''If That Ain't Country'' is the debut studio album by 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, ...

artist Anthony Smith. It was released in 2002 on

Mercury Nashville Records Universal Music Group Nashville is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. Some of the labels in this group include MCA Nashville Records, Mercury Nashville Records, Lost Highway Records, Capitol Records Nashville and EMI Records Nashv ...

as his only studio album. Three singles were released from it: the title track, followed by "John J. Blanchard" and "Half a Man". Respectively, these reached 26, 40 and 40 on 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.

Content

Two of this album's tracks were previously recorded by other artists: "John J. Blanchard" by

Tommy Shane Steiner Tommy Shane Steiner (born October 9, 1973) is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 2001 with the single " What If She's an Angel", which reached a peak of No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts. It w ...

on his 2002 debut album ''

Then Came the Night ''Then Came the Night'' is the only studio album of American country music artist Tommy Shane Steiner, released in 2002 on RCA Nashville. It features the single "What If She's an Angel", a number 2 hit for Steiner on the Hot Country Songs charts i ...

'' under the title "The Mind of John J. Blanchard", and "What Brothers Do" by

Confederate Railroad Confederate Railroad (originally known as "Confederate RR") is an American country rock band founded in 1987 in Marietta, Georgia, by Danny Shirley (lead vocals), Michael Lamb (lead guitar), Mark Dufresne (drums), Chris McDaniel (keyboards), Warr ...

from their 2001 album ''Unleashed''. Confederate Railroad also released this song as a single that year. Two more would later be recorded by other artists as well.

Sammy Kershaw Samuel Paul Kershaw (born February 24, 1958) is an American country music artist. He has released 16 studio albums, with three RIAA platinum certifications and two gold certifications among them. More than 25 singles have entered the Top 40 on the ...

recorded "Metropolis" on his 2003 album ''

I Want My Money Back ''I Want My Money Back'' is the eighth studio album by American country music artist Sammy Kershaw, released on March 25, 2003. His first album for Audium/Koch Entertainment, it produced two singles on the ''Billboard'' country charts: the title tr ...

'', as did

Trace Adkins Trace may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Trace'' (Son Volt album), 1995 * ''Trace'' (Died Pretty album), 1993 * Trace (band), a Dutch progressive rock band * ''The Trace'' (album) Other uses in arts and entertainment * ''Trace'' ...

on his 2005 album ''

Songs About Me ''Songs About Me'' is the seventh studio album by American country music artist Trace Adkins. It was released on March 22, 2005, via Capitol Records Nashville. His highest-selling album to date, it has been certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA and h ...

'', while

Trisha Yearwood Patricia Lynn Yearwood (born September 19, 1964) is an American singer, actress, author and television personality. She rose to fame with her 1991 debut single " She's in Love with the Boy," which became a number one hit on the ''Billboard'' c ...

recorded "Who Invented the Wheel" on her 2005 album '' Jasper County''. Kenny Rogers covered "Half a Man" on his 2006 album '' Water & Bridges''.

Critical reception

Shelly Fabian of

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, l ...

gave the album a five-star review, saying in her review "With 12 awesome tracks and a wonderful

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

voice, Anthony Smith is decidedly modern while also having some 'outlaw' country tendencies." Dan MacIntosh 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 ...

'' gave a positive review, saying that Smith "writes and sings songs with an expressively blues-y voice, voicing lyrics that incorporate plenty of humor and real heart."

Track listing

Personnel

As listed in liner notes. *Shannon Forest –

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 ...

*Mark Hammond –

drum loop In music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections can be repeated to create ostinato patterns. Longer sections can also be repeated: for example, a player might loop what they play on an entire verse of a song in order to ...

s *Shelby Kennedy –

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 ...

on "Venus" *Jami McMahon – background vocals on "Infinity" and "If That Ain't Country" *Russell Terrell – background vocals *Anthony Smith – vocals;

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 ...

on "Impossible to Do" *Bobby Terry – background vocals, all other instruments *Darrell Franklin,

Catt Gravitt Cathy Lee "Catt" Gravitt is an American songwriter based in Nashville, Tennessee. In the music business for over 20 years, she signed on as a writer with her current publishing company, Razor and Tie, in 2008. Gravitt has songwriting credits in mu ...

, Scott Gunter, Jill Terry – background vocals on "If That Ain't Country" *David Angell, David Davidson, Carl Gorodetzky, Pam Sixfin, Mary Kathryn Vanosdale –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

s on "Metropolis" and "Up to the Depth" *Kris Wilkinson –

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

on "Metropolis" and "Up to the Depth" *John Catchings, Bob Mason –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

s on "Metropolis" and "Up to the Depth"

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control 2002 debut albums Mercury Nashville albums Anthony Smith (singer) albums