"Joey" is a song co-written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

duo

Sugarland Sugarland is an American country music duo founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The duo consists of singer-songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (vocals, guitar, mandolin). They were founded in 2002, at which point Kristen Hall (vo ...

. The duo's two members,

Jennifer Nettles Jennifer Odessa Nettles (born September 12, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer. Nettles is the lead vocalist of the duo Sugarland alongside Kristian Bush, and prior to this she fronted the Atlanta-based band ...

and

Kristian Bush Kristian Merrill Bush (born March 14, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Bush is one half of the country music duo Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles, and was a member of the folk rock duo Billy Pilgrim with Andrew Hyr ...

, wrote it along with Bill Anderson. It was released in July 2009 as the fourth single from the duo's album ''

Love on the Inside ''Love on the Inside'' is the third studio album by American country music duo Sugarland, first released on July 22, 2008, as a Deluxe Fan Edition, including five bonus tracks, with the standard edition one week later, on July 29, on Mercury Nashvi ...

''. Sugarland's twelfth single release, it debuted at number 50 on the ''

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 ...

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 from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts in July 2009.

Content

"Joey" was written by Sugarland's two members,

and

, along with country singer Bill Anderson. The song is a mid-tempo

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, backed primarily by

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, ...

and

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 ...

. In it, the narrator blames herself when her love, a teenager named Joey, is killed in a car accident. The lyrics are a series of "what if"s, with the narrator asking what would have happened if she had taken the keys and driven him home. In the chorus, she speaks to Joey, apologizing and hoping he can hear her message. In the second verse, she asks what would have happened had she never fallen in love with him at all. Nettles said that when she, Bush, and Anderson were writing the song, Anderson compared it to the

teenage tragedy song A teenage tragedy song is a style of ballad in popular music that peaked in popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Examples of the style are also known as "tear jerkers", "death discs" or "splatter platters", among other colorful sobriquet ...

s of the 1950s and 1960s. On the CD-

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

package ''

Live on the Inside ''Live on the Inside'' is a live DVD/CD set from country music duo Sugarland. It is their first live CD/DVD set and their fourth album overall. It was released on August 4, 2009, exclusively at Wal-Mart stores, and debuted at number one on both ...

'', Sugarland opens the song with a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

's "

Nightswimming "Nightswimming" is a song by American alternative rock band R.E.M. It was released in 1993 as the fifth single from the group's eighth album, ''Automatic for the People'' (1992). "Nightswimming" is a ballad featuring singer Michael Stipe accompa ...

". A performance of "Nightswimming/Joey" received rotation on CMT as a music video for the song.

Critical reception

The song received mostly positive feedback from critics. Chris Willman of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' cited the song as a standout track in his review of the album, saying that it showed that the duo is "on surer footing when they get down to emotional specifics."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

critic Thom Jurek described it favorably in his review of the album as well, saying, "The emotion in Nettles' voice — especially as it is buoyed by Bush's in the refrain and the wide-open ringing guitars and mandolins — is devastating." Bobby Peacock of Roughstock reviewed the song positively, saying that its lyrics were "just vague enough to be mysterious" and that it was a "risky" single release because it was a ballad being released in the summertime. Melinda Newman of HitFix also gave a favorable review, describing the song as a "country gothic mid-tempo about loss and regret," saying that it had an

alternative music Alternative music may refer to the following types of music: *Alternative rock *Alternative pop *Alternative R&B *Neo soul, sometimes known as alternative soul *Alternative reggaeton *Alternative hip hop *Alternative dance *Alternative metal *Chris ...

sound similar to R.E.M. Dan Milliken of Country Universe gave a B− review. He said that the song's chorus "delivers practically nothing" compared to the verses, whose "what if" structure he considered unique.

Jim Malec Jim Malec is an American journalist and pop music critic known for writing about country music. Malec attended State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota, where he worked as an editor for the college's student newspaper and was involved in a cen ...

of The 9513 gave a thumbs-down rating, calling the song "a thematically schizophrenic lyric that suffers from a debilitating lack of focus." He also said that Nettles' vocals were not as "raw" as other similar songs by the duo.

Personnel

The following musicians perform on this track: *Brandon Bush -

Hammond 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 ...

–

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

and

*Paul Bushnell –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

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 ...

–

12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

*Michael Landau –

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 ...

–

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and background vocals

Chart performance

"Joey" debuted at number 50 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

chart for the week of July 4, 2009. It reached a peak of number 17 in September 2009, becoming their first single to miss the Top 10 since "Down in Mississippi (Up to No Good)" also reached number 17 in 2006. The song also debuted at number 98 on the U.S. ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

in late August 2009, and peaked at number 89.

References

{{authority control 2000s ballads 2008 songs 2009 singles Sugarland songs Mercury Records singles Country ballads Teenage tragedy songs Music videos directed by Shaun Silva Song recordings produced by Byron Gallimore Songs written by Bill Anderson (singer) Songs written by Jennifer Nettles Songs written by Kristian Bush Vehicle wreck ballads