Haywire (Josh Turner album)

Haywire
Studio album by Josh Turner
Released February 9, 2010
Genre Country
Length 39:58
Label MCA Nashville
Producer Frank Rogers
Josh Turner chronology

Everything Is Fine
(2007)
Haywire
(2010)
Icon
(2011)
Singles from Haywire
  1. "Why Don't We Just Dance"
    Released: August 12, 2009
  2. "All Over Me"
    Released: April 5, 2010
  3. "I Wouldn't Be a Man"
    Released: October 25, 2010

Haywire is the fourth studio album by American country music singer Josh Turner. It was released on February 9, 2010 via MCA Nashville and debuted at number five on the U.S. Billboard 200, and number two on the Top Country Albums, selling 85,000 copies. The album produced three singles, including the Number One hits "Why Don't We Just Dance" and "All Over Me." As with his previous three studio albums, Turner worked with producer Frank Rogers.

Background

After the release of "Why Don't We Just Dance" in August, Turner's website announced that the album would be released on November 10, but on October 2, online magazine Country Standard Time reported that the release of Haywire was delayed until February 9, 2010.[1]

On January 12, 2010, Billboard published an album preview of Haywire, where Turner talked about the new album. Regarding its content, Turner told Billboard that the album "goes a little deeper about love and relationships" than previous records.[2]

Eight days later, Engine 145 released an interview with Turner. When asked why he decided to name his new CD Haywire, Turner responded that the title track "felt pretty relevant as to the world right now and my life, too." When asked about following the theme of Haywire in terms of songs, he said, "If I had to sum it up, it would be energy, a lot of positive energy. It’s an album that’s full of songs that will make people dance. There’s a lot of passion there. Vocally, I stepped out of my box more; I let ‘er rip and you can hear that on a lot of different songs, whether it be a ballad or an uptempo."[3]

Content

The album's first single is "Why Don't We Just Dance." Written by Jim Beavers, Darrell Brown and Jonathan Singleton, it was released to radio on August 12, 2009, and became his third Number One hit in February 2010. Following it on the album is "I Wouldn't Be a Man," which was originally a Top Ten hit for Don Williams in 1987,[4] and was also a minor chart hit nine years later by Billy Dean.

The deluxe edition includes live recordings of Turner's previous singles "Long Black Train" and "Your Man," two other bonus songs, and the music video for "Why Don't We Just Dance."[2][5]

Reception

Commercial

Haywire debuted at number five on the U.S. Billboard 200 and at number two on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums, selling 85,000 copies in its first week of release.[6] As of November 2010, the album has sold 330,000 copies in the U.S.[7]

Critical

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [8]
Billboard (mixed)[9]
Country Weekly [10]
Entertainment Weekly (B-)[11]
PopMatters [12]
Roughstock (favorable)[13]
Slant Magazine [14]
Engine 145 [4]

Upon its release, Haywire received generally positive reviews from most music critics.[15] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 63, based on 5 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[15]

Thom Jurek of Allmusic commended the production, which he described as "reined in sonically with more acoustic instrumentation, less compression, and vocals placed properly in their relation to the instrumental mix" but thought that "the song choices that make this set sound so flat" giving it 2½ stars out of 5.[8] Jessica Phillips of Country Weekly magazine gave the album four stars out of five, saying that it followed in the formula set by Turner's previous three albums, adding that its song selection "complements Josh's booming, polished bass voice better than those on albums past" despite also saying that the album "takes few new risks.".[10]

PopMatters critic Dave Heaton gave it a "Damn Good" rating, saying "There is a carefree feeling to Haywire that’s infectious, that makes the album’s ordinariness not matter", and commended his "deep, supple voice".[12] Juli Thanki of country music blog Engine 145 also gave the album a positive review; praising Turner as "the finest male voice on country radio," but commenting that the album lacked any "exceptional songs." Thanki gave the album 3½ stars out of 5.[4]

Matt Bjorke with Roughstock gave it a favorable review, saying "Haywire is one of Josh Turner’s most consistent albums and it really feels like a record that will help keep him a radio star".[13] Slant Magazine critic Jonathan Keefe reviewed the album's material unfavorably, referring to the material as "pure vanilla" and saying "a stuffy, aesthetically conservative set of songs at odds with Turner's stated intentions of loosening up a bit," though he noted that Turner's vocal performances attempt to bring "some life and personality" to the songs and rated the set with three stars out of five.[14]

Track listing

Standard/CD/MP3 download
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Why Don't We Just Dance"  Jim Beavers, Jonathan Singleton, Darrell Brown 3:12
2. "I Wouldn't Be a Man"  Mike Reid, Rory Bourke 3:32
3. "Haywire"  Turner 3:24
4. "Your Smile"  Elliot Park 3:35
5. "Lovin' You on My Mind"  Kendell Marvel, Chris Stapleton, Tim James 3:39
6. "As Fast as I Could"  Jeremy Spillman, Turner 4:27
7. "I'll Be There"  Phillip White, Steven Dale Jones 3:38
8. "All Over Me"  Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, Ben Hayslip 3:19
9. "Eye Candy"  Turner, Pat McLaughlin, Shawn Camp 2:53
10. "Friday Paycheck"  Turner, Mark Narmore 4:00
11. "The Answer"  Turner, Narmore 4:14
Total length:
39:58

