Bullets in the Gun
Bullets in the Gun is the fourteenth studio album by American country music artist Toby Keith. It was released on October 5, 2010 via Show Dog-Universal Music.[1] The album produced three singles with "Trailerhood", the title track, and "Somewhere Else". "Trailerhood" peaked at number 19 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, while the title track and "Somewhere Else" both reached number 12. This was Keith's first studio album to not produce a single Top 10 hit on the US country charts.
Bullets in the Gun | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 5, 2010 | |||
Recorded | 2010 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 36:10 | |||
Label | Show Dog-Universal Music | |||
Producer | Toby Keith | |||
Toby Keith chronology | ||||
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Singles from Bullets in the Gun | ||||
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Background
In an interview with Billboard, Keith talked about the recording for Bullets in the Gun, saying ""I'm in a great place right now, I probably wrote 40 or 50 songs in the last year and the songs are getting more and more happy. I did some movies, too, but now I'm just kicking back."[2]
Critical reception
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | (76/100)[3] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
Billboard | (positive)[5] |
The Boston Globe | (positive)[6] |
Country Weekly | |
Entertainment Weekly | B[8] |
Los Angeles Times | |
The New York Times | (mixed)[10] |
Roughstock | (favorable)[11] |
The Washington Post | (positive)[12] |
Upon its release, Bullets in the Gun received generally positive reviews from most music critics.[3] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[3]
Bill Friskics-Warren of The Washington Post complimented the tracks on the release, saying "There isn't a weak track on the record, and most of the songs [...] are pretty terrific".[12] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album 4½ out of 5 stars and called it "a lean, tight record", stating "Bullets in the Gun winds up being the Toby Keith album with the lightest touch since 2006’s White Trash with Money."[4] Matt Bjorke with Roughstock commented on the album, saying "Bullets in the Gun is an interesting album and it feels like a joyful mixture of songs about different stages of relationships and life" and called it "Keith’s best album of at least the last five years".[11] Gary Graff with Billboard Magazine gave a favorable review of the album, saying "It's full of shoot-from-the- hip cleverness".[5]
Jessica Phillips with Country Weekly gave it three stars, commented saying that "the album [is packed] with songs meant to heal (or at least dull) a broken heart".[7] Jon Caramanica with The New York Times referred to Bullets in the Gun as "[Keith's] most scattershot album to date; a jumble of attitudes and tactics" and said "[he] is singing without conviction on songs that are mere archetypes and lack any of his signature gestures".[10]
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number one on both the US Billboard 200 chart and Top Country albums chart, selling 71,000 copies in its first week of release. It's the smallest debut at number one since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking the chart in May 1991.[13] In its second week of release, the album dropped to number nine on the Billboard 200 selling 30,000 copies.[14] In its third week of release, the album fell to number twenty one on the Billboard 200, selling 17,923 copies.[15] As of the chart dated May 7, 2011, the album has sold 323,880 copies in the US.[16]
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Bullets in the Gun" | Toby Keith, Rivers Rutherford | 4:16 |
2. | "Somewhere Else" | Keith, Bobby Pinson | 3:06 |
3. | "Trailerhood" | Keith | 2:53 |
4. | "In a Couple of Days" | Keith, Pinson | 3:46 |
5. | "Think About You All of the Time" | Keith | 3:44 |
6. | "Kissin' in the Rain" | Keith, Pinson | 3:55 |
7. | "Drive it on Home" | Keith, Pinson | 3:22 |
8. | "Ain't Breakin' Nothin'" | Keith, Pinson | 3:58 |
9. | "Is That All You Got" | Keith, Scotty Emerick, Dean Dillon | 3:35 |
10. | "Get Out of My Car" | Keith, Pinson | 3:30 |
Total length: | 36:05 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
11. | "11 Months And 29 Days (live)" | Johnny Paycheck | 4:44 |
12. | "Waymore's Blues (live)" | Waylon Jennings, Curtis Buck | 6:08 |
13. | "Chug-a-Lug (live)" | Roger Miller | 2:59 |
14. | "Sundown (live)" | Gordon Lightfoot | 4:34 |
Personnel
- Robert Ascroft – photography
- Susie Carlson – stylist
- Kim Debus – stylist
- P.J. Fenech – assistant
