''Diamonds & Dirt'' is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter

Rodney Crowell Rodney Crowell (born August 7, 1950) is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles on Hot Country Songs, all from his 1988 album '' Diamonds & Dirt''. ...

, released in 1988. His fifth studio album, it was his second release for

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. The album was his most successful, achieving

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

gold certification. All five of its singles reached Number One on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' country charts, setting a record for the most Number One hits from a country album. In order of release, they were "It's Such a Small World" (a duet with then-wife Rosanne Cash), "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried", "She's Crazy for Leavin", "After All This Time", and a cover of Buck Owens' "Above and Beyond (The Call of Love)". The album was reissued by Columbia Legacy, with three bonus tracks.

Production

''Diamonds & Dirt'' was Crowell's first album recorded entirely in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

and the first aimed squarely at a country audience.Anon. "Country concert series opens soon." Aiken (SC) Standard 2 Apr 1989: 11 It was produced by Tony Brown and Crowell.

Critical reception

The Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' called the album "a stirring treatise on the quest for understanding and balance in a relationship." '' No Depression'' wrote that the songs are "played by a band that, in its day, rivaled the Desert Rose Band and Dwight Yoakam’s backing unit as the tightest pseudo-honky-tonkers in country music." Reviewing the reissue, ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' wrote that the album "still sounds pretty good ... especially in light of the sort of unnatural, reverb-laden late-'80s production that makes everything go 'poof'." ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

'' deemed it "a traditional country record n which Crowellends ups rocking harder than ever before."

Track listing

All songs written by Rodney Crowell except where noted. #"Crazy Baby" (Rodney Crowell, Will Jennings) – 3:06 #" I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried" – 3:17 #" She's Crazy for Leavin'" (Crowell, Guy Clark) – 3:16 #" After All This Time" – 4:28 #"I Know You're Married" – 3:31 #" Above and Beyond" ( Harlan Howard) – 2:28 #" It's Such a Small World" – 3:21 #*duet with Rosanne Cash #"I Didn't Know I Could Lose You" – 3:21 #"Brand New Rag" (Crowell, Jennings) – 3:07 #"The Last Waltz" (Crowell, Jennings) – 5:21 #"I've Got My Pride but I Got to Feed the Kids" – 2:28^A #"It's Lonely Out" – 3:40^A #"Lies Don't Lie" – 3:04^A ^AOnly included on Legacy re-issue.

Personnel

* Eddie Bayers – drums * Barry Beckett – piano, organ * Rosanne Cash – background vocals *Rodney Crowell – lead vocals, acoustic guitar *Glen Duncan – fiddle * Paul Franklin –

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 ...

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter and musician. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman of the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s and as a solo artist b ...

– background vocals * Russ Kunkel – drums * Mark O'Connor – fiddle,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

* Michael Rhodes – bass guitar *Vince Santoro – background vocals *Preston Smith – harmonica, background vocals * Steuart Smith – electric guitar

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diamonds and Dirt 1988 albums Rodney Crowell albums Columbia Records albums Albums produced by Tony Brown (record producer) Albums produced by Rodney Crowell