Personnel

Technical
  • Craig Allen - Art Direction, Design
  • Brady Barnett - Digital Editing
  • Richard Barrow - Digital Editing, Engineer, Overdub Engineer, String Engineer
  • Steve Beers - Assistant
  • Steve Blackmon - Assistant
  • Drew Bollman - Mixing Assistant
  • John Hobbs - Arranger, Conductor
  • George Holz - Photography
  • Tyler Moles - Digital Editing
  • Seth Morton - Assistant
  • Justin Niebank - Mixing
  • Mark Pettacia - Assistant
  • Lowell Reynolds - Assistant
  • Mike Rooney - Assistant
  • Phillip Stein - Digital Editing, Production Assistant
  • Trish Townsend - Stylist, Wardrobe
  • Josh Turner - Art Direction, Photography
  • Paula Turner - Hair Stylist, Make-Up
  • Hank Williams - Mastering
  • Brian David Willis - Digital Editing

Additional musicians
  • David Angell - Strings
  • Zeneba Bowers - Strings
  • J. T. Corenflos - Electric Guitar
  • Eric Darken - Percussion
  • David Davidson - Strings
  • Chip Davis - Choir
  • Shannon Forrest - Drums
  • Kevin Grantt - Upright Bass
  • Aubrey Haynie - Fiddle, Mandolin
  • Connie Heard - Strings
  • Steve Hinson - Dobro
  • Wes Hightower - Background Vocals
  • Mike Johnson - Pedabro
  • Gayle Mayes - Choir
  • Gordon Mote - Hammond B3, Piano, Wurlitzer
  • Angela Primm - Choir
  • Frank Rogers - Keyboards, Producer
  • Manny Rogers - Keyboard Engineer
  • Brent Rowan - Baritone and Electric Guitar
  • Ladye Love Smith - Choir
  • Reggie Smith - Choir
  • Chris Stapleton - Background Vocals
  • Bryan Sutton - Banjo, Acoustic and Gut String Guitar
  • Russell Terrell - Background Vocals
  • Kristin Wilkinson - Arranger, Strings

Charts

Album

Charts (2010) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums[6] 2
U.S. Billboard 200[6] 5

Year-end charts

Chart (2010) Position
US Billboard 200[16] 103
US Billboard Top Country Albums[17] 15

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions
US Country
US
CAN
2010 "Why Don't We Just Dance"[18] 1 35 59
"All Over Me"[19] 1 59
"I Wouldn't Be a Man"[20] 18 92

References

  1. "Josh Turner CD delayed until 2010". Country Standard Time. 2009-10-02. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Price, Deborah Evans (2010-01-12). "Josh Turner "Haywire" Album Preview". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
  3. Boldt, Blake (2010-01-20). "Josh Turner is ready to go 'Haywire'". Engine 145. Retrieved 2010-02-09.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Thanki, Juli (2010-02-05). "Album Review: Josh Turner - Haywire". Engine 145. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  5. Fogle, Adam (2010-01-25). "SC's Josh Turner to release 4th album". The Palmetto Scoop. Archived from the original on 2010-01-30. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Caulfield, Keith (2010-02-17). "Sade's 'Soldier' Sizzles At No. 1 On Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  7. Bjorke, Matt (2010-10-20). "Five of the Top 10 Albums in USA Belong to Country Music Artists". roughstock.com. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Jurek, Thom. "Haywire - Josh Turner". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  9. Jessen, Wade (2010-02-05). "Josh Turner, "Haywire"". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  10. 10.0 10.1 Phillips, Jessica (2010-02-15). "Haywire : Josh Turner Country Weekly Magazine". Country Weekly. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  11. Pastorek, Whitney (2010-02-09), Haywire, Entertainment Weekly, retrieved 2010-12-05
  12. 12.0 12.1 Heaton, Dave (2010-03-10). "Josh Turner: Haywire". PopMatters. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Bjorke, Matt (2010-02-08). "Josh Turner - Haywire". Roughstock. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  14. 14.0 14.1 Keefe, Jonathan (2010-02-06). "Josh Turner: Haywire". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  15. 15.0 15.1 "Haywire Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
  16. "Best of 2010 - Billboard Top 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  17. "Best of 2010 - Top Country Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
  18. Why Don't We Just Dance - Josh Turner, Billboard, retrieved 2010-12-05
  19. All Over Me - Josh Turner, Billboard, retrieved 2010-12-05
  20. I Wouldn't Be a Man - Josh Turner, Billboard, retrieved 2010-12-05