extraordinary album since No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" He called the tracks "a little more grown-up than usual", and gave it a 3½ out of 5 star rating.[21] Stuart Munro with The Boston Globe called it "another well-wrought articulation of Chesney’s musical world" but also noted that "it isn’t all that far from where he’s been since 2002’s No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems."[22] Jessica Phillips with Country Weekly gave it 3½ out of 5 stars, and noted that his decision to take the past year of touring off "paid off with a more cohesive collection of songs that are at once universal yet obviously personal."[23] She also called his take on the track "Small Y’all" "easily the most traditionally country tune Kenny has recorded during the past few years."[23]

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "The Boys of Fall"   Casey Beathard, Dave Turnbull 6:32
2. "Live a Little"   Shane Minor, David Lee Murphy 3:39
3. "Coastal"   Michael Mobley, Wendell Mobley, Neil Thrasher 2:40
4. "You and Tequila" (featuring Grace Potter) Matraca Berg, Deana Carter 4:03
5. "Seven Days"   Lee Brice, Billy Montana, Jon Stone 4:20
6. "Small Y'all" (featuring George Jones) Bobby Braddock 2:54
7. "Where I Grew Up"   Ashley Gorley, Kelley Lovelace, Thrasher 3:39
8. "Reality"   Kenny Chesney, Brett James 3:31
9. "Round and Round"   Scotty Emerick, Paul Overstreet, Even Stevens 5:05
10. "Somewhere with You"   J. T. Harding, Shane McAnally 4:04
11. "Hemingway's Whiskey"   Guy Clark, Ray Stephenson, Joe Leathers 3:28
Total length:
 43:58

Personnel

Charts and certifications

Album

Chart (2010) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[25] 73
Australian Country Chart[25] 6
Canadian Albums Chart[26] 10
Norwegian Albums Chart[27] 37
U.S. Billboard 200[26] 1
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums[26] 1
U.S. Billboard Tastemakers Albums[26] 24

Certifications

Region Certification
United States (RIAA)[28] Platinum

Year-end charts

Chart (2010) Year-end
2010
US Billboard 200 75[29]
US Billboard Top Country Albums 12[30]
Chart (2011) Year-end
2011
US Billboard 200 42[31]

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold)
US Country US US AC CAN
2010 "The Boys of Fall" 1 18 — 77 * US: Platinum[32]
"Somewhere with You" 1 31 16 52 * US: Platinum[33]
2011 "Live a Little" 1 61 — 78
"You and Tequila" (featuring Grace Potter) 3 33 — 62 * US: Platinum[34]
"Reality" 1 62 — 77
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
Preceded by Top Country Albums number-one album
October 16, 2010		 Succeeded by
Bullets in the Gun by Toby Keith
Billboard 200 number-one album
October 16, 2010

References

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  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
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