''The Road'', is the debut, full-length studio album by American Staind frontman

Aaron Lewis Aaron Lewis (born April 13, 1972) is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and founding member of the nu metal band Staind, with whom he released seven studio albums. Since 2010, he has pursued a solo ca ...

. His second

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, ...

effort, it was released by Blaster Records on November 13, 2012.

Content

The song "Granddaddy's Gun" was previously recorded by

Rhett Akins Thomas Rhett Akins Sr. (born October 13, 1969) is an American singer and songwriter. Signed to Decca Records between 1994 and 1997, he released two albums for that label (1995's ''A Thousand Memories'' and 1996's '' Somebody New''), followed by ...

on the 2010 album ''Michael Waddell's Bone Collector: The Brotherhood Album''. It was also recorded by

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...

on his 2013 album, '' Based on a True Story...''. The iTunes deluxe edition of the album features five live bonus tracks. It includes a cover of the song "

What Hurts the Most "What Hurts the Most" is a song written by American songwriter Jeffrey Steele and English songwriter Steve Robson. Initially recorded by country music artist Mark Wills in 2003 on his album '' And the Crowd Goes Wild'', it was covered by Bell ...

", which was previously recorded by

Mark Wills Mark Wills (born Daryl Mark Williams; August 8, 1973) is an American country music artist. Signed to Mercury Records between 1996 and 2003, he released five studio albums for the label – '' Mark Wills'', ''Wish You Were Here'', ''Permanently'' ...

and

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American country music band founded in 1999. The band members were Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background vocals). DeMarcus is LeVox's second cou ...

. Two more songs, "Vicious Circles" and " Country Boy", originally appeared on Lewis' 2011 EP, ''

Town Line A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

''.

Commercial reception

The album debuted on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart at No. 7, selling 21,000 copies. The album has sold 220,000 copies in the United States as of August 2016.

Track listing

Reception

Upon its release, ''The Road'' received generally mixed to positive reviews from most music critics. Rick Florino with

Artistdirect ARTISTdirect is an American online digital media entertainment company. Overview Founded in 1994, it owns several websites, including artistdirect.com and artistdirectinterviews.com. These websites are a group of affiliate websites offering mul ...

rated the album five out of five stars. He praised Lewis' performance, saying "he's a vivid storyteller and brilliant lyricist." Daryl Addison of

Great American Country Great American Family is an American cable television network. Owned by Great American Media, it broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies. It was originally established in ...

was positive in saying, "on ''The Road'', Aaron creates a work that honors country tradition while injecting his own soul and experience." Dan MacIntosh of ''Roughstock.com'' rated the album four stars, saying, "that it sounds like an honest to goodness country album, start to finish" and that "The Road is positive proof that Aaron Lewis has the musical goods and can most certainly deliver." ''NoizeNews" rated the album a 9 out of 10 stating, "''The Road'' is a simple album with strong lyrics and instrumentation that highlight the beauty of Aaron Lewis’ voice." Others were more critical of Lewis' efforts. Alex Beebe with ''sputnikmusic'' rated the album "poor" with a one out of five rating. He stated, "Aaron Lewis has created a possible cure for insomnia more than he has an enjoyable album." Gary Suarez of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' gave an average rating of 4 out of 10 rating stating, "Lewis shifts effortlessly from Staind’s emotive construction rock to sincere country on his full-length solo debut ''The Road''. Stephen Thomas Erlewine with

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 databa ...

rated the album 2 out of 5 stars. Erlewine was critical in saying, "his music doesn't have much color; it's by-the-numbers red state country, hitting all of its marks and making no lasting impression."

Personnel

Eddie Bayers Eddie Bayers (born January 28, 1949) is an American session drummer who has played on 300 gold and platinum albums. He received the Academy of Country Music 'Drummer of the Year Award' for fourteen years, has three times won the Nashville Music ...

– drums * Jim "Moose" Brown –

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 keybo ...

, B-3 organ * Perry Coleman – background vocals * Paul Franklin – steel guitar * Tony Harrell – piano, B-3 organ * Mark Hill – bass guitar * Ben Kitterman – dobro, acoustic guitar *

– lead vocals, acoustic guitar * Sol Littlefield – electric guitar * B. James Lowry – acoustic 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 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 gu ...

* Michael Rhodes –

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 ...

Chart performance

Album

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Road, The 2013 debut albums Aaron Lewis albums Albums produced by James Stroud