''Lines, Vines and Trying Times'' is the fourth studio album by American pop band the

Jonas Brothers The Jonas Brothers () are an American pop rock band formed in 2005 comprising brothers Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, and Nick Jonas. Raised in Wyckoff, New Jersey, the Jonas Brothers moved to Little Falls, New Jersey, in 2005, where they wrote thei ...

. It was in released in Europe on June 12, 2009, and released in the US on June 16. The album received mixed reviews from critics and fans. In its first week, the album sold 247,000 copies, debuting at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200. It was their third and last album released under

Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group which focuses on pop, rock, alternative, hip hop and country genres, also specializing in recordings for a more mature audience not suitable for the flagship Wal ...

, and their last before a hiatus, which lasted from October 2013 to March 2019.

Background

In an interview with ''

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 ...

'', Nick Jonas explained the title, ''Lines, Vines and Trying Times'' as "a bit of poetry we came up with on the set for the TV show." On the meaning, he stated, "Lines are something that someone feeds you, whether it's good or bad. Vines are the things that get in the way of the path that you're on, and trying times – well, obviously we're younger guys, but we're aware of what's going on in the world and we're trying to bring some light to it." He noted, "this new album for us, I wouldn't say it's a big jump, but it definitely is a progression in our music and a growth for us. It has a lot more kinds of horns and a lot more strings." Added Joe Jonas, "there's more to the music rather than just a typical kind of relationship song."

Promotion

The Jonas Brothers were promoting the album on their 2009 world tour which began on May 18, 2009 in

Lima, Peru Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

. The track "Fly with Me" was featured during the end credits of '' Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian''. They hosted three live web chats via

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(May 7, May 28 and June 4) to promote the album. The brothers performed songs off the album for a

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concert which was released on June 9, 2009. They performed on ''

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'' on June 12, 2009 as part of GMA's Summer Concert Series.

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premiered all the songs from the album over a period of four days between June 11 and June 14. The entire album premiered on June 16, 2009. On June 21, 2009, they co-hosted and performed at the 2009 MuchMusic Video Awards. The Jonas Brothers appeared on various television programs to promote the album which included: '' Live with Regis & Kelly'', ''

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'', ''

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'', '' El Hormiguero'', ''

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'', '' The Today Show'', '' Ellen'' and ''

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''. On August 9, 2009, they hosted the 2009

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along with performing "Much Better".

Critical reception

Reviews for the album were mixed, both from critics and fans saying that it was "premature". According to review aggregator

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, the album has received mixed or average reviews, scoring 56 out of 100 points based on 11 reviews.

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named "overthinking and over-production" as the album's main flaws, and noted that the group's combination of "teen pop that skews adult in its sound and form" seemed effortless on their previous album, '' A Little Bit Longer'', but felt that on ''Lines'' the "seams are showing."

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

of the ''

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'' claimed, "The rush to maturity is, well, premature," and added that "the strings and horns ..only bog things down." ''

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'' criticized "Don't Charge Me for the Crime," calling it "the sonic equivalent of being held at gunpoint by a baby rabbit," but praised "Black Keys" as being the most honest track, adding that "its quiet brushstrokes of teenage despair easily transcend ''Lines'' misdemeanor mutinies." The ''

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'' criticized "World War III," saying, "it sounds like they just pulled a collective hernia."

Singles

"Paranoid" was released as the album's lead single on May 12, 2009. Hollywood Records confirmed on April 29, 2009 that the track "

Paranoid Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of con ...

" would be the album's official single. On May 7, 2009 the song debuted on

. It was released as an official radio single on May 8, 2009 and as a digital download on May 12. The music video was directed by Brendan Malloy and Tim Wheeler. The music video for Paranoid premiered on May 23, 2009 on Disney Channel. Paranoid peaked at number 37 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "Fly with Me" was released as a single on June 9, 2009. The song was first used during the end credits of the movie '' Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian''. A music video for the song premiered on

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

on June 7, 2009. "Fly with Me" peaked at number 83 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, making it one of the group's lower charting singles. ;Promotional single "Keep It Real" was released as promotional single on September 6, 2009. Critiques of the song noted its strong similarities to Maxine Nightingale' 1975 recording " Right Back Where We Started From".

Commercial performance

''Lines, Vines and Trying Times'' debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 with 247,000 copies, becoming the Jonas Brothers' second number-one album in the country. As of March 2015, the album has sold 757,000 copies in the United States.

