Hemingway's Whiskey

Hemingway's Whiskey is the thirteenth studio album by American country music artist Kenny Chesney. It was released on September 28, 2010 as his last studio album for BNA Records. This is Kenny Chesney's last studio album since signing contracts with BNA Records in 1995, with the release of All I Need to Know. This album received generally positive reviews from music critics. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling approximately 183,000 copies during its first week. It has also been certified platinum by the RIAA. The album produced five singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart between 2010 and 2011. Four of those singles "The Boys of Fall", "Somewhere with You", "Live a Little", and "Reality" all reached number one, while "You and Tequila" went to number three.

Hemingway's Whiskey
Studio album by Kenny Chesney
Released	September 28, 2010
Recorded	2010
Genre	Country
Length	43:58
Label	BNA
Producer	Buddy Cannon Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney chronology
Greatest Hits II (2009) Hemingway's Whiskey (2010) Welcome to the Fishbowl (2012)
Singles from Hemingway's Whiskey
"The Boys of Fall" Released: July 12, 2010 "Somewhere with You" Released: November 8, 2010 "Live a Little" Released: March 14, 2011 "You and Tequila" Released: May 31, 2011 "Reality" Released: October 3, 2011

Background

In an interview with The Boot, Chesney explained the reasoning behind the title of his new release, citing the influence of Guy Clark, saying "I was sitting in my truck and a friend had given me Guy's album, which had just come out. It's a song that talks about living life to its fullest, being a man about your responsibilities and not compromising. As soon as I heard it, I knew I had to cut it -- and call the album that -- because it says everything about the way you live your life, and what life can be if you refuse to buy into limits, which, as someone who's read all his books, is everything Hemingway's novels revolved around."[1]

In a CMT blog, Chesney also commented saying that he wanted the album to be "something more " than its predecessor, Lucky Old Sun: "I came to town to write songs, to make records, to create something that spoke about how I lived, and the people who I knew who were just like me and my friends lived."[2]

"Small Y'all", a duet with George Jones, was originally recorded by Randy Travis on his 1994 album This Is Me and then by Jones on his 1998 album It Don't Get Any Better Than This.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Engine 145	[3]
About.com	[4]
AllMusic	[5]
American Songwriter	[6]
Chicago Tribune	[7]
The Dallas Morning News	B+[8]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
Roughstock	[11]
USA Today	[12]

Upon its release, Hemingway’s Whiskey received generally positive reviews from most music critics.[13] 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".[13] Jon Caramanica with The New York Times called the album "darker than his previous work", saying that "on Hemingway's Whiskey, though, his voice sounds smoother and deeper than usual, and he's using it to more potent effect".[14] He also preferred Chesney's version of the title track over Guy Clark's, saying that "[h]is 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."[14] Matt Bjorke with Roughstock gave it a four-star rating and called the album " a record that finds Kenny Chesney feeling recharged," and one "that runs the gamut of human emotion and paints stories the way Hemingway’s novels did."[11] Stephen Thomas Erlewine with AllMusic called the album "burnished and classy" and admired the amount of 'slow' material on the album.[5] American Songwriter critic Rick Moore gave it a four star rating. Describing it as "a solid effort", he commented on the songwriting of the album, saying it "pays homage to Nashville’s songwriting community".[6] At Rolling Stone, Jody Rosen found that "Chesney serves up the usual carpe diem anthems", however he noted that "when the mood turns serious, he slips: He can't muster the gravitas to pull off the title track, a maudlin tribute to Ernest Hemingway."[10] In addition, Rosen concluded with "as long as the weather's sunny and the blender's whirring, Chesney's fine company."[10] Robert Silva of About.com called the album a "solid effort".[4] At USA Today, Brian Mansfield proclaimed the effort to be "finely aged country".[12]

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.[15] Blake Boldt with Engine 145 gave it a 3½ out of 5 star rating, calling Chesney "the hillbilly king of the Caribbean." He said "with [the album] he maintains that image and proves that he can still let loose occasionally."[3] Mario Tarradell with The Dallas Morning News called Hemingway's Whiskey his "first exceptionally good CD since 2002's No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems.[8] Greg Victor with Parcbench called the CD his "first extraordinary album since No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems" He called the tracks "a little more grown-up than usual", and gave the album a 3½ out of 5 star rating.[16] 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."[17] 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."[18] 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."[18]

