''Cradlesong'' is the second solo studio album by the

Matchbox Twenty Matchbox Twenty (also known as Matchbox 20 and MB20) is an American rock band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995. The group currently consists of Rob Thomas (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Brian Yale (bass guitar), Paul Doucette (drums, ...

lead-singer Rob Thomas, released on June 30, 2009 by Atlantic Records. The album's first single " Her Diamonds" was a success around the world, while reaching number three in Australia and topping the ''Billboard'' Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks chart, meanwhile other singles " Someday" and "

Mockingbird Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the family Mimidae. They are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. ...

" attained success on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

charts. The album received mostly positive reviews, with the single "Her Diamonds", a song written about his wife and her illness, receiving praise by many reviewers. The album takes a pop rock feel with a variety of sounds mixed by longtime producer

Matt Serletic Matthew Michael Serletic II (born 1970 or 1971) is an American record producer, songwriter, and music executive. Career As a teenager, Serletic joined a band with members of Collective Soul, a group for which he would later produce. Serletic h ...

who is praised for smooth production of the album. It debuted on the US ''Billboard'' 200 at number #3 selling 122,000 copies, while reaching top-ten positions in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and Australia.

Background

On September 15, 2008, Thomas told Billboard.com that he's "probably about 80 percent done" with his second solo record, tentatively titled ''Cradle Songs'' at the time. Thomas characterized the album as "the usual mish-mosh of styles, but hopefully just holding true to a bunch of good songs." with the article also mentioning that the record will nonetheless feature several tracks that "take a more global, rhythmic direction after working with South American and African percussionists." Thomas explained one such experiment: On February 25, 2009, it was announced via

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that the album's then-supposed title was ''Cradle Song''. It was mentioned, in addition, that there "are at least four hot singles awaiting radio play including 'Her Diamonds' and 'Someday.'" On the same day, Thomas announced on his official website that he has been "back and forth to

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quite a bit, mixing the new record." However, he denied the album will be released in May, mentioning it "looks like it won't be coming until the last week of June or the first week of July." On March 2, 2009, Clark Collis of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' interviewed Thomas, where he confirmed he has since shelved his initial efforts to evoke ''The Rhythm of the Saints'', and claimed the album is scheduled for a June 30 release. Having played half the forthcoming album to ''Entertainment Weekly'', it was reported that many of the lyrics on ''Cradle Song'' center around troubled relationships, and three more song titles were revealed: "Meltdown" (described as " INXS-esque

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and c ...

" that stood out as "a possible first single"), "Fire on the Mountain" (an "epic, tribal drum-driven" track inspired by

Dave Eggers Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He wrote the 2000 best-selling memoir ''A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius''. Eggers is also the founder of ''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', a lite ...

' book " What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng") and the melancholic country-leaning "Getting Late" (suggested as the "set's likely closer" and what Thomas described as "a little ditty about death." in the vein of

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the la ...

and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album '' Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (1 ...

.) The proper magazine article added that "Someday" is a power ballad with a tinkling piano introduction reminiscent of 1980s band

Damn Yankees ''Damn Yankees'' is a 1955 musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop, music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., dur ...

. On March 4, 2009, Thomas clarified on the message board of his official web-site that the album's title will be one word: "''cradlesong''". He announced that the lead single for this album had been chosen and a director is being sought after for the video. Thomas also announced that, at the time, he had mixed eleven songs so far and had recorded a total of twenty-seven. He confirmed a total of twelve songs will make the final cut, but added "the first pressing will have an extra 3 on it as well" and "later in the year i'm going to try to find a way to release the others, but i'll keep popping them out here and there at shows." On March 6, 2009, minute-long snippets of the tracks "Meltdown" and "Her Diamonds" were temporarily featured on the front page of his official site. Despite being removed from the website, they are presently being featured in a RateTheMusic survey. On April 27, 2009 the first single "Her Diamonds" was released on iTunes. The song is about his wife Marisol and her longtime illness. This was followed by " Give Me the Meltdown" on June 9, " Someday" on June 16, and "Fire on the Mountain" on June 23. All four singles were released before the album's release date on June 30, 2009. "Someday" featured in promo spots for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's 2009 fall season of ''

The Biggest Loser ''The Biggest Loser'' is a reality television format which started with the American TV show '' The Biggest Loser'' in 2004. The show centers on overweight and obese contestants attempting to lose the most weight; the winner receives a cash priz ...

