"Pieces" is a song co-written and recorded 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

Gary Allan Gary Allan Herzberg (born December 5, 1967) is an American country music singer. Signed to Decca Records in 1996, Allan made his country music debut with the release of his single " Her Man", the lead-off to his gold-certified debut album '' U ...

. It was released in February 2013 as the second single from his 2013 album '' Set You Free''. Allan wrote the song with Odie Blackmon and

Sarah Buxton Sarah Jane Buxton (born July 3, 1980) is an American country music singer, formerly signed to the independent Lyric Street Records. Between 2006 and 2008, she issued three singles from an extended play titled '' Almost My Record'', in addition t ...

Content

Co-writer Odie Blackmon told Roughstock that " uxtonhad a little piece of the verse and melody and the word 'pieces.' We all started talking about it and what it meant to us. None of us are young folks any more. We've all lived some life and we were talking about the pieces of our lives ... all the different pieces that has brought us to where we are today, whether they were good or bad pieces."

Critical reception

The song has received mixed reception. Billy Dukes of ''Taste of Country'' gave the song two and a half stars out of five, writing that "the production on ‘Pieces’ lacks some of the creativity he’s displayed over the last 16 years" and "the chorus is hooky and cute, but not especially unique." Dan Milliken of ''Country Universe'' gave the song a B− grade, saying that "even on this introspectish throwaway ��his combination of technical and interpretive skill ��feels so natural that you wonder why every other singer can’t achieve it." Bobby Peacock of Roughstock was more positive, saying that "it seems that his songs are taking on comparatively more upbeat messages" and "Gary's raw voice makes it sound exactly like he knows what he's singing about." He gave the song 4 out of 5 stars.

Music video

The music video was directed by

Wes Edwards Wes Edwards is a music video and commercial director. He has directed over 150 official music videos in various genres from country to EDM. He has created multiple videos for Brothers Osborne, Dierks Bentley, Dash Berlin, and Emma Hewitt. In 2020 h ...

and premiered in June 2013.

Chart performance

"Pieces" debuted at number 59 on the U.S. ''

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 Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

chart for the week of February 23, 2013. It also debuted at number 45 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

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 ...

chart for the week of April 6, 2013. It also debuted at number 23 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart for the week of May 18, 2013.

Year-end charts

References

{{Gary Allan 2013 singles Gary Allan songs Songs written by Gary Allan Songs written by Odie Blackmon Songs written by Sarah Buxton Song recordings produced by Jay Joyce MCA Nashville Records singles Music videos directed by Wes Edwards 2013 songs MCA Records singles