''Go West Young Man'' is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter
Michael W. Smith
Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when " Place in This World" hit No. 6 on the '' ...
, released on October 1, 1990 through
Reunion
Reunion may refer to:
* Class reunion
* Family reunion
Reunion, Réunion, Re-union, Reunions or The Reunion may also refer to:
Places
* Réunion, a French overseas department and island in the Indian Ocean
* Reunion, Commerce City, Colorado, U ...
. This record was his first attempt at mainstream success. It was successful, as it scored a
''Billboard'' Hot 100 top ten hit with "
Place in This World
"Place in This World" is a song by American musician Michael W. Smith, released in 1991 as the second single from his 1990 album '' Go West Young Man''. The song became his biggest success in mainstream music when it hit No. 6 on the ''Billboard ...
", which peaked at number 6 on the ''Billboard Hot'' 100 chart in 1991.
Background
Michael W. Smith most notably performed "Place in This World", which peaked at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 3 on ''Cash Box''
U.S. Cash Box Chart Entries – 1990 – 1996, page 29
/ref> (#5 AC), and "For You" on various shows, for example ''The Arsenio Hall Show
''The Arsenio Hall Show'' is an American syndicated late-night talk show created by and starring comedian Arsenio Hall.
There have been two different incarnations of ''The Arsenio Hall Show''. The original series premiered on January 3, 1989, ...
'', to promote the album. The record was a mainstream crossover success for Smith and became a platinum album
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
. Videos were produced for both singles released and received much radio airplay. Several of the songs from this album made it into his greatest hits album, '' The First Decade (1983-1993)''.
Track listing
Personnel
* Michael W. Smith
Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when " Place in This World" hit No. 6 on the '' ...
– lead vocals, keyboards, keyboard programming, backing vocals (2), acoustic piano (9)
* Mike Lawler
Michael Vincent Lawler (born September 9, 1986) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 17th congressional district since 2023. From 2021 to 2022, he was a Republican member of the New York State Assembly fro ...
– additional keyboards (1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 10), Hammond B3 organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs ...
(5), programming (6, 10), synth bass (6, 10), drums (6, 10), percussion (6, 10), synth solo (7), keyboard programming
* Bryan Lenox – additional keyboards (1, 7), percussion (2, 3, 4, 6–10), drums (3, 4, 6, 7, 9), keyboard programming
* Trace Scarborough – keyboard programming
* 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 ...
– guitar (1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9)
* Jerry McPherson – guitar (4, 5, 7, 9)
* Will Owsley – guitar (4), guitar solo (4)
* Chris Rodriguez – backing vocals (1, 2, 5, 10), guitar (10)
* Tommy Sims
Tommy Sims is an American bassist, songwriter, record producer and bandleader.
Music career
From 1987 to 1989 Sims was the bassist for the Christian rock band White Heart, which he left to become a studio musician and producer. During 1992 ...
– bass guitar (1, 2, 5, 8), synth bass (4), stick bass (9), keyboard programming
* Matt Pierson – synth bass (3), fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...
(7)
* Paul Leim
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
*Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
* Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
– drums (1, 2, 5, 8), percussion (2)
* Terry McMillan
Terry McMillan (born October 18, 1951) is an American novelist. Her work centers around the experiences of Black women in the United States.
Early life
McMillan was born in Port Huron, Michigan. She received a B.A. in journalism in 1977 from ...
– percussion (1–9)
* Mark Douthit – saxophones (1, 3, 4)
* Sam Levine – saxophones (2, 6)
* Barry Green – trombone (1–4), trombone solo (4)
* Chris McDonald – horn arrangements (1–4, 6), trombone (6)
* Mike Haynes – trumpet (1, 3, 4, 6)
* George Tidwell – trumpet (1)
* The Nashville String Machine
Nashville String Machine is a musical collective comprising session musicians, based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Members of the group have been credited on records dating from 1972 to the present, although the group was formally formed ...
– strings (3, 8, 9)
* Ronn Huff – string arrangements and conductor (3, 8, 9)
* Carl Gorodetzsky – concertmaster and contractor (3, 8, 9)
* Chris Eaton – backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 7)
* Wayne Kirkpatrick
Wayne Kirkpatrick (born c. 1961) is an American songwriter and musician born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana who now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated from Baton Rouge Magnet High School in 1979. His younger brother is American screenwriter ...
– backing vocals (1, 2, 4, 7, 10)
* Jimmy Marks – backing vocals (2)
* Chris Harris – backing vocals (4, 6, 7, 10)
* Vince Ebo – backing vocals (5)
* Vicki Hampton – backing vocals (5, 6)
* The American Boychoir – choir (9); Nathan Wadley – soloist
* Africa Children's Choir (6); arranged by Michael W. Smith and Ronn Huff; Choir director – Gertrude Kafeero; Tour leader – Darla Peters
Production
* Producer – Michael W. Smith
* Co-producer – Bryan Lenox
* Vocal Producer – Wayne Kirkpatrick
* Executive Producers – Michael Blanton and Terry Hemmings
* Engineers – Bill Deaton, Pasquale Delvillagio, Pat Hutchinson, Gregg Jampol, Patrick Kelly, Brent King, Bryan Lenox, Don Martin, Dave Murphy, Rick Rowe, Bret Teegarden, and Bill Whittington.
* Mixed by Humberto Gatica
Humberto Gatica is a Chilean-born American recording engineer, mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with Celine Dion, Chicago, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. Gatica's inter ...
* Mix Assistants – David Parker and Alejandro Rodriguez
* Recorded at BMG Studio (New York, NY
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
); Sound-trek Studio (Kansas City, MO
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
); Deer Valley Studio (Franklin, TN
Franklin is a city in and county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020, its population was 83,454. ...
); Treasure Isle, OmniSound, The Benson Studio, Digital Recorders and Sixteenth Avenue Sound (Nashville, TN
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
).
* Mixed at Sixteenth Avenue Sound (Nashville, TN).
* Edited by Nick Palladino at Scene Three, Inc. (Nashville, TN).
* Mastered by Stephen Marcussen
Stephen Marcussen is the founder and chief mastering engineer at Marcussen Mastering in Hollywood, California, United States. He has been mastering music since 1979.
Biography
Marcussen's introduction to music recording happened in 1976 when, at ...
at Precision Disc Mastering (Hollywood, CA
Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...
).
* Art Direction – Buddy Jackson and Deb Rhodes
* Design – Beth Middleworth for Jackson Design
* Photography – Mark Tucker
* Styling – Mary Jane Starke
* A&R – Don Donahue and Richard Headen
* MWS personal assistant – Elizabeth Leighton Jones
Certifications
Charts
Accolades
GMA Dove Awards
A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...
References
{{Authority control
Michael W. Smith albums
1990 albums
Reunion Records albums