''The Spade'' is the sixth full-length studio album by

Butch Walker Bradley Glenn "Butch" Walker (born November 14, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He was the lead guitarist for the glam metal band SouthGang from the late 1980s to early 1990s as well as the lead vocalist ...

, and the second released under the name Butch Walker and the Black Widows. It was released on August 30, 2011 on CD, vinyl, and digital formats. The lead single was "Summer of '89". The album's single, "Synthesizers," was released on January 20, 2012. The music video for the song featuring

Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...

reprising his popular ''Dazed and Confused'' role of David Wooderson.

Reception

Critical

The album received a score of 78 on the

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 ...

aggregate review site, indicating a generally favorable reception. Andrew Leahey of

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 ...

noted that the album "explores the seedy side of Hollywood with equal parts power pop and heartland rock & roll", and that the lyrics of the songs in the album "focus on Walker’s own little world -- the girls he’s known, the drugs he’s done, the trouble he got into as an ‘80s wild child -- but Spade feels broader, fuller, more collective than those words suggest." Evan Sawdey of ''

Pop Matters ''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, fil ...

'' was very positive about the album; even though he thought the album "doesn’t do anything new or particularly innovative", he found that "it's just a damn good rock album through and through" and that Walker had "finally wrote an album that is entirely in his own voice." Andy Gill of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' wrote that the album is "mainly brusque and strident raunch-rock, with an unappealing cajoling tone that virtually dares you not to find the songs clever and the hooks contagious. Which they aren't, particularly."

Commercial

The album hit number one on the ''

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 ...

Heatseekers Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is rad ...

Chart on its first week of release and peaked at number 105 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 5,000 copies in its debut week. The album has sold 18,000 copies in the U.S. as of February 2015.

Track listing

Personnel

- lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, piano, banjolin, mandolin, percussion *Fran Capitanelli - guitars, banjo, drums, backing vocals *Chris Unck - guitars, pedal steel, backing vocals *Jake Sinclair - bass guitar, piano, banjolin, backing vocals *Patrick Keeler - drums *

Michael Trent Michael Trent is an American musician from Denver. He performs as a solo act and in the band Shovels & Rope since 2008. Career Trent first performed as the lead singer in the Denver, Colorado band Tinker's Punishment, before moving to the South ...

- backing vocals *

Cary Ann Hearst Cary Ann Hearst (born August 10, 1979) is a folk/roots rock musical artist from South Carolina, US. She performs as a solo act, as well as with her husband, Michael Trent, in the band Shovels & Rope. Hearst's influences are rooted in the soulful, ...

- backing vocals *Gavin Fitzjohn - baritone and tenor sax, trumpet *Dr. Steven Patt - accordion, dobro guitar *Adam Blake - album artwork and design

References

External links

Butch Walker Official Website

Album Release Information

''The Spade'' - on Rdio

''The Spade'' - on Spotify
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spade, The 2012 albums Butch Walker albums Albums produced by Butch Walker Dangerbird Records albums