''That's Life'' is the ninth 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

Neal McCoy Hubert Neal McGaughey Jr. (born July 30, 1958), known professionally as Neal McCoy, is an American country music singer. He has released 10 studio albums on various labels, and has released 34 singles to country radio. Although he first charted on ...

. It was released on August 23, 2005 on his own 903 Music label. Three singles were released from this album: "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On", the first of these three, reached #10 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 in 2005, becoming McCoy's first Top Ten hit since " The Shake" in 1997. "The Last of a Dying Breed" peaked at #35, while "Tail on the Tailgate" failed to chart. Also included here is a live rendition of "Hillbilly Rap", the original version of which was an album cut from his 1996 self-titled album.

Track listing

#"Got Mud" (Monty Criswell,

Jerrod Niemann Jerrod Lee Niemann (born July 24, 1979) is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has released one single for Category 5 Records (2006); three albums for Sea Gayle Music/Arista Nashville: ''Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury'' (2010), '' ...

) – 2:51 #"Intro (General Tommy Franks)" – 0:45 #*spoken-word intro to "The Last of a Dying Breed", recited by

Tommy Franks Tommy Ray Franks (born 17 June 1945) is a retired general in the United States Army. His last army post was as the Commander of the United States Central Command, overseeing United States military operations in a 25-country region, including the ...

#"The Last of a Dying Breed" (Tommy Connors, Don Rollins, D. Vincent Williams) – 3:02 #"That's Life" (Eric Silver,

Matt Rollings Matt Rollings is a Grammy Award-winning American composer, keyboard player and record producer. Known mainly for playing in Lyle Lovett's Large Band, Rollings has worked with many artists, not all country. Matt won the 'Best Traditional Pop Voca ...

) – 4:10 #" Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On" (Philip White, Michael Mobley) – 3:38 #"That's a Picture" (

Bryan Simpson Bryan Simpson is an American singer-songwriter from Fort Worth, Texas, who is based out of Nashville, Tennessee. Simpson is best known for his solo output as The Whistles & The Bells, his work as a founding member of Cadillac Sky, and the son ...

, Wade Kirby,

Ashley Gorley Ashley Glenn Gorley (born April 29, 1977) is an American songwriter, publisher, and producer from Danville, Kentucky, who is based in Nashville, Tennessee. Gorley has written 60 number 1 songs and has over 300 songs recorded by artists including ...

) – 3:04 #"You Let Me Be the Hero" (Silver,

Rodney Clawson Rodney Dale Clawson (born in Gruver, Texas, United States) is an American country music songwriter. Clawson has written singles recorded by Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Faith Hill, George Strait and Luke Bryan, among others. Biography Clawson w ...

) – 3:46 #"Tail on the Tailgate" (Brian Gene White, Tania Hancheroff, Clawson) – 4:00 #"Tails I Lose" (Silver, Neal McCoy) – 3:46 #"Jessie" (Jeremy Campbell, McCoy, Donny Hackett) – 3:52 #" You're My Jamaica" (

Kent Robbins Kent Marshall Robbins (April 23, 1947 – December 27, 1997) was an American country music songwriter. Robbins was born in Mayfield, Kentucky. He began writing for Charley Pride's Pi-Gem music in 1974. Between then and his death, he wrote song ...

) – 3:45 #*featuring

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Reco ...

#"Head South" (

Darrell Scott James Darrell Scott, known as Darrell Scott (born August 6, 1959), is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. The son of musician Wayne Scott, he moved as a child to East Gary, Indiana (known today as Lake Station, Indiana). ...

) – 2:40 #"Hillbilly Rap (Live)" (Lord Burgess,

Bernard Edwards Bernard Edwards (October 31, 1952 – April 18, 1996) was an American bass player and record producer, known primarily for his work in disco music with guitarist Nile Rodgers, with whom he co-founded Chic. In 2017, Edwards was selected as the ...

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, record producer and composer. The co-founder of Chic, Rodgers has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 500 million albums and 75 million ...

, William Attawar, Paul Henning) – 6:31 A special CD-ROM track of "Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On" is also available on some presses of the album.

Personnel

*David Angell -

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 ...

*Steve Auburn -

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 ...

, background vocals *

Bekka Bramlett Rebekka Ruth Lazone Bramlett (born April 19, 1968) is an American singer and session background singer. She is the daughter of Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, of the music duo Delaney & Bonnie. She has been a member of Mick Fleetwood's band the Z ...

- background vocals *Bob Britt -

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 ...

*Matt Britton -

steel drums The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descriptio ...

*Chuck Butler - drum programming *David Davidson - violin *Scott Dixon - electric guitar *

- introduction on track 2 *Sonny Garrish -

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...

*Wes Hightower - background vocals *Mark Hill -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

*Wayne Killius -

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 ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Anthony LaMarchina -

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 ...

*Troy Lancaster - electric guitar *

Brent Mason Brent Mason (born July 13, 1959) is an American, Nashville, Tennessee-based recording studio guitarist and songwriter, performing primarily country music. Guitar World Magazine listed him as one of the "Top Ten Session Guitarists of All Time". ...

- electric guitar *Lynn Massey - drums, background vocals *

- lead vocals *Shane McDaniel - steel guitar, background vocals *Jerry McPherson - electric guitar *Lorne O'Neil - bass guitar, background vocals *

- vocals on "You're My Jamaica" * Michael Rhodes - bass guitar *Jeffrey Roach -

Hammond 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 to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

*Tom Roady - percussion *Lou Rodriguez -

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, background vocals *Mike Rojas - Hammond organ,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, synthesizer *

- piano *Eric Silver -

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 ...

, fiddle, acoustic guitar,

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Schec ...

, electric guitar,

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 ...

shaker Shaker or Shakers may refer to: Religious groups * Shakers, a historically significant Christian sect * Indian Shakers, a smaller Christian denomination Objects and instruments * Shaker (musical instrument), an indirect struck idiophone * Cock ...

, background vocals, wah wah guitar *Pamela Sixfin - violin *Todd Stewart -

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Bryan White Bryan Shelton White (born February 17, 1974) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Asylum Records in 1994 at age 20, White released his self-titled debut album that year. Both it and its follow-up, 1996's '' Between Now ...

- background vocals *Kristen Wilkinson - string arrangements,

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 ...

Andrea Zonn Andrea Elizabeth Zonn (born 1969) is a singer and fiddle player who grew up in Urbana, Illinois. She grew up in an environment surrounded by music. She sings, and plays classical violin, and is fluent in numerous other musical genres. Zonn first ...

- background vocals

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control 2005 albums Neal McCoy albums