''Unglamorous'' is the first major label debut album from

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

singer

Lori McKenna Lorraine McKenna ( Giroux; born December 22, 1968) is an American folk, Americana, and country music singer-songwriter. In 2016, she was nominated for the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and won Best Country Song for co-writing the hit single " ...

. After three songs written by McKenna appeared on

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and actress. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill' ...

's 2005 album, ''

Fireflies The Lampyridae are a family (biology), family of Elateroidea, elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are bioluminescence, light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, ...

'',

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

re-released McKenna's 2004 album ''

Bittertown ''Bittertown'' is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lori McKenna. The album was first released in 2004 on Signature Sounds. It was produced by Lorne Entress and features prominently the guitar work of Kevin Barry. After countr ...

'' (her fourth independent release). ''Unglamorous'', however, is the first album of McKenna's recorded specifically for a major label. The album was released August 14, 2007 on StyleSonic Records through

. Hill's husband,

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has released 16 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, four for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those album ...

co-produces the album and each of them contributes vocals to one of the tracks. Other notable guest appearances are made by

Kelly Willis Kelly may refer to: Art and entertainment * Kelly (Kelly Price album) * Kelly (Andrea Faustini album) * ''Kelly'' (musical), a 1965 musical by Mark Charlap * "Kelly" (song), a 2018 single by Kelly Rowland * ''Kelly'' (film), a 1981 Canadi ...

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). ...

Bryan Sutton Bryan Sutton is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicking acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and electric guitar. He also sings and writes songs. Biography Early career Sutton's grandfather and ...

and

Buddy Miller Steven Paul "Buddy" Miller (born September 6, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville, Tennessee. Miller is married to and has recorded with singer-songwriter Julie Miller. ...

Songs

All of the songs were written or co-written by McKenna. She describes her songs as a collision of autobiography, observation and a vivid imagination. As a 38-year-old mother of five and married 19 years to the same man, McKenna has a lot of life experience to draw upon. "I only can write about what I know or conversations I've had with people who have the same type of life that I do," McKenna says in ''

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 ...

'', "I live in the same town I grew up in. I only have a sixth grade vocabulary, and I only know three chords. This is who I am, and I don't really have time to take a piano class or anything." The opening cut, "I Know You", makes a reference to poet,

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

. The first single release from the album was the title track, "Unglamorous".

Reception

''Unglamorous'' was widely reviewed with a generally favorable reception. An analysis of reviews by

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 ...

assigned the album a score of 80 out of 100 placing the album just below the top rated albums of 2007."Lori McKenna: ''Unglamorous'' (2007): Reviews"

Writing for ''

'', critic Ken Tucker suggests the album may be "one of

007's 7S, 7s, or 7's may refer to : * Ryan Air Services (IATA code) * McKinsey 7S Framework, a management model * Rugby sevens, the seven-a-side version of rugby union * Canon EOS 7s, a 2004 35 mm film single-lens reflex camera See also * S7 (dis ...

best country albums."Tucker, Ken, "''Unglamorous''", ''

'' 119:33, 18 August 2007, p.47 A number of reviews expressed concern that the more slick Nashville production was not the best setting for McKenna's songs, and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' describes the sound at times as falling into "unglamorous midtempo muck." Other writers felt that the production, while evidently high-end, still served the musical direction of the album. According to ''

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 ...

'', "The subtle twang that crept into the smart folk and finely wrought Americana on McKenna's four previous albums has been shined up and sharpened, but the endeavor still feels natural."Anderman, Joan
"CD Review: Nashville adds some gloss, but McKenna retains her grace"
''

'', August 14, 2007

Tour

McKenna toured as an opening act for

and

on the first five weeks of their

Soul2Soul 2007 The Soul2Soul II Tour was the second co-headlining concert tour between American country music singers, and husband and wife, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Beginning as the Soul2Soul II Tour 2006, its shows featured elaborate production values usin ...

Tour in June and July 2007 to help promote the album. This 18 show run in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

introduced McKenna's music to 260,000 Hill and McGraw fans.Tucker, Ken, "''Unglamorous'' Life", ''

''119:31, 18 August 2007, p.35 McKenna also appeared with Hill on ''

Oprah Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

''. She performed on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'' on the day the album was released and was also featured on ''

Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the progra ...

''. ''

People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...

'' and

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', br ...

's '' O: The Oprah Magazine'' also featured pieces covering McKenna. McKenna tours with the support of a

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

band (musicians that do not appear on this recording) that includes

Mark Erelli Mark Erelli (born June 20, 1974) is an American singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist,Chilton, Martin''The Telegraph'' (UK), November 22, 2011. and touring folk musician from Reading, Massachusetts who earned a master's degree in evolutionary b ...