- Tom Freitag – assistant
- Jed Hackett – overdubs
- Mills Logan – engineer, mixing, overdub engineer
- Meredith Louie – creative director
- Ken Love – mastering
- Mike Paragone – assistant
- Lowell Reynolds – assistant
- Brien Sager – assistant
- Elaine Shock – creative director
- Andrew Southam – photography
- Todd Tidwell – assistant
- Ted Wheeler – assistant
- Pat Bergeson – acoustic guitar, harmonica, jew's harp
- Bruce Bouton – pedal steel guitar
- Tom Bukovac – electric guitar
- Perry Coleman – background vocals
- Chad Cromwell – drums
- Eric Darken – percussion, vibraphone
- Paul Franklin – dobro, pedal steel guitar
- Kevin "Swine" Grantt – bass guitar
- Kenny Greenberg – electric guitar
- Aubrey Haynie – fiddle
- John Hobbs – organ, piano
- Charlie Judge – synthesizer strings, synthesizer
- Toby Keith – lead vocals, background vocals
- Phil Madeira – accordion, organ, wurlitzer
- Chris McHugh – drums
- Steve Nathan – piano
- Michael Rhodes – bass guitar
- Randy Scruggs – banjo
- Steven Sheehan – acoustic guitar
- Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar
- Ilya Toshinsky – banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin
Chart positions
Album
Chart (2010) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canadian Albums Chart[17] | 23 |
US Billboard 200[13] | 1 |
US Billboard Top Country Albums[13] | 1 |
Year-end charts
Chart (2010) | Year-end 2010 |
---|---|
US Billboard 200 | 199[18] |
US Billboard Top Country Albums | 41[19] |
Singles
Year | Single | Peak chart positions | |
---|---|---|---|
US Country | US | ||
2010 | "Trailerhood"[20] | 19 | 97 |
"Bullets in the Gun"[21] | 12 | 83 | |
2011 | "Somewhere Else"[22] | 12 | 80 |
References
- "CMT : News : Toby Keith Releasing New Album, Bullets in the Gun, on Oct. 5". CMT. 2010-07-22. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- "Toby Keith Kicks Back with 'Bullets in the Gun' | Billboard.com". Billboard. 2010-09-24. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- "Bullets in the Gun Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
- Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Bullets in the Gun – Toby Keith". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
- Graff, Gary (2010-10-08), Toby Keith, "Bullets In The Gun", Billboard, retrieved 2010-11-09
- McLennan, Whitney (2010-10-04). "Toby Keith, 'Bullets in the Gun' – The Boston Globe". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
- Phillips, Jessica (2010-09-24). "Bullets in the Gun : Toby Keith – Reviews – Country Weekly Magazine". Country Weekly. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- Pastorek, Whitney (2010-09-29). "Bullets in the Gun Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
- Lewis, Randy (2010-10-05). "Album review: Toby Keith's 'Bullets in the Gun'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
- Caramanica, Jon (2010-10-03). "Critics' Choice - New CDs from Toby Keith, Marnie Stern and King Sunny Adé - Review - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
- Bjorke, Matt. "Toby Keith – Bullets in the Gun". Roughstock.com. Archived from the original on 2010-10-07. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
- Friskics-Warren, Bill (2010-0910-05). "There isn't a weak track on Toby Keith's 'Bullets in the Gun'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-10-06. Check date values in:
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(help) - Caulfield, Keith (2010-10-13). "Toby Keith's 'Gun' Fires at No. 1 on Billboard 200 | Billboard.com". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
- Caulfield, Keith (2010-10-20). "Lil Wayne's 'Human Being' Leaps 16–1 on Billboard 200 | Billboard.com". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
- Bjorke, Matt (2010-10-27). "The Incredible Machine Tops The Albums Sales Charts This Week | New Country Music, Listen to Songs & Video | Roughstock.com". Roughstock. Archived from the original on 2010-10-29. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
- "Album Sales Strong Thanks To Easter Week | Roughstock.com". Roughstock. 2011-04-27. Archived from the original on 2011-05-02. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
- "Chart listing for Bullets in the Gun". Billboard. Retrieved 14 October 2010.
- "Best of 2010 – Billboard Top 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
- "Best of 2010 – Top Country Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
- Trailerhood – Toby Keith | Billboard.com, Billboard, retrieved 2011-01-02
- Bullets in the Gun – Toby Keith | Billboard.com, Billboard, retrieved 2011-01-02
- Somewhere Else – Toby Keith | Billboard.com, Billboard, retrieved 2011-05-25