''El Rio'' is the third studio album by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

artist Frankie Ballard. Produced by

Marshall Altman Marshall Noah Altman is a Nashville-based A&R for Nettwerk Music Group, and a record producer and songwriter who owns the Galt Line studio in Nashville, Tennessee. He was formerly an A&R person for such labels as Capitol Records, Hollywood Recor ...

, the album was released on June 10, 2016 via

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

. It includes the singles " It All Started with a Beer," "Cigarette," and "

You'll Accomp'ny Me "You'll Accomp'ny Me" is a song written and recorded by American rock music, rock singer Bob Seger. It appears on his album ''Against the Wind (album), Against the Wind''. Content The song is in the key of E major with a main chord pattern of A� ...

Critical reception

''El Rio'' received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, with several ranking it on their lists of best albums of 2016. ''

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

'', which named the album one of the 25 Best Country & Americana Albums of 2016, noted that "Ballard's third album packs plenty of country-rock punch, with lyrics that reference Guns N' Roses and songs that evoke the rootsy sweep of the American heartland." ''Taste of Country'' lauded Ballard's work, including it on their list of 10 best albums of 2016 list, noting that ''El Rio'' was "reminiscent of a great ‘70s live album like Bob Seger's ''

Live Bullet ''‘Live’ Bullet'' is a live album by American rock band Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band, released on April 12, 1976. It was recorded at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan, during the heyday of that arena's time as an important rock concert ...

''". The review further states that "Ballard excels as a vocalist and musician in space," with his "50-grit sandpaper voice dominat ngthe album with previously unheard versatility." Annie Reuter writing for Sounds Like Nashville was hugely positive, calling El Rio a "standout release" and writing that "Frankie Ballard’s brand of country music borrows just as much from rock and roll as it does country and his latest release El Rio showcases both genres flawlessly," ultimately calling the album "a perfect blend of rock and country.

Commercial performance

''El Rio'' debuted on the ''Billboard'' 200 at No. 68, and on the Top Country Albums chart at No. 9, selling 7,000 copies in its first week. The album has sold 13,300 copies in the US as of August 2016.

Track listing

Personnel

–

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, ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, background vocals * Frankie Ballard – acoustic guitar,

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

, percussion, lead vocals *Bryan Dawley –

dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars 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 a gui ...

*Sean Hurley –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

*Ken Johnson – background vocals *Tim Lauer – keyboards *Rob McNelley – acoustic guitar, electric guitar *Aaron Sterling –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, percussion

Chart performance

Album

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:El Rio (album) 2016 albums Frankie Ballard albums Warner Records albums Albums produced by Marshall Altman