''Slow Me Down'' is the seventh 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

Sara Evans Sara Lynn Evans (; born February 5, 1971) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is also credited as a record producer, actress, and author. She had five songs reach the number one spot on the '' Billboard'' country songs ch ...

, released in 2014 by

RCA Nashville RCA Nashville is an American country music record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is distributed by Sony Music Nashville which is part of Sony Music. Current artists *Kane Brown *Andrew Jannakos *Miranda Lambert *Niko Moon (RCA/River Hou ...

Content

Evans co-wrote three of the album's eleven tracks and co-produced the record with

Mark Bright Mark Abraham Bright (born 6 June 1962) is an English sports correspondent and former footballer. Born to a Gambian father and English mother, he was adopted into a foster family in Stoke-on-Trent at an early age. He played non-league football ...

, whom she previously worked with on 2005's ''

Real Fine Place ''Real Fine Place'' is the fifth studio album by American country music artist Sara Evans. It was released in October 2005 via RCA Records Nashville. It is the follow-up album to the platinum '' Restless.'' It features Evans's fourth number one h ...

''. The album includes a cover of

Gavin DeGraw Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. DeGraw rose to fame with his song "I Don't Want to Be" from his debut album '' Chariot'' (2003); the song became the main theme song for The WB drama series ''One Tree ...

's " Not Over You," with him providing harmony vocals, and a duet with Isaac Slade of

The Fray The Fray is an American rock band from Denver, Colorado, formed in 2002 by schoolmates Isaac Slade and Joe King. Their debut album, ''How to Save a Life'' released in 2005, was certified double platinum by the RIAA and platinum in Australia, ...

on "Can't Stop Loving You."

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 ...

, who last collaborated with Evans on her 1998 No. 1 hit "

No Place That Far ''No Place That Far'' is the second studio album by American country music artist Sara Evans. It was released in October 1998 via RCA Records Nashville. The album's first single, "Cryin' Game", peaked at number 56 on the US ''Billboard (magazine) ...

," sings harmony vocals on "Better Off." "Revival" was previously recorded under the title "A Little Revival" by one of its co-writers,

Radney Foster Radney Muckleroy Foster (born July 20, 1959) is an American country music singer-songwriter, musician and music producer. Initially a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee, Foster made his recording debut as part of the Foster & Lloyd duo, recording ...

A Real Fine Place to Start "A Real Fine Place to Start" is a song written by Radney Foster and George Ducas and recorded by American country music artist Sara Evans. It was released in May 2005 as the first single from Evans' 2005 album ''Real Fine Place''. The song became ...

"), on his 2009 album, ''Revival''. The album's title track, " Slow Me Down," was released as the album's lead-off single on September 23, 2013. It debuted at #57 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

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 September 14, 2013, and ultimately reached a peak of number 17 in April 2014. The second single was announced to be "Can't Stop Loving You" with a release date of July 21, 2014. For unknown reasons however, the release was pushed back to August 25, 2014 and then later cancelled completely with "Put My Heart Down" announced as the next single instead. "Put My Heart Down" was released on September 29, 2014. It debuted at number 60 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 ...

chart for the week of November 8, 2014, and ultimately reached a peak of number 57, only spending four weeks on the chart. Evans appeared on ABC's ''

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 ...

'' to perform a duet version of "Put My Heart Down" with

Will Chase Frank William Chase (born September 12, 1970) is a Tony Award-nominated American actor, director, and singer, best known for his work on Broadway and for his role as country superstar Luke Wheeler on ABC's ''Nashville''. Early life and educatio ...

(who plays Luke Wheeler on the show) on October 29, 2014.

Critical reception

''Slow Me Down'' garnered acclaim from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the album has a Metascore of 87, indicating "universal acclaim". Erik Ernst of the ''

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

'' gave a positive review, saying that the album "is a mostly joyful affair that finds the singer even more confident as she explores the many sides of love" on which "She's been there and has come out singing better than ever on the other side." At ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', Sarah Rodman gave a positive review, stating that the release is better than her predecessor, and she says "the tracks that stand out have a fresh appeal." Jon Caramanica of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' gave a positive review, and writes that Evans "robust and sweet voice" are what sets the album apart because "She sings with power, grace and dignity.". At ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'',

Brian Mansfield Brian Mansfield (born September 24, 1963) is an American writer and journalist. Early life and education Mansfield grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated from David Lipscomb High School. In 1984, Mansfield received a bachelor's degre ...

rated the album three out of four stars, stating that "In songs spanning soaring pop and stone country, Evans recounts all the ways to walk away, though she'd rather be convinced to stay", and the likes of "

and

Isaac Slade Isaac Edward Slade (born May 26, 1981) is an American singer and musician; the former lead vocalist, main songwriter, pianist and co-founder of Colorado-based rock band The Fray. Early life Slade was born in Boulder, Colorado, and raised in t ...

beckon her back."

