''In The County Of Kings'' is the fifth album (fourth full-length album) from the Eric Stuart Band, in which

Eric Stuart Eric Stuart is an American voice actor and musician who worked for 4Kids Entertainment, NYAV Post, and Central Park Media. Early life Stuart was born in Brooklyn, New York to a modern dancer mother and a criminal attorney father. Voice act ...

is the songwriter and lead singer. This album was released in 2007 under Stuart's own independent label, Widow's Peak Records. The title of the album comes from

Kings County Kings County or King's County may refer to: Places Canada *Kings County, New Brunswick *Kings County, Nova Scotia *Kings County, Prince Edward Island ** King's County (electoral district), abolished in 1892 Ireland * County Offaly, formerly call ...

, Brooklyn, where Stuart was born and raised. In addition, the front cover art depicts the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...

and

New York City 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 ...

in juxtaposition with the

Great Pyramid The Great Pyramid of Giza is the biggest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Fourth Dynasty pharaoh Khufu. Built in the early 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years, the pyramid is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, ...

, the Sphinx of Giza, and the

Valley of the Kings The Valley of the Kings ( ar, وادي الملوك ; Late Coptic: ), also known as the Valley of the Gates of the Kings ( ar, وادي أبوا الملوك ), is a valley in Egypt where, for a period of nearly 500 years from the 16th to 11th ...

, which are in Egypt. The musical style of ''In The County Of Kings'' is more country-sounding than any previous Eric Stuart Band album, and is described by Eric Stuart as "Concrete Country." With regard to this, Stuart writes,

I was trying to come up with a way to explain the type of music I play. Americana was too rootsy, Folk-Rock only touched on a part of my sound and County/Rock made it sound like I wore a cowboy hat. I am born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, but I play music with a strong lyrical, melodic, story based approach. There are many country elements as well. I thought the combination of "Concrete" to connect with the sidewalks and buildings I grew up around as well as the rock connotations that word brings plus the "Country" would show I was touching on string songwriting and storytelling that went with country music.

''In The County Of Kings'' includes a re-release of Stuart's songs "The Bottom Line" (1996, from the album '' Picture Perfect World''), and "Paint the Town Tonight" (2000, from the album '' BombShellShocked''). The album also incorporates more guest musicians than in previous ESB albums. Stuart sings with his sister

Barbara Brousal Barbara Brousal (born October 6, 1966) is a Boston, Massachusetts–based singer-songwriter, teacher, and politician. She sings, plays guitar and mandolin and has composed songs on four children's albums with Dan Zanes and Friends including th ...

in "The Land Of What Might Have Been." Not all the songs call in numerous accompaniments however; in "This Love," Stuart is only accompanied by band members Jenna Malizia (background vocals) and Questar Welsh (background vocals and keyboards).

Track list

#"The Bottom Line" (re-release) (4:27) (©1996) #"Blind Man" (3:39) (©2004) #"Paint The Town Tonight" (re-release) (3:06) (©2000) #"I'd Be A Millionaire" (3:44) (©2001) #"Is It True?" (2:34) (©2001) #"The Last Word" (3:21) (©1998) #"State Of Mind" (5:10) (©1996) #"Shut You Up" (2:21) (©2001) #"Hand-Me Down Love" (2:56) (©2000) #"Land Of What Might Have Been" (3:50) (©2001) #"Blind Trust" (3:29) (©2000) #"Jack And Jill" (4:20) (©1997) #"Bad Luck" (3:21) (©1997) #"Too Late Tonight To Be Alone" (3:55) (©2000) #"This Love" (4:02) (©2005)

Album personnel

- lead vocals, acoustic guitar, rhythm guitar, hand claps *Phil Nix - lead guitar, rhythm guitar, baritone guitar, vocals, slide guitar, electric 12 string guitar, hand claps *Questar Welsh - vocals, electric 12 string guitar, additional keyboards, acoustic 12 string guitar *Kevin Merritt - accordion, vocals, horn arrangements *Jenna Malizia - vocals *Mason Swearingen - bass, vocals *Jagoda - drums, percussion, vocals *Benny Landa - lead guitar, rhythm guitar *

- vocals *Irwin Fisch - piano/organ *Maria Conti - violin (also knocks on violin in "The Bottom Line") *John Siegler - bass *Frank Vilardi - drums, tambourine, shaker *Elizabeth Dotson-Westphalen - trombone *Dan Schlessinger - tenor saxophone *David Smith - trumpet *Julie Reyburn - vocals *Darren Dunstan - vocals *Louis Cortelezzi - tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone *Jim Malone - harmonica *Larry Campbell - pedal steel *Rachel Handman - fiddle *All songs written by

and Questar Welsh *Engineered by Questar Welsh

References

External links

Ericstuart.com

Pecky Pudgeon Reports on the Eric Stuart Band
{{DEFAULTSORT:In The County Of Kings 2007 albums Eric Stuart Band albums