''It's About Time'' is the fifty-third studio album by

Hank Williams Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style has been described as a blend of rock, blues, and country. He is the son of count ...

released by

Nash Icon Records Nash Icon Records is an American country music record label established in 2014 by Big Machine Label Group and Cumulus Media. Nash Icon Records is located on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label launched with country music icon Reba McEnt ...

on January 15, 2016. The album includes re-recordings of previously released material and new songs.

Reception

Critical response

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 advertis ...

'' felt that the album's lyrics sent a mixed message, writing, "On the title track of his new album, It's About Time, billed as his 37th, he complains he has 'had enough of this weird pop-country sound.' But that doesn't stop him from recruiting contemporary country talents and tricks for help." ''

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 ...

'' panned the album, writing "Country vet rocks out, waves guns around, incites snoozes".

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 ...

gave the album 4 out of 5, writing "there's not a sense of a

bro-country Bro-country is a form of country pop originating in the 2010s, and is influenced by 21st-century hip hop, hard rock, and electronica. Bro-country songs are often musically upbeat with lyrics about attractive young women, the consumption of alco ...

sop because this has swagger and, as the man himself says at the song's end, 'the band played like they were pissed.' All through ''It's About Time'', Hank Jr. and his colleagues play it big and burly, laying into barroom boogies and rocking country as if they never went out of style. Williams knows this isn't true, of course. He notes that 'Those Days Are Gone' -- itself an ode to the days when you could hear

Haggard Haggard may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Haggard (band), a German symphonic metal group * ''Haggard'' (TV series), a British comedy television series * '' Haggard: The Movie'', a 2003 film by Bam Margera * King Haggard, a fictiona ...

, Coe, and

Jones Jones or Joneses may refer to: People and fictional characters *Jones (surname), a common Welsh and English surname * List of people with surname Jones, including fictional characters ** Justice Jones (disambiguation) ** Judge Jones (disambiguati ...

on the radio -- but he sings this ode to olden days without a tear in his eye, possibly because he's having too much fun once again raising a ruckus."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at No. 2 on Top Country Albums, the highest he's reached on the chart since the release of '' Lone Wolf'' in 1990. The album also debuted at No. 15 on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 24,000 copies in its first week. It sold a further 9,000 copies in its second week. The album has sold 60,800 copies in the US as of March 2016.

Track listing

Personnel

*Robert Bailey - background vocals *

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac (born December 20, 1968) is an American session guitarist and producer. He is also a popular YouTube personality with over 100,000 subscribers. He is a five-time winner of Music Row's Top Ten Album All-Stars award in the guitar categ ...

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, ...

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 ...

Eric Church Kenneth Eric Church (born May 3, 1977) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has released seven studio albums through Capitol Nashville since 2005. His debut album, 2006's '' Sinners Like Me'', produced three singles on the ''Billb ...

- duet vocals on "Are You Ready for the Country" *

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 *Glen Duncan -

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

*Kim Fleming - background vocals * Paul Franklin -

steel guitar A steel guitar () 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 conventional guitar i ...

Brantley Gilbert Brantley Keith Gilbert (born January 20, 1985) is an American country rock singer, songwriter and record producer from Jefferson, Georgia. He was originally signed to Colt Ford's label, Average Joes Entertainment, where he released '' Modern D ...

- vocals on "Born to Boogie" *Jimmy Hall -

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

*Vicki Hampton - background vocals *Mark Hill -

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 ...

*Victor Indrizzo -

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 ...

Chris Janson Christopher Pierre Janson (born April 2, 1986) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Janson has recorded three full-length albums, '' Buy Me a Boat'', '' Everybody'', and '' Real Friends'', through Warner Records Nashville, along wi ...

, background vocals *Kim Keyes - background vocals *Tim Lauer - keyboards,

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 ...

Aaron Lewis Aaron Francis Lewis (born April 13, 1972) is an American musician who is best known as the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and founding member of the alternative metal band Staind, with whom he released eight studio albums. Since 2010, he has p ...

- background vocals *Regina McCrary - background vocals *

Justin Moore Justin Cole Moore (born March 30, 1984) is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Big Machine Records imprint Valory Music Group. For that label, he has released seven studio albums: his self titled debut in 2009, '' Outla ...

- vocals on "Born to Boogie" *

Brad Paisley Brad Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His first success came in 1997 as the writer of David Kersh's "Another You (David Kersh song), Another You". After this, he signed with ...

- electric guitar solo and vocals on "Born to Boogie" *Deborah Person - background vocals *

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the popular ...

- bass guitar *Tara Thompson - 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 al ...

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 in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

, acoustic guitar *

- lead vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2016 albums Big Machine Records albums Hank Williams Jr. albums Albums produced by Julian Raymond