Track listing

Limited Edition Fan Pack Bonus DVD #Exclusive Photo Shoot Video Montage #Jonas Brothers Questions And Answers #Jonas Brothers Talk You Through The Album *Music videos: #Paranoid (Music Video) #Paranoid (Making of the Video) #Paranoid (Karaoke Version) #Fly with Me (Music Video) #Fly with Me (Karaoke Version)

Personnel

Jonas Brothers * Kevin Jonas II – lead

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, backing vocals *

Joe Jonas Joseph Adam Jonas (born August 15, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He rose to fame as a member of the pop rock band the Jonas Brothers, alongside his brothers Kevin Jonas, Kevin and Nick Jonas, Nick. The group released their ...

– lead vocals *

Nick Jonas Nicholas Jerry Jonas (born September 16, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. Jonas began acting on Broadway at the age of seven, and released his debut single in 2002; this caught the attention of Columbia Records, where Jonas ...

– guitars, lead vocals, 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 ...

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

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 ...

on "What Did I Do to Your Heart", "Hey Baby" and "Keep It Real" Additional musicians * John Fields –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, guitars, keyboards, programming, vocals,

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 ...

, baritone guitar, talk box * John Taylor – lead guitar, vocals *Dorian Crozier – drums, percussion, programming * Ken Chastain – percussion, programming, keyboards *Steve Lu – keyboards *Commissioner Mike – police scanner on "Don't Charge Me for the Crime" *

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

– guest rap on "Don't Charge Me for the Crime" *Chris Beaty – guitar solo on "Much Better" * Will Owsley – pedal steel and guitar on "Turn Right";

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 ...

and baritone guitar on "What Did I Do to Your Heart" *

Stuart Duncan Stuart Ian 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 ...

–

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 ...

on "Turn Right" and "What Did I Do to Your Heart" * Greg Garbowsky – bass on "What Did I Do to Your Heart" * Jon Lind –

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, ...

on "What Did I Do to Your Heart" * Frédéric Yonnet –

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 ...

on "What Did I Do to Your Heart" * Bruce Bouton – pedal steel on "Before the Storm" *

Miley Cyrus Miley Ray Cyrus ( , born Destiny Hope Cyrus, November 23, 1992) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and director. Regarded as a contemporary pop icon, Cyrus has been recognized for her evolving artistry and image reinventions. She is ...

– guest vocal on "Before the Storm" * Millard Powers – 12-string acoustic guitar on "Before The Storm" * Michael Bland – drums on "Hey Baby" and "Paranoid" * Jonny Lang –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

on "Hey Baby" *Steve Roehm –

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

on "Paranoid" *Strings on "Black Keys", "Don't Speak", "Fly with Me", and "Before the Storm" arranged and conducted by Steve Lu and performed by Eric Gorfain, Daphne Chen, Radu Pieptea, Wes Precourt (

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

s), Caroline Buckman, Briana Bandy (

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

s), Richard Dodd and Matt Cooker (

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

s). * Horns on "Much Better" and "Hey Baby" arranged by Michael Nelson and performed by The Hornheads: Steve Strand (lead trumpet), Dave Jensen (

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

), Michael Nelson (

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

), Kenni Holmen (

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

), Kathy Jensen (

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

). *Horns on "Poison Ivy" arranged by Ken Chastain and performed by Matt Darling (trombone), Joe Mechtenberg (

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

), Zack Lozier (trumpet). *Horns on "World War III" arranged by

Jerry Hey Jerry Hey (born 1950) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, horn arranger, string arranger, orchestrator and session musician who has played on hundreds of commercial recordings, including Michael Jackson's '' Thriller'', '' Rock with Y ...

(trumpet), Gary Grant (trumpet), Dan Higgins (saxophone), Bill Reichenbach Jr. (trombone). *Horns on "Keep It Real" arranged by Steve Lu and performed by Dan Fornero (trumpet), George Stanford (trombone), Brian Gallagher (saxophone). Production * John Fields – producer, engineer, mixing *Paul David Hager – mixing, additional engineering *Will Owsley – additional engineering *Ken Chastain – additional engineering *Michael B. Nelson – additional engineering *Steven Miller – strings engineer *Wesley Seidman – assistant strings engineer * Dave McNair – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

External links

Jonas Brothers' official website
{{Authority control 2009 albums Jonas Brothers albums Hollywood Records albums Albums produced by John Fields (record producer)