Commercial performance

Hemingway's Whiskey debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 183,000 copies in its first week. This was Chesney's sixth album to reach number one, thus ranking him second among country artists with the most number one albums, only behind Garth Brooks.[19] In its second week, the album dropped to number two on the Billboard 200, selling an additional 65,000 copies.[20] In its third week, it fell to number six on the chart with 40,000 copies sold.[21] In its fourth week, the album plummeted to number thirteen upon selling 26,126 copies.[22] As of July 2, 2011, the album has sold 850,706 copies in the United States.[23] On August 25, 2011, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over a million copies in the United States.[24]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"The Boys of Fall"	Casey Beathard Dave Turnbull	6:32
2.	"Live a Little"	Shane Minor David Lee Murphy	3:39
3.	"Coastal"	Michael Mobley Wendell Mobley Neil Thrasher	2:40
4.	"You and Tequila" (featuring Grace Potter)	Matraca Berg Deana Carter	4:03
5.	"Seven Days"	Lee Brice Billy Montana Jon Stone	4:20
6.	"Small Y'all" (featuring George Jones)	Bobby Braddock	2:54
7.	"Where I Grew Up"	Ashley Gorley Kelley Lovelace Thrasher	3:39
8.	"Reality"	Kenny Chesney Brett James	3:31
9.	"Round and Round"	Scotty Emerick Paul Overstreet Even Stevens	5:05
10.	"Somewhere with You"	J. T. Harding Shane McAnally	4:04
11.	"Hemingway's Whiskey"	Guy Clark Ray Stephenson Joe Leathers	3:28
Total length:			43:58

Deluxe Edition[25]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
12.	"Ain't Ever Going Back Again"	Chesney James	2:57
13.	"I Didn't Get Here Alone"	Chesney Michael Dulaney Thrasher	4:29
14.	"DVD"		30:00

Personnel

Additional musicians Wyatt Beard – background Vocals Mark Beckett – drums Pat Buchanan – acoustic guitar, electric guitar Buddy Cannon – background vocals Melonie Cannon – background vocals Kenny Chesney – lead vocals Eric Darken – percussion Scotty Emerick – background cocals Larry Franklin – fiddle Sonny Garrish – steel guitar Kenny Greenberg – acoustic guitar, electric Guitar Rob Hajacos – fiddle John Hobbs – keyboards, piano George Jones – duet vocals on "Small Y'all" Paul Leim – drums, percussion Randy McCormick – keyboards Paul Overstreet – background Vocals Larry Paxton – bass guitar, tic tac bass Grace Potter – background vocals on "You and Tequila" Mickey Raphael – harmonica John Wesley Ryles – background Vocals Jeff Taylor – accordion Neil Thrasher – background Vocals John Willis – acoustic guitar, gut string guitar, mandolin

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 Cannon – producer Butch Carr – engineer Tony Castle – engineer Kenny Chesney – 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 E engineer Scott McDaniel – 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

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2010) Peak position Australian Albums Chart[26] 73 Australian Country Chart[26] 6 Canadian Albums Chart[27] 10 Norwegian Albums Chart[28] 37 US Billboard 200[27] 1 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[27] 1 US Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[27] 24

Year-end charts Chart (2010) US Billboard 200 75[29] US Top Country Albums (Billboard) 12[30] Chart (2011) US Billboard 200 42[31] Singles Year Single Peak chart positions Certifications (sales threshold) US Country US US AC CAN 2010 "The Boys of Fall" 1 18 — 77 * US: Platinum[32] "Somewhere with You" 1 31 16 52 * US: Platinum[33] 2011 "Live a Little" 1 61 — 78 "You and Tequila" (featuring Grace Potter) 3 33 — 62 * US: Platinum[34] "Reality" 1 62 — 77 "—" denotes releases that did not chart

