Town Line
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Country Weekly | [2] |
| Engine 145 | [3] |
Town Line is the first EP by Staind frontman Aaron Lewis. An extended play consisting of country songs, it was released on March 1, 2011 on Stroudavarious Records.[4] As of the chart dated September 3, 2011, the album has sold 200,208 copies in the US.[5]
Content
The first single, "Country Boy", which features George Jones, Charlie Daniels, and Chris Young, was released on December 7, 2010. This song has charted on both Hot Country Songs and Rock Songs.[6] The track "Tangled Up in You" is a re-recording of a song from Staind's album The Illusion of Progress.[2]
Live versions of the songs "Vicious Circles" and "Country Boy" also appear on the deluxe edition of Lewis' 2012 album, The Road.
Critical reception
Giving it three stars out of five, Jessica Phillips of Country Weekly thought that the songs were "rich with imagery." She also praised Lewis for "resist[ing] the temptation to don a faux twang", but criticized the single "Country Boy" as "an unfortunately overextended string of rural impressions."[2] Sam Gazdziak of Engine 145 rated it two stars out of five, calling "Country Boy" "turgid" and "polarizing", also criticizing the three versions present on the EP. His review criticized most of the songs for their themes, but praised "Vicious Circles" and "Tangled Up in You" by saying that they "don’t sound like Lewis was working off of a checklist of things that belong in country music[…]and they end up being the best two of the bunch."[3] Stephen Thomas Erlewine criticized Lewis for having "no good feel for country music tradition", and saying that "By Lewis' limited reading, country music is only about god, guns, family, and country". He gave the album one star out of five.[1]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Aaron Lewis
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Story Never Ends" | 4:47 |
| 2. | "Vicious Circles" | 5:07 |
| 3. | "Country Boy" (featuring George Jones, Charlie Daniels and Chris Young) | 4:43 |
| 4. | "Tangled Up in You" (featuring Alexa Carter) | 4:29 |
| 5. | "Massachusetts" | 5:03 |
| 6. | "Country Boy" (radio edit) | 4:20 |
| 7. | "Country Boy" (acoustic version) | 4:20 |
Personnel
- Aaron Lewis – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
- Perry Coleman – background vocals
- Charlie Daniels – fiddle, electric guitar, and vocals on "Country Boy"
- Alexa Carter – background vocals on "Tangled Up in You"
- George Jones – vocals on "Country Boy"
- Chris Young – background vocals on "Country Boy"
- Biff Watson – acoustic guitar
- Brent Mason – electric guitar
- Larry Paxton – bass guitar
- Eddie Bayers – drums
- Ben Kitterman – dobro
- Scotty Sanders – steel guitar
- Paul Franklin – steel guitar
- Tony Harrell – piano, Hammond organ
Chart performance
Album
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 7 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Independent Albums | 3 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Rock Albums | 3 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Country | US Main | US Rock | ||
| 2011 | "Country Boy" (with George Jones and Charlie Daniels) | 87 | 50 | 23 | 39 |
References
- ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Town Line review". AllMusic. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
- ^ a b c Phillips, Jessica (7 March 2011). Country Weekly. 18 (10): 56. ISSN 1074-3235.
{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ a b Gazdziak, Sam (13 April 2011). "Town Line review". Engine 145. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
- ^ "Town Line". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
- ^ "It's Country Boy's World on SoundScan Charts This Week". Roughstock. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
- ^ "Charts for Town Line". Allmusic. Retrieved 10 March 2011.