, Paul Kochanski, Russell Chudnofsky, and John Sands. She has since toured as an opener for country singer

Trisha Yearwood Patricia Lynn Yearwood (born September 19, 1964) is an American singer, actress, author and television personality. She rose to fame with her 1991 debut single " She's in Love with the Boy," which became a number one hit on the ''Billboard'' c ...

Track listing

# "I Know You" (McKenna) – 3:57 # "Unglamorous" (McKenna,

Liz Rose Elisabeth Wagner (born September 6, 1957), known professionally as Liz Rose, is an American country music songwriter, best known for her work with Taylor Swift. She has co-written seventeen of Swift's officially released songs, including "You Bel ...

) – 4:12 # "Your Next Lover" (McKenna) – 4:28 # "I'm Not Crazy" (McKenna) – 4:18 # "Falter" (McKenna) – 4:49 # "Witness to Your Life" (McKenna) – 3:31 # "Drinkin' Problem" (McKenna,

Mark D. Sanders Mark Daniel Sanders (born September 7, 1950) is an American country music songwriter. He has written 15 No. 1 hits, 50 singles, and over 200 cuts, including the famous Lee Ann Womack single "I Hope You Dance", co-written with Tia Sillers. Earl ...

) – 4:00 # "How to Survive" (McKenna, Rose) – 4:37 # "Written Permission" (McKenna) – 4:08 # "Confetti" (McKenna, Fred Wilhelm) – 4:01 # "Leaving This Life" (McKenna, Sanders) – 4:53

Credits

Musicians

* Lori McKenna – vocals and acoustic guitar *

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 Sou ...

– acoustic &

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 ...

s *

Dan Dugmore Dan Dugmore is an American session musician known primarily for playing the pedal steel guitar Born in 1949, Dugmore was raised in Pasadena, California. Influenced by the Flying Burrito Brothers, he learned to play steel guitar after Flying B ...

–

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 ...

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 ...

Stuart Duncan Stuart Duncan (born April 14, 1964) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo. Life Duncan was born in Quantico, Virginia, and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band. He ...

–

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 ...

Shannon Forrest Shannon Forrest (born August 22, 1973 in Easley, South Carolina) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. As a session drummer, he has contributed to the work of many well-known artists, and he is also a pr ...

–

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 ...

Byron Gallimore Byron Gallimore (born in Puryear, Tennessee) is an American record producer known for more than two decades of work in the field of country music. He has worked with artists Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Sugarland, Lee Ann Womack, and Jo Dee Messina. F ...

–

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 ...

& electric guitar * Tony Harrell –

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

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 ...

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

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 ...

– acoustic guitar, mandolin *

Glenn Worf Glenn Worf is an American bassist known mainly for his work as a session musician. He has recorded with many major country music acts and also tours with Mark Knopfler. Early life and education Worf was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Madis ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

*String arrangements on "Your Next Lover", "Falter" & "Leaving This Life" by Kristin Wilkinson ** Kristin Wilkinson – viola ** David Angell – violin ** David Davidson – Violin ** John Catchings – cello *Background vocals: ** Greg Barnhill – "I Know You", "Unglamorous", "Your Next Lover", "Written Permission" & "Confetti" **

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 ...

– "Unglamorous" **

– "Written Permission" **

– "Falter" **

– "Drinkin' Problem" **

– "How to Survive" **

– "I'm Not Crazy" & "Leaving this Life"

Production

* Produced by

* Recorded by Julian King at

Ocean Way Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

* Assistant engineers – David Bryant, PJ French, and Todd Shall * Additional editing and

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

– Erik Lutkins, Sara Lesher & Jesse Chrisman at Essential Sound, Nashville * Kelly Willis' background vocals: **Recorded at Premium Recording **Engineer Kevin Symanski * "Confetti" and "I Know You" ** Mixed by Julian King at Ocean Way, Nashville ** Mix assistants – Leslie Richter, David Bryant *"I'm Not Crazy" and "Drinkin' Problem" ** Mixed by Erik Lutkins at Essential sound, Nashville **Mix assistant – Sara Lesher * "Leaving This Life", "Unglamorous", "Your Next Lover", "Falter", "Witness to Your Life", "How to Survive", and "Written Permission" **Mixed by Byron Gallimore at Essential Sound, Nashville **Mix assistants – Erik Lutkins, sara Lesher and Jesse Chrisman *Mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering

Artwork

* Art direction & design – Stephen Walker * Art production – Aaron Horwitz * Photography – Andrew Southam, Michael "Mick" Wilson & Nancy Giroux

Management

Management – Brian Avnet, Amos Newman, & Michael Gorffaine

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control Lori McKenna albums 2007 albums Albums produced by Byron Gallimore Warner Records albums Albums produced by Tim McGraw