''Brett James'' is the self-titled debut album of American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer-songwriter

Brett James Brett James Cornelius (born June 5, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer based in Nashville. James' compositions have been credited on 494 recordings by a wide variety of artists. Signed to Career Records ( ...

. It was released on September 12, 1995 via

Arista Nashville Arista Nashville is an American record label that serves as a wholly owned division of Sony Music, operated under the Sony Music Nashville division. Founded in 1989, the label specializes in country music artists, including Alan Jackson, Brooks & ...

's Career Records division. The singles "Female Bonding", "If I Could See Love" and "Worth the Fall" all entered the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts.

Critical reception

An uncredited review from

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave ''Brett James'' three stars out of five, calling it "a hard-rocking set of original songs that owe a great debt to honky tonk and traditional country." Richard McVey II of ''

Country Standard Time ''Country Standard Time'' is a website dedicated to country music and related genres including Americana, bluegrass and rockabilly. It provides news and musical reviews pertaining to the genre. It was established in 1993 by Jeffrey B. Remz as a p ...

'' described the album as "pretty much your standard country record with average material and average vocals that leads to an average review of an average artist."

Track listing

*All songs written or co-written by Brett James; co-writers indicated in parentheses. #"Wake Up and Smell the Whiskey" (

Dean Miller Roger Dean Miller Jr. (born October 15, 1965) is an American country singer, known professionally as Dean Miller. He is the son of Roger Miller, a country pop artist who had several hit singles from the 1960s through the 1980s. Dean Miller has ...

) – 2:52 #"Many Tears Ago" (Hunter Armistead) – 3:53 #"Worth the Fall" – 3:00 #"She's Killin' Me" (

Jennifer Kimball Jennifer Kimball is a singer and songwriter who formed the folk duo The Story with Jonatha Brooke. Career Jennifer Kimball and Amherst College friend Jonatha Brooke began playing music together in the 1980s. They performed regularly during the ...

) – 4:04 #"If I Could See Love" (Steve Bogard) – 3:02 #"Female Bonding" – 3:18 #"Dark Side of the Moon" – 4:12 #"Just Like We Never Happened" – 3:28 #"Thrill of the Chase" – 2:43 #"The Way That You Love" – 3:50 #"Enjoy the Ride" – 3:37

Singles

Personnel

;Musicians *

Bruce Bouton Bruce Bouton is an American guitarist, session musician, producer, and songwriter. His pedal steel guitar has been featured on many country music recordings, and he helped reintroduce the pedal steel guitar to the forefront of the Nashville sound ...

–

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

* Paul Franklin – steel guitar *Rob Hajacos –

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004, and 2016 at the Co ...

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

*Jeff King – electric guitar *Chris Leuzinger – electric guitar * Chris Rodriguez –

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

Matt Rollings Matt Rollings is a Grammy Award-winning American composer, keyboard player and record producer. Known mainly for playing in Lyle Lovett's Large Band, Rollings has worked with many artists, not all country. Matt won the 'Best Traditional Pop Voca ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

John Wesley Ryles John Wesley Ryles (born December 2, 1950) is an American country music artist. Ryles recorded a string of hit country songs, beginning in 1968 when he was still a teenager, and continuing through the 1980s. He no longer records as a headline ar ...

– background vocals *

Judson Spence Judson Spence (born 29 April 1965, Pascagoula, Mississippi) is an American pop music singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist based in Nashville, Tennessee. He originally gained fame when he released his eponymously titled debut solo effort on A ...

– background vocals *

Biff Watson Fletcher Bangs "Biff" Watson is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. His musicianship has been a part of recording sessions for many artists. Biography Early years Raised in Chatham, Virginia, Watson learned how to play guitar at a ...

–

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

*Dennis Wilson – background vocals *

Lonnie Wilson Lonnie Wilson is an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer, known primarily for his work in country music. Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Wilson was originally the lead singer of the band Bandana, which charted ten singles on the Hot C ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Glenn Worf Glenn Worf is an American bassist known mainly for his work as a session musician. He has recorded with many major country music acts and also tours with Mark Knopfler. Early life and education Worf was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Madis ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

;Technical *Steve Bogard – producer *Mike Clute – producer, recording, mixing *Glenn Meadows – mastering

References

{{Authority control 1995 debut albums Arista Records albums Brett James albums