''True Believers'' is the fourth 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

Darius Rucker Darius Carlos Rucker (born May 13, 1966) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He first gained fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Ca ...

, and his third in the country genre. It was released on May 21, 2013, through

Capitol Records Nashville Capitol Records Nashville is a major United States-based record label located in Nashville, Tennessee operating as part of the Universal Music Group Nashville. From 1991 to 1995, Capitol Nashville was known as Liberty Records, before returning ...

Critical reception

''True Believers'' has received positive reception from the music critics. Fred Thomas 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 databa ...

told that "the thing is, with a few songs you have to be listening pretty closely to differentiate the country affectations from the pop songwriting Rucker's been doing all along." ''Music Is My Oxygens Rob Burkhardt called the work "a set of highly sing-able, highly memorable tunes, loaded with ear-worm hooks and virtually no mis-steps." At ''

The Oakland Press ''The Oakland Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Oakland County, Michigan with headquarters in Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: ...

'',

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 recei ...

found that on this release that Rucker has made "something deeper than the annual ledger-satisfying exercises at which most country acts excel", which he "gets into some genuinely deep subject matter here". Roughstock's Matt Bjorke affirmed that the album "feels solid and ready for the spotlight or setlist." 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, Virgi ...

'', Brian Mansfield wrote that "Rucker sings plenty about driving, spring break and the radio". Billy Dukes of

Taste of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...

wrote that the release "suffers from a sonic sameness that stays within Rucker’s comfort zone", and noted that "there's a whiff of formula ..something every artist should work to stay ahead of."

Commercial performance

''True Believers'' debuted at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart and No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' 200, with 83,000 sold for the week. This was Rucker's third top-placing studio album in a row. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on February 12, 2014. , the album has sold 575,400 copies in the United States

Track listing

Personnel

* David Angell – strings *

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac is an American session musician and producer. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in nearby Willowick, Ohio. He has been a Nashville-based musician since 1992. He previously owned 2nd Gear, a used music consignment shop in So ...

– acoustic guitar,

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 ...

* John Catchings – strings *

J.T. Corenflos Jerry Troy "J. T." Corenflos (November 6, 1963 – October 24, 2020), was an American session musician and country guitarist, who played on an estimated 75 Number One hit records as well as hundreds of other recordings and hits. He received 14 n ...

– electric guitar * Sheryl Crow – vocals on "Love Without You" * Eric Darken –

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. Ex ...

* David Davidson – strings * Aubrey Haynie – fiddle, mandolin *

Dave Haywood David Wesley Haywood (born July 5, 1982) is an American country musician and songwriter. He is one-third of the American country music band Lady A, in which he plays guitar, piano and mandolin, and sings backing vocals. Early life Haywood's fat ...

– background vocals on "Wagon Wheel" * Wes Hightower – background vocals *

Mallary Hope Mallary Hope Whitener (born June 21, 1987 in Cohutta, Georgia) is an American country music singer-songwriter. She released her debut single, "Love Lives On", in July 2009, followed by an EP of the same name on August 4, 2009. Both this song an ...

– vocals on "I Will Love You Still" * Mike Johnson – dobro, pedal steel guitar *

Charles Kelley Charles Burgess Kelley (born September 11, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter and lead singer and founding member of the country music trio Lady A, which was formed in 2006 and are signed to Big Machine Records. Early life and career Kelle ...

– background vocals on "Wagon Wheel" * Gayle Mayes – background vocals * Greg Morrow – drums * Gordon Mote –

Hammond B-3 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 ...

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 ...

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

* Russ Pahl – pedal steel guitar * Angela Primm – background vocals * 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 ...

* Frank Rogers – keyboards *

– lead vocals *

Hillary Scott Hillary Dawn Scott-Tyrrell (born April 1, 1986) is an American singer and songwriter. She is the co-lead singer of Lady A, previously known as Lady Antebellum, a country music group that was formed in 2006, and is signed to Big Machine Records ...

– background vocals on "Wagon Wheel" * Russell Terrell – background vocals *

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 guitar, mandolin * Kris Wilkinson – strings

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2013 albums Darius Rucker albums Capitol Records albums Albums produced by Frank Rogers (record producer)