''What a Song Can Do'' is the ninth studio album by American country music band Lady A. It was released on October 22, 2021 via Big Machine Records. The album includes the single " Like a Lady" and thirteen other tracks. It is also the first new album released under the name Lady A and second after the deluxe edition of '' Ocean'' in 2020.

Background

Prior to the album's release, the band issued the extended play '' What a Song Can Do (Chapter One)'', containing tracks from the album. This extended play contains seven songs, and the album contains seven more. Thirteen of the project's fourteen songs were co-written by at least one member of the band; Dave Haywood wrote "Workin' on This Love" by himself and even sings lead vocals on it, making this the first and so far only album to feature a solo from him. The track "Friends Don't Let Friends" features guest vocals from

Carly Pearce Carly Pearce (born Carly Cristyne Slusser; April 24, 1990) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Her material contains elements of both traditional and contemporary country-pop music. Pearce began performing professionally in her ...

, Thomas Rhett, and Darius Rucker. Dann Huff is the album's producer.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

of AllMusic wrote that "The 14 songs never deviate from the middle of the road, a path they follow with the urgency of a Sunday afternoon drive ..they give the arrangements enough room to be breezy and help keep the melody in the forefront -- tricks that make for a very pleasant listen, even if it is quite a familiar one."

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from liner notes.

Lady A

* Dave Haywood - vocals (all tracks),

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, ...

(all tracks), bouzouki (track 8),

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 ...

(tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 10-13), percussion (track 8), resonator guitar (track 8),

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

(tracks 1, 8),

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 ...

(track 1), tambourine (track 10), bar noise (track 1) * Charles Kelley - vocals (all tracks) * Hillary Scott - vocals (all tracks)

Additional musicians

*Roy Agee - trombone (track 11),

bass trombone The bass trombone (german: Bassposaune, it, trombone basso) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to ...

(track 11) *David Angell - violin (track 7) *Monisa Angell - viola (track 7) *Kevin Bate - cello (track 7) *Jenny Bifano - violin (track 7) *

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 ...

- electric guitar (all tracks except 11 & 13) *Julian Bunetta - programming (track 9) *Vinnie Ciesielski -

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

(track 11), trumpet (track 11), horn arrangements (track 11) * Dave Cohen -

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 s ...

(tracks 1, 2, 6, 14),

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 ...

(track 3), piano (tracks 2, 4-7), programming (track 11), synthesizer (tracks 4, 5, 7, 11, 12), synth bass (track 11) *David Davidson - violin (track 3) *

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 ...

(track 3) *Justin Ebach - electric guitar (track 5), programming (track 5), synthesizer (track 5), synth bass (track 5) *Sam Ellis - programming (track 2) *Alicia Engstrom - violin (track 7) *Shannon Forrest -

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 ...

(tracks 10, 11, 13), percussion (track 13) * Paul Franklin -

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 ...

(tracks 2, 4, 5, 10, 13, 14) * Jesse Frasure - programming (track 4) *Chris Gelbuda - electric guitar (track 11) *Austin Hoke - cello (track 7) * Dann Huff - bouzouki (track 5),

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 ...

(tracks 3, 5), dobro solo (track 5), electric guitar (tracks 1-3, 5, 6, 9-12, 14), electric guitar solo (tracks 1-3, 6, 9, 12, 14), high string acoustic guitar (track 5), programming (tracks 2-4, 9-13), synthesizer (tracks 10, 13), synth bass (track 3) *David Huff - programming (all tracks), synth bass (track 10) *Jun Iwasaki - violin (track 7) * Martin Johnson - electric guitar (track 3) *Charlie Judge - B-3 organ (tracks 9, 11), piano (tracks 2, 11), synthesizer (tracks 2, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13), synth bass (track 12) *Betsy Lamb - viola (track 7) *Tony Lucido - bass guitar (tracks 10, 11, 13) *Justin Niebank - programming (all tracks except 3) *

Brandon Paddock Brandon Paddock is an American Pop and Rock musician and producer and member of Electronic Pop/Dance duo Fancy Cars. Commercial success Paddock has received two RIAA Platinum Records (awarded for the shipment of 1,000,000 units) for his work on A ...

- dobro (track 3), programming (track 3) *

- featured vocals (track 9) *Jordan Reynolds - programming (track 1) * Thomas Rhett - featured vocals (track 9) *Jerry Roe - drums (tracks 8, 9), percussion (track 8) * Darius Rucker - featured vocals (track 9) * Jimmie Lee Sloas - bass guitar (tracks 1-9, 12, 14) *

Aaron Sterling Aaron Sterling (born July 9, 1980) is an American drummer, producer, engineer, and session musician who lives in Los Angeles. The son of professional musicians, Sterling grew up in Texas and Nashville, Tennessee, before moving to L.A. in 2000. K ...

- drums (tracks 1-7, 12, 14), percussion (tracks 3, 6, 7, 14) * Ilya Toshinsky - acoustic guitar (all tracks except 3 & 7),

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 ...

(tracks 3, 5, 9), dobro (track 7), mandolin (track 3) *Alysa Vanderheym - synthesizer (track 10), background vocals (track 10) *Derek Wells - electric guitar (tracks 10, 11, 13), electric guitar solo (track 11) *Kris Wilkinson - string arrangements (track 7) *Karen Winkelmann - violin (track 7)

Chart performance

References

{{Lady A 2021 albums Big Machine Records albums Lady A albums Albums produced by Dann Huff