Live, Laugh, Love
Encyclopedia
Critical reception
Paul Verna of BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
wrote "Clay Walker is quietly establishing himself as one of today's leading men in country. He has always had a strong live act, and that quality has been increasingly evident on his albums." Verna also listed "Holding Her and Loving You" and "If a Man Ain't Thinking ('Bout His Woman)" as standout tracks on the album and said "The real surprise is Walker's cutting loose with some soul singing on "This Time Love." Cathalena E. Burch of The Arizona Daily Star wrote the album "Contains many of the elements that have made him a Nashville standout: airy, fun dance songs and light, memorable ballads that don't weigh heavy on your heart. Songs like "She's Always Right" and his rendition of Earl Thomas Conley's classic "Holding Her and Loving You" add a raw-edged "live" quality that likely will produce a number of chart-toppers."
Matthew Fowler of The Daily Cougar
The Daily Cougar
The Daily Cougar is a daily newspaper run entirely by students at the University of Houston.In publication since April 6, 1928, The Daily Cougar was originally named The Cougar...
gave the song a positive review writing, "Rather than doing what everybody knew he could do -- putting out a quick album with some decent songs -- Walker decided to take the opportunity and just sing, letting his voice be the star." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album three stars out of five and wrote "Ultimately, Live, Laugh, Love drags a bit too much to rank among Walker's best, but it has its moments." Rick Mitchell of the Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle
The Houston Chronicle is the largest daily newspaper in Texas, USA, headquartered in the Houston Chronicle Building in Downtown Houston. , it is the ninth-largest newspaper by circulation in the United States...
gave the album three and a half stars and wrote, "Walker clearly wanted to make a deeper statement with this album. And thanks to co-producer Doug Johnson, his voice has never sounded more "live" and upfront in the mix. Walker has passed out the best music of his career here. What should come back around is his biggest hit yet."
Greg Crawford of the Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
gave the album a mixed review writing, "Walker soars and scores with the bluesy "This Time Love," a tune that would be at home at a Ray Charles concert. And if he doesn't quite raise the roof with the power ballad "Once in a Lifetime Love," he at least pushes himself to some new vocal and emotional heights. On the downside, Walker is neither powerful nor convincing on "Cold Hearted," a lame flirtation with rock, and he's saddled with a Tex-Mex-flavored title track that is the musical equivalent of a fast- food burrito. This is Walker's fifth studio disc, and he uses it to show that he's ready to stretch and grow a bit." The Cincinnati Post
The Cincinnati Post
The Cincinnati Post is a discontinued afternoon daily newspaper that was published in Cincinnati, Ohio. Distributed in Northern Kentucky as The Kentucky Post, it was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. Since the 1980s, its editorial stance was usually conservative. The Post published its final...
gave the album a B rating and wrote "It is a far more varied collection of tunes than we have heard from him before." Brian Wahlert of Country Standard Time
Country Standard Time
Country Standard Time is a website dedicated to country music and related genres such as Bluegrass and Rockabilly. It provides news and musical reviews pertaining to the genre. It was established in 1992 by Jeffrey B. Remz as a print magazine, which was first published only in New England but went...
gave the album a mixed review and wrote, "This album treads no new ground. So, it should please Walker's existing fans, but probably won't win him many new ones."
Mikel Toombs of the The San Diego Union-Tribune
The San Diego Union-Tribune
-Predecessors:The predecessor newspapers of the Union-Tribune were:* San Diego Sun, founded 1861 and merged with the Evening Tribune in 1939.* San Diego Union, founded October 10, 1868.* Evening Tribune, founded December 2, 1895.-Ownership:...
wrote "Walker specializes in fanfare. Live, Laugh, Love is heavy on sensitive-guy ballads including the gooey "Once in a Lifetime Love, and finds time for targeted crowd-pleasers like "It Ain't Called the Heartland (for Nothin')" and "The Chain of Love. Departing a bit from the usual are the lively title tune and "Cold Hearted," which co-writer Walker based on Bob Seger's "Night Moves" and, at least subconsciously, "Honky Tonk Women." Ken Rosenbaum of The Patriot Ledger
The Patriot Ledger
The Patriot Ledger is a daily afternoon newspaper published in Quincy, Massachusetts and serving the South Shore. Its circulation is 55,000 on weekdays and 63,000 for its Weekend edition which is published on Saturday mornings....