''. Rob kicked off his

Cradlesong Tour The Cradlesong Tour (stylized cradlesong tour) was the second solo concert tour by Matchbox Twenty frontman Rob Thomas. The tour supported his second studio album, '' Cradlesong'' and the digital EP, ''Someday EP''. The tour primarily visited N ...

in Hollywood, Florida starting on September 23, 2009 at the

Hard Rock Live The Hard Rock Live is an indoor amphitheater at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The theater opened on October 25, 2019, as part of a $1.5 billion property-wide expansion, which also included a new 450-foot guitar ...

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 73, based on 7 reviews, which indicates "generally positive reviews". '' Billboard'' review said that "Thomas returns with a soaring collection of infectious pop songs that are destined for heavy rotation in 2009 and beyond".

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 databa ...

also gave a positive review: "This dogged sense of purpose does result in a tighter, better record than Something to Be and even it's not a lot of fun, it's not meant to be: it's big music about big issues, even inflating personal issues to the universal". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' stated that "There is plenty of unexpected texture to keep your ears engaged". ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' stated that "Thomas presides over a sleekly produced, constantly undulating mixture of sounds that seems designed to appeal to all of the people all of the time". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' review considered ''Cradlesong'' his second persistently polite, numbingly polished solo album". The ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' stated, "The

frontman's second solo album showcases all of his admirable middle-of-the-road gifts and offers a glimpse of the possibilities when he explores the more extreme edges".

Chart performance

''Cradlesong'' made a positive debut on the ''Billboard'' 200 at number #3, selling 122,000 copies while "Her Diamonds" ascended up the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 to a peak of 23. As of July 12, 2015, ''Cradlesong'' has sold 493,000 copies in the

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Track listing

Bonus DVD

A deluxe edition is available exclusively from Target stores in the US. Included is the original standard studio album, as well as a bonus DVD which includes interviews, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the album photo shoot and video shoot for "Her Diamonds". It can be purchased in said stores or online via Target's website.

Personnel

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic compression for molding mixes that play wel ...

– mixing *

Rusty Anderson Rusty Anderson is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who is best known for his work as the lead guitarist for Paul McCartney's touring band though he has worked with an extensive list of artists in addition to his own solo career. Ca ...

– acoustic guitar,

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 gu ...

* Alex Arias – assistant engineer,

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...

* Keith Armstrong – assistant engineer *

Kenny Aronoff Kenny Aronoff (born March 7, 1953) is an American session drummer. Early life Aronoff grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts He developed an interest in music at an early age and gravitated to the drums as "drumming was one hundred percent ener ...

– drums * Stevie Blacke –

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Michael Bland Michael Bland (born March 14, 1969) is an American musician best known as a drummer for Prince starting in 1989. He was with Prince during The New Power Generation era and played with him live and on albums for seven years. From 1995 to 1997, ...

– drums, snaps * Marcus Brown –

African drums Sub-Saharan African music is characterised by a "strong rhythmic interest" that exhibits common characteristics in all regions of this vast territory, so that Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980) has described the many local approaches as consti ...

* Sherree Ford Brown –

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 us ...

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac is an American session musician and producer. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in nearby Willowick, Ohio. He has been a Nashville-based musician since 1992. He previously owned 2nd Gear, a used music consignment shop in So ...

– acoustic guitar,

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 ...

beat box Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.