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

rated the album four stars out of five, writing that "fans hoping that Evans will return to country music will be disappointed, but Slow Me Down is something that is rare in 2014: an unapologetic, big-scale adult pop album, constructed with grace and care." At ''

The Oakland Press ''The Oakland Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Oakland County, Michigan with headquarters in Troy. It is owned by 21st Century Media, with which its parent company merged in 2013 after filing for bankruptcy. The local historical society t ...

'',

Gary Graff Gary Graff (born 1960) is an American music journalist and author. Biography Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Graff attended Taylor Allderdice High School where he wrote for school newspaper ''The Taylor Allderdice Foreword''. He receiv ...

rated the album three stars out of four, saying that Evans is "in fine voice and solid country-pop crossover form" on which "Evans isn’t about to be slowed down any time soon." Chuck Dauphin of ''

'' rated the album a 91-out-of-100, stating that the album is spectacular making it hard to select a few highlight tracks. At ''

Country Weekly ''Nash Country Weekly'' was an American lifestyle weekly magazine about country artists and their music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site ''Nash Country Daily''. Overvie ...

'', Tammy Ragusa graded the album an A, writing that "she has found what works best for her on the contemporary side and front-loads the project with those songs." At Got Country Online, Donna Block rated the album a perfect five stars, and according to her "Every single beat is felt, head to toe. It’s quite a feat to balance ever-changing feelings in a song, let alone throughout an album", and it shows just how Evans "maintains a vocal equilibrium from song to song" on the release. Dan MacIntosh of Roughstock rated the album three stars out of five, writing that Evans plays around with many styles on the album, but advises her "a beautiful, natural singing voice is a terrible thing to waste."

Commercial performance

''Slow Me Down'' debuted at number nine on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200, and at number two on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales a ...

chart selling 27,000 copies in its first week of release. The album has sold 87,000 copies in the US as of August 2014.

Track listing

Personnel

– lead vocals, backing vocals * Jimmy Nichols – keyboards,

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

* Charlie Judge – synthesizers *

Kenny Greenberg Kenneth S. "Kenny" Greenberg is an American guitarist, songwriter, producer, and session musician. He is known for bringing a rock-and-roll sensibility to Nashville recording sessions. Biography Greenberg was born in Cleveland, Ohio but attend ...

– electric guitars * Jerry McPherson – electric guitars *

Ilya Toshinsky Bering Strait was a Russian country music band, whose style was sometimes called "redgrass". In 2003, the band was nominated for a Grammy Award and appeared on the TV show ''60 Minutes''. The group disbanded in 2006. The lineup on their first alb ...

– acoustic guitars,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

Aubrey Haynie Aubrey Haynie (born March 27, 1974) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle and mandolin. In his career, he has recorded three studio albums for the Sugar Hill Records label, all three of which contained mostly songs that he wr ...

–

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

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 ...

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass guitar. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the p ...

– bass *

Chris McHugh Chris McHugh (born 1964) is an American musician. He began his career as the drummer of Christian rock band White Heart from 1986 to 1989. He also worked in the recording of several of their later albums. Chris McHugh is on the Nashville "A" li ...

– drums *

Greg Morrow Greg Morrow is an American drummer, percussionist, session musician, mixing engineer, and vocalist. Biography Morrow was born in Ripley, Tennessee and raised in Memphis. At age 11, Morrow and his band performed on a local TV show, and he par ...

– drums *

Eric Darken Eric A. Darken is an American percussionist, composer, and programmer. Biography Drawing inspiration from his grandfather, a band leader. Darken began playing drums at age 12, and played timpani and mallets in high school. Darken attended ...

– percussion * Shane Stevens –

whistle A whistle is an instrument which produces sound from a stream of gas, most commonly air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a larg ...

* Bob Bailey – backing vocals * Perry Coleman – backing vocals * Vicki Hampton – backing vocals * Jenifer Wrinkle – backing vocals *

Gavin Degraw Gavin Shane DeGraw (born February 4, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter. DeGraw rose to fame with his song "I Don't Want to Be" from his debut album '' Chariot'' (2003); the song became the main theme song for The WB drama series ''One Tree ...

– lead vocals on "Not Over You" *

– lead vocals on "Can't Stop Loving You" *

– harmony vocals on "Better Off"

Production

* Mark Bright – producer * Sara Evans – producer * Derek Bason – recording, digital editing * Ben Fowler – recording, mixing, digital editing * Todd Tidwell – recording * Chris Ashburn – recording assistant * Chris Small – recording assistant * Matt Rausch – additional recording * Trey Keller – digital editing * Brian David Willis – digital editing * Adam Ayan – mastering * Mike "Frog" Griffith – production coordinator * Kristin Wines – production assistant * Robert Ascroft – photography * Kaelin Evans – hair, make-up, styling * Alex Stone – glam assistant * The Collective Nashville – management Studios * Recorded at Blackbird Studio and Starstruck Studios (Nashville, Tennessee). * Additional recording at The House (Nashville, Tennessee). * Mixed at Hillywood Studios (Nashville, Tennessee). * Mastered at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine).

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

References

{{Authority control 2014 albums Sara Evans albums RCA Records albums Albums produced by Mark Bright (record producer)