Hemingway's Whiskey
Encyclopedia
Upon its release, Hemingway’s Whiskey received generally positive reviews from most music critics. 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".
Jon Caramanica with The New York Times
referred to the album as "darker" that 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." 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." 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." Stephen Thomas Erlewine
with Allmusic referred to the album as "burnished and classy" and admired the amount of 'slow' material on the album. 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".
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. Blake Boldt with The 9513 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." Mario Tarradell with The Dallas Morning News
called it his "first exceptionally good CD since 2002's No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems
.
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. 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." 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." 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."
Additional musicians
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 67, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".
Jon Caramanica with The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
referred to the album as "darker" that 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." 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." 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." Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
with Allmusic referred to the album as "burnished and classy" and admired the amount of 'slow' material on the album. 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".
Bill Friskics-Warren with The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
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. Blake Boldt with The 9513 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." Mario Tarradell with The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
called it his "first exceptionally good CD since 2002's No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems
No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems
- Album :- Singles :- Certifications :...
.
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. Stuart Munro with The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
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." Jessica Phillips with Country Weekly
Country Weekly
Country Weekly is an American tabloid style weekly magazine established in 1994. The magazine focuses on country music stars and events, and regularly features exclusive interviews with recording artists and country music news...
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." 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."
Track listing
Personnel
Production- Natthaphol Abhigantaphand - Mastering Assistant
- Shelley Anderson - Mastering Assistant
- Daniel Bacigalupi - Mastering Assistant
- Steve Blackmon - Mixing Assistant
- Drew Bollman - Mixing Assistant
- Tim Brennan - Assistant Engineer
- Buddy CannonBuddy CannonBuddy Cannon is an American country music songwriter and record producer. Active since the late 1970s, he is known primarily for his work as Kenny Chesney's record producer, for which he won the Academy of Country Music's Producer of the Year award in 2006.Along with Bill Anderson and Jamey...
- Producer, Background Vocals - Butch Carr - Engineer
- Tony Castle - Engineer
- Kenny ChesneyKenny ChesneyKenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...
- Producer - Tammie Harris Cleek - Imaging, Photo Production
- Renée Bell - A&R
- Kyle Ford - Assistant Engineer
- Judy Forde-Blair - Creative Producer, Liner Notes
- Gordon Hammond - Assistant Engineer
- Greg Lawrence - Assistant Engineer
- Scott McDanielScott McDanielScott McDaniel is an American comics artist who has drawn numerous books, including Marvel Comics' "Fall from Grace" storyline for the Daredevil series...
- Art Direction, Design - Andrew Mendelson - Mastering
- Seth Morton - Assistant Engineer
- John Netti - Assistant Engineer
- Justin Niebank - Mixing
- Lowell Reynolds - Assistant Engineer
- Glen Rose - Photography
- Shannon Scott - Production Coordination
Additional musicians
- Wyatt Beard - Background Vocals
- Mark Beckett - Drums
- Pat Buchanan - Acoustic and Electric Guitar
- Melonie Cannon - Background Vocals
- Eric Darken - Percussion
- Scotty EmerickScotty EmerickWalter Scott "Scotty" Emerick is an American country music artist, known primarily for his work with Toby Keith. In addition to penning several of Keith's singles, Emerick has also written for Sawyer Brown, George Strait and several other artists...
- Background Vocals - Larry Franklin - Fiddle
- Sonny Garrish - Steel Guitar
- Kenny Greenberg - Acoustic and Electric Guitar
- Rob Hajacos - Fiddle
- John Hobbs - Keyboards, Piano
- Paul Leim - Drums, Percussion
- Randy McCormick - Keyboards
- Paul OverstreetPaul OverstreetPaul Lester Overstreet is an American country music singer and songwriter. He recorded 10 studio albums between 1982 and 2005, and charted 16 singles on the Billboard country charts, including two #1 hits...
- Background Vocals - Larry Paxton - Bass, Tic Tac
- Grace PotterGrace Potter and the NocturnalsGrace Potter and the Nocturnals is an American rock band from Waitsfield, Vermont.-Career:Grace Potter and the Nocturnals' lead vocalist is multi-instrumentalist Grace Potter, who attended St. Lawrence University for two years before pursuing music professionally...
- Background Vocals - Mickey RaphaelMickey RaphaelMichael Siegfried "Mickey" Raphael is a professional harmonica player, best known for his work with Willie Nelson. He has recorded with Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Elton John, Mötley Crüe, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Wynton Marsalis, Kenny Chesney, U2 and Neil Young.Raphael's style is mostly second...
- Harmonica - John Wesley RylesJohn Wesley RylesJohn Wesley Ryles is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1968 with the single "Kay", a Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles charts, and the title track to his debut album for Columbia Records.Ryles later recorded one album, Reconsider Me, for the Plantation label,...
- Background Vocals - Jeffrey Taylor - Accordion
- Neil ThrasherNeil ThrasherJoe Neil Thrasher, Jr. is an American country music singer and songwriter. Between 1995 and 1997, he and Kelly Shiver comprised the duo Thrasher Shiver, which recorded a studio album for Asylum Records in 1996 and charted two singles on the Billboard country charts in early 1997...
- Background Vocals - John Willis - Acoustic Guitar, Gut String Guitar, Mandolin
Album
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
73 |
| Australian Country Chart | 6 |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
10 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
37 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Tastemakers Albums | 24 |
Certifications
Year-end charts
| Chart (2010) | Year-end 2010 |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
75 |
| US Billboard Top Country Albums | 12 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US AC | CAN Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... |
||||||
| 2010 | "The Boys of Fall The Boys of Fall "The Boys of Fall" is the title of a song written by Casey Beathard, Dave Turnbull, and recorded by American country music artist Kenny Chesney. It was released in July 2010 as the lead single from his 12th studio album Hemingway's Whiskey, which was released September 28, 2010.-Content:The song... " |
1 | 18 | — | 77 | ||||
| "Somewhere with You Somewhere with You "Somewhere with You" is the title of a song written by Shane McAnally and J.T. Harding, and recorded by American country music singer Kenny Chesney. It is the second single from his 2010 album Hemingway's Whiskey.-Background and content:... " |
1 | 31 | 16 | 52 | |||||
| 2011 | "Live a Little Live a Little (song) "Live a Little" is the title of a song written by David Lee Murphy and Shane Minor, and recorded by American country music singer Kenny Chesney. It is the third single from his 2010 album Hemingway's Whiskey, and it was released to radio in March 2011.... " |
1 | 61 | — | 78 | ||||
| "You and Tequila You and Tequila "You and Tequila" is the title of a song co-written by Matraca Berg and Deana Carter. It was recorded by Kenny Chesney for his 2010 album Hemingway's Whiskey, from which it was released in May 2011 as the fourth single... " |
3 | 33 | — | 62 | |||||
| "Reality Reality (Kenny Chesney song) "Reality" is the title of a song recorded co-written by American country music artist Kenny Chesney and Brett James. It was recorded by Chesney for his 2010 album Hemingway's Whiskey, from which it was released in October 2011 as the fifth single.... "A |
14 | 87 | |||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
- ACurrent single.