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[35]	Platinum	1,000,000^^
^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. Betts, Stephen L. (2010-06-22). "Kenny Chesney Takes a Shot of 'Hemingway's Whiskey' - The Boot". The Boot. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
2. Bonaguro, Alison (2010-06-24). "Kenny Chesney Inspired by Guy Clark, Hemingway". CMT. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
3. Boldt, Blake (2010-09-28). "Album Review: Kenny Chesney – Hemingway's Whiskey". Engine 145. Archived from the original on 2014-12-18. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
4. Silva, Robert (2010-09-10). "Kenny Chesney - 'Hemingway's Whiskey' Album Review". About.com. Archived from the original on 2013-04-14. Retrieved 2013-05-06.
5. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Hemingway's Whiskey - Kenny Chesney - Allmusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
6. Moore, Rick (2010-11-05), Kenny Chesney: Hemingway's Whiskey, American Songwriter, retrieved 2010-11-09
7. Kot, Greg (2010-09-26). "Turn It Up: Album review: Kenny Chesney, 'Hemingway's Whiskey'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
8. Tarradell, Mario (2010-09-27). "CD review: Kenny Chesney delivers on 'Hemingway's Whiskey'". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
9. Pastorek, Whitney (2010-09-22). "Hemingway's Whiskey Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
10. Rosen, Jody (2013-05-06). "Hemingway's Whiskey". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
11. Bjorke, Matt (2010-09-23). "Kenny Chesney - Hemingway's Whiskey". Roughstock. Archived from the original on 2010-10-01. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
12. Mansfield, Brian (2010-09-28). "Listen Up: Kenny Chesney is wiser on 'Whiskey'". USA Today. Retrieved 2013-05-06.
13. "Hemingway's Whiskey Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
14. Caramanica, Jon (2010-09-26). "Critics' Choice - New CDs From Kenny Chesney, Jane Monheit, Jason Adasiewicz - Review - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
15. Friskics-Warren, Bill (2010-09-28). "Click Track - Album review: Kenny Chesney, "Hemingway's Whiskey"". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
16. Victor, Greg (2010-09-29). "Kenny Chesney – "Hemingway's Whiskey" (Music Review)". Parcbench. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
17. Munro, Stuart (2010-09-27). "Kenny Chesney, 'Hemingway's Whiskey' - The Boston Globe". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
18. Phillips, Jessica (2010-09-24). "Hemingway's Whiskey : Kenny Chesney - Reviews - Country Weekly Magazine". Country Weekly. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
19. Caulfield, Keith (2010-10-16). "Kenny Chesney Claims Sixth No. 1 Album with 'Hemingway's Whiskey'". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
20. Caulfield, Keith (2010-10-13). "Toby Keith's 'Gun' Fires at No. 1 on Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-10-13.
21. Caulfield, Keith (2010-10-20). "Lil Wayne's 'Human Being' Leaps 16-1 on Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-10-20.
22. Bjorke, Matt (2010-10-27). "The Incredible Machine Tops The Albums Sales Charts This Week". Roughstock. Archived from the original on 2010-10-29. Retrieved 2010-10-30.
23. "Father's Day Brings Strong Sales For Country Aritsts". Roughstock. 2011-06-22. Archived from the original on 2012-10-07. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
25. "CMT : News : Kenny Chesney Plans Deluxe CD/DVD Edition of Hemingway's Whiskey". CMT. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
26. "Chartifacts - Week Commencing: 11th October 2010". Australian Recording Industry Association. 2010-10-11. Archived from the original on 2010-10-12. Retrieved 2010-10-12.
27. "Hemingway's Whiskey - Kenny Chesney". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-10-07.
28. "Kenny Chesney – Hemingway's Whiskey – World Charts". Ultratop 50. Hung Medien. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
29. "Best of 2010 - Billboard Top 200". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
30. "Best of 2010 - Top Country Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
31. "Billboard 200 Year-End 2011". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2012-05-04.
32. "American single certifications – Kenny Chesney – The Boys of Fall". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
33. "American single certifications – Kenny Chesney – Somewhere with You". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
34. "American single certifications – Kenny Chesney – You and Tequila". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
35. "American album certifications – Kenny Chesney – Hemingway's Whiskey". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.