gave the album a positive review writing, "Walker mixes in tunes with a light rock edge, but he's heaviest on the two-step love songs that caress the eardrums with his soothing baritone. "This Time Love" has a raw, low-down, and urgent feel. If you're a country fan, listening doesn't get much better than this -- and you can dance to it, too." The editors at USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
gave the album two and a half stars and wrote, "He makes a bit like a modern-day Marty Robbins by giving the title track a Caribbean feel and borrowing blues-rock riffs from the Rolling Stones for Cold Hearted. He stretches out as a singer, too, using scoops, growls and falsetto to get the songs over. The songs, which often relate how he's wondrously mystified by the opposite sex, aren't always worth the effort he puts into them, but any problems with Live, Laugh, Love come more from the material than from Walker's earnest performance. DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
Johnny Sixpack of Slipcue gave the album a favorable review and wrote, "One of Walkers better, and more consistent, efforts. Worth checking out." Lance Ringel of The Lakeland Ledger gave the album a favorable review and praised the title track as well as "Holding Her and Loving You", "The Chain of Love", and "It Ain't Called Heartland (For Nothin')." Ralph Novak of People Magazine gave the album a favorable review and wrote, "Bottom Line: Looking at life from both sides now."
Personnel
- Eddie BayersEddie BayersEddie Bayers is an American session drummer who has played on 150 gold and platinum albums. He received the Academy of Country Music 'Drummer of the Year Award' for eight straight years, and has three times won the Nashville Music Awards 'Drummer of the Year'...
- drums, percussion - Joe Chemay - bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Dan Dugmore - steel guitarSteel guitarSteel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
- Shannon Forrest - percussion
- Larry Franklin - fiddleFiddleThe term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
- Paul FranklinPaul Franklin (musician)Paul Franklin is an American multi-instrumentalist, known mainly for his work as a steel guitarist. He began his career in the 1970s as a member of Barbara Mandrell's road band; in addition he toured with Mel Tillis and Jerry Reed. He has since become a prolific session musician in Nashville,...
- steel guitar - Sonny Garrish - steel guitar
- Steve Gibson - mandolinMandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound... - Wes Hightower - background vocals
- John Hobbs - pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, B3 organ, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - David HungateDavid HungateDavid Hungate is a bass player noted as a member of Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1977-1982. Boz Scaggs's Silk Degrees album of 1976 included Hungate and several other future members of Toto...
- bass guitar - Mike Jones - background vocals
- B. James Lowry - acoustic guitar
- Liana Manis - background vocals
- Blue Miller - background vocals
- Joey MiskulinJoey MiskulinJoseph M. Miskulin is a hall of fame accordionist and producer of Grammy Award-winning music albums. In a music career spanning more than four decades, Joey Miskulin has collaborated with a range of artists including Paul McCartney, John Denver, Ricky Skaggs, Andy Williams, Ricky Van Shelton,...
- accordionAccordionThe accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist.... - Tom Roady - percussion
- Matt RollingsMatt RollingsMatt Rollings is an American composer, musician and record producer. He plays piano, organ, and keyboards.Known mainly for playing in Lyle Lovett's Large Band, he has worked with many artists, not all country...
- piano - Brent Rowan - electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, gut string guitar, acoustic guitar - 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 - Leland SklarLeland SklarLeland "Lee" Bruce Sklar is an American musician, singer-songwriter and film score composer. A prominent bass guitarist, Sklar has contributed to thousands of albums as a session musician...
- bass guitar - Biff Watson - electric guitar
- John Willis - acoustic guitar
- Lonnie Wilson - drums
- Curtis Young - background vocals
Chart performance
During its debut week it sold over 26,000 units. On the day of the album's release, Walker met with fans outside a Walmart in Moore, OklahomaMoore, Oklahoma
Moore is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma and is part of the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area. The population was 55,081 at the 2010 census, making it the seventh largest city in the state of Oklahoma....
to celebrate the release.
Weekly charts
| Chart (1999) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 55 |
| Canadian RPM Country Albums | 23 |
End of year charts
| Chart (2000) | Year-end 2000 |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Top Country Albums | 33 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification |
|---|---|
| United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
Gold |