''Every Little Word'' is the fourth 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

Hal Ketchum Hal Michael Ketchum (April 9, 1953 – November 23, 2020) was an American country music singer and songwriter. He released eleven studio albums from 1986 to 2014, including nine for divisions of Curb Records. Ketchum's 1991 album ''Past the Point ...

, released on May 31, 1994. It peaked at #31, better than his previous album, on ''Billboards

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...

chart. Of the five singles released from the album, "Stay Forever" was the most successful, peaking at # 8 on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data along with digital sales and streaming. ...

chart. The other singles, "(Tonight We Just Might) Fall in Love Again", "That's What I Get for Losin' You", "Every Little Word", and "Veil of Tears" peaked at #20, #22, #49 and #56, respectively.

Patty Loveless Patty Loveless (born Patricia Lee Ramey, January 4, 1957) is an American country music singer. She began performing in her teenaged years before signing her first recording contract with MCA Records' Nashville division in 1985. While her first ...

sings harmony vocals on "Another Day Gone".

Critical reception

Michael McCall of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

praised the album as being Ketchum's most consistent and most country album to date. He wrote that Ketchum "reconciles the thoughtfulness of his folkie heart with the verve of modern country, tapping into the directness and earthiness that ties them together.

Track listing

Production

As listed in liner notes *Produced by Allen Reynolds and Jim Rooney *Recorded and Mixed by Mark Miller *Assistant engineer: Duke Duczer *Mastered by Denny Purcell at Georgetown Masters, Nashville, TN *Digital editing by Carlos Grier

Personnel

As listed in liner notes *Sam Bacco - percussion * Richard Bennett - acoustic guitar *

Gary Burr Gary Burr (born 1952 in Meriden, Connecticut) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer, primarily in the country music genre. Many of the songs he has written have become Top-10 hits, the first of which was " Love's Been A Litt ...

- background vocals on "Drive On" *

Sam Bush Charles Samuel Bush (born April 13, 1952) is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival. ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

*Keith Carper - background vocals *

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 Bur ...

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

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 ...

- lead vocals *Chris Leuzinger - acoustic guitar, electric guitar *

- background vocals on "Another Day Gone" *Scott Neubert - background vocals *Russ Pahl - Dobro on "Another Day Gone", acoustic guitar on "Drive On" *Milton Sledge - drums *Pete Wasner - piano,

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 ...

* Bobby Wood -

Hammond B-3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created from rotat ...

, synthesizer *Bob Wray - bass guitar Strings by The

Nashville String Machine Nashville String Machine is a musical collective comprising session musicians, based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Members of the group have been credited on records dating from 1972 to the present, although the group was formally formed ...

arranged by Charles Cochran

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control 1994 albums Hal Ketchum albums Albums produced by Allen Reynolds Curb Records albums