, snaps * Lenny Castro –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

* Jason Dale – assistant engineer * Jack Daley – bass guitar * Mark Dobson – percussion, engineer, Pro Tools * Keith Fiddmont –

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

* Sharlotte Gibson – background vocals * Soro Gnenemon – African drums * James Grundler – background vocals * Sean Hurley – bass guitar * Kim Hutchcroft – saxophone *

Victor Indrizzo Victor Indrizzo (born September 23, 1967) is an American session musician, primarily known for playing the drums, as well as a songwriter and producer. Indrizzo was born in Freeport, Long Island, New York. He has toured, recorded and worked wit ...

– percussion, drums * Nik Karpen – assistant engineer *

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America". Howard Sounes. ''Dow ...

– drums * Reverend Shuichi Tom Kurai – Taiko drums *

Abe Laboriel Jr. Abraham Laboriel Jr. (born March 23, 1971) is an American session drummer. He is the son of Mexican bass guitarist Abraham Laboriel, nephew of Mexican rocker Johnny Laboriel, and brother of record producer, songwriter, and film composer Mateo ...

– drums * Michael Landau – electric guitar * Mike Leisz – engineer, assistant engineer, Pro Tools * Ria Lewerke – art direction, design, arrangement, snaps, art conception * Michael Lippman –

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includ ...

* Bob Ludwig – mastering * Andrew McPherson – photography * Norman Moore – art direction,

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

* Taylor Moyer – Taiko drums * Justin Niebank – engineer * Alfred Ortiz – Taiko drums * Ben Peeler –

Bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

, steel guitar,

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, Lap steel guitar *

Tim Pierce Tim Pierce (born 1959 in Albuquerque) is an American session guitarist. He has worked for artists such as Joe Cocker, Crowded House, Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Jackson, Beth Hart, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper, Johnny Hallyday, Phil Collins, and the ...

– acoustic guitar, electric guitar, snaps * Louise Robinson –

illustrations An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, video ...

* Andrew Schubert – Pro Tools * Dean Serletic – production coordination *

– piano, arranger,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

, hammond organ, programming, background vocals, producer, vocal arrangement, horn arrangements, snaps *

Lee Sklar Leland Bruce Sklar (born May 28, 1947) is an American bassist and session musician. Sklar rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coaleced into a group in its own right, The Section. This group of musicians so fre ...

– bass guitar *

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass guitar. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the po ...

– bass guitar * Robert Smith – African drums * Dino Soldo – saxophone * Magatte Sow – African drums * Dejan Stanjevic – engineer, assistant engineer * Jordan Stilwell – assistant engineer * Jess Sutcliffe – engineer * Shari Sutcliffe – contractor *

Bryan Sutton Bryan Sutton is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicking acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and electric guitar. He also sings and writes songs. Biography Early career Sutton's grandfather and ...

– acoustic guitar, mandolin * Marisol Thomas – background vocals, co-arranger * Rob Thomas – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards,

Tom-Tom A tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, though floor toms can go as l ...

, background vocals * Lee Thornburg –

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

* Adam Tilzer – assistant engineer * Robyn Troup – background vocals * Jose Vergara – African drums *

Butch Walker Bradley Glenn "Butch" Walker (born November 14, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was the lead guitarist for the glam metal band SouthGang from the late 1980s to early 1990s as well as the lead vocalist ...

– background vocals *

Patrick Warren Patrick Warren (born March 26, 1957) is an American musician, composer, and record producer. He is known for his work on the films ''Magnolia'', ''Fifty Shades of Grey'', '' Boogie Nights'' and ''Red State'', as well as the television series ' ...

– piano, keyboards, hammond organ,

chamberlin The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by the American inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. There are several ...

pump organ The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...

, string arrangements, snaps * Hal Winer – engineer, assistant engineer * Patrick Woodward – assistant engineer, Pro Tools

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

RobThomasMusic.com
— Rob Thomas's official website {{Authority control 2009 albums Rob Thomas (musician) albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Matt Serletic