Keep on Loving You (album)
Encyclopedia
Keep On Loving You is the twenty-fifth studio album and twenty-fourth solo album by American country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 artist, Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

. The album was released August 18, 2009 on Starstruck/Valory and on Humphead Records in the UK, and was produced by Tony Brown
Tony Brown (record producer)
Tony Brown is an American country music record producer.He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina.Brown played piano for Elvis Presley. He toured with the TCB Band for much of Presley's final two years and was a part of the 1976 "Jungle Room" recording sessions at Graceland...

, Mark Bright, and McEntire.

Keep On Loving You is McEntire's first solo studio album in six years, since the release of 2003's Room to Breathe
Room to Breathe (Reba McEntire album)
-Personnel:Musicians* Bob Bailey – background vocals* Lisa Cochran – harmony vocals* J.T. Corenflos – electric guitar* Chip Davis – background vocals, harmony* Linda Davis – background vocals, harmony...

and her first for the Valory label (in conjunction with her company, Starstruck Entertainment). In 2008, she exited her label of twenty five years, MCA Nashville after the release of Reba: Duets
Reba: Duets
Reba: Duets is the twenty fourth studio album by American country music artist, Reba McEntire. The album was released September 18, 2007 on MCA Nashville Records and September 24, 2007 on Humphead Records in the UK, and was produced by Tony Brown, Dann Huff, McEntire, and Justin Timberlake.Reba:...

(2007). The album contains "Strange
Strange (Reba McEntire song)
"Strange" is the title of a song written by Wendell Mobley, Jason Sellers and Neil Thrasher. It was recorded by American country music artist Reba McEntire as her first release for the Valory label, a sister label of Big Machine Records. McEntire debuted the song on the Academy of Country Music...

," which is the highest-debuting single of McEntire's career, as well as the hit single "Consider Me Gone
Consider Me Gone
"Consider Me Gone" is the title of a song written by Steve Diamond and Marv Green. It was recorded by American country music artist Reba McEntire as her second release for the Valory label, a sister label of Big Machine Records. It is also the second single from her twenty-sixth studio album Keep...

," McEntire's first Number One hit since "Somebody
Somebody (Reba McEntire song)
"Somebody" is a country music song written by Dave Berg, Sam Tate, and Annie Tate. It was initially recorded by singer Mark Wills for his 2001 studio album Loving Every Minute. Reba McEntire later recorded the same song for her 2003 album Room to Breathe, releasing it as that album's second single...

" in August 2004. The album's third single, the title track, was released in February 2010 and has become a Top Ten hit on the country charts.

Despite changing labels, McEntire remains with Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is an American music group, the largest of the "big four" record companies by its commanding market share and its multitude of global operations...

 (which controls her entire catalog including her Mercury Nashville years), as Valory's parent label, Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records
Big Machine Records is an Independent American record label specializing in country music artists. It was launched in 2005 by former DreamWorks Records executive Scott Borchetta. The label was part of a joint venture between Borchetta and country singer Toby Keith, although Keith dropped his...

, is distributed by Universal.

Background

Keep On Loving You was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 in early 2009 and consists of thirteen tracks. The eighth track, "She's Turning 50 Today" was co-written by McEntire herself, as well as Liz Hengber and Tommy Lee James
Tommy Lee James
Tommy Lee James is an American country music songwriter and record producer. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, he is originally from Roanoke, Virginia. He graduated from Northside High School then attended Radford University where he studied voice...

. Many of the album's songs had previously been recorded by other country music artists. "I Want a Cowboy", was originally recorded by Katrina Elam
Katrina Elam
Katrina Ruth Elam is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Universal South Records in 2004, she released her self-titled debut album that year, charting in the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks with the #29 "No End in Sight" and the #59 "I Want a Cowboy"...

 on her self-titled
Katrina Elam (album)
Katrina Elam is the self-titled debut album of American country music artist Katrina Elam. It was released in 2004 on the Universal South Records label. The album peaked at #42 on the Billboard Top Country Albums charts and #33 on Top Heatseekers...

 debut album and "Pink Guitar" was recorded by Jasmine Rae
Jasmine Rae
Jasmine Rae is a classically trained Australian Country singer and songwriter who is best known for her song "Country Singer" and for winning the Telstra Road to Tamworth in 2008.-Early life:...

 on her debut album Look It Up. "Eight Crazy Hours" was recorded by Shelly Fairchild
Shelly Fairchild
Shelly Fairchild is an American music recording artist. Signed to Columbia Records in 2004, she released her debut album Ride in early 2005...

 on her debut album Ride
Ride (Shelly Fairchild album)
Ride is the debut album of American country music artist Shelly Fairchild, released in March 2005 on Columbia Records. It includes the singles "You Don't Lie Here Anymore", "Tiny Town" and "Kiss Me". Although "You Don't Lie Here Anymore" reached #35 on the U.S...

, and "Nothing to Lose" was recorded by Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood , is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."Trisha Yearwood signed with MCA...

 in 2007 on her Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits (Trisha Yearwood album)
Greatest Hits is the twelfth album by country singer Trisha Yearwood. The album is the final album released during Yearwood's association with the record company MCA, after she signed to Big Machine Records in early 2007...

release.

Critical reception

Thom Jurek of Allmusic praised the album's production, saying, "Despite its release on an indie, the production and approach are anything but, with the album being produced by Tony Brown
Tony Brown (record producer)
Tony Brown is an American country music record producer.He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina.Brown played piano for Elvis Presley. He toured with the TCB Band for much of Presley's final two years and was a part of the 1976 "Jungle Room" recording sessions at Graceland...

 and Mark Bright. The cream of country music's current chart crop wrote its 13 songs; it is certainly a radio-friendly collection that is supposed to showcase McEntire's adaptability and that she's still "got it," and can still score in the contemporary marketplace." Thom Jurek also found Keep On Loving You to radio friendly, calling the title track, "I'll Keep on Lovin' You" be "a midtempo ballad that is saturated in compressed guitars and Hammond B-3, big repetitive choruses, and a chorus of fiddles and backing vocals. McEntire's voice hasn't lost even a touch of its range and power; she's a belter who can hang with the best of them." He also felt the opening track, "Strange
Strange (Reba McEntire song)
"Strange" is the title of a song written by Wendell Mobley, Jason Sellers and Neil Thrasher. It was recorded by American country music artist Reba McEntire as her first release for the Valory label, a sister label of Big Machine Records. McEntire debuted the song on the Academy of Country Music...

" to follow the same format. He gave Keep On Loving You three out of five stars. Although the album was given a slightly less rating than The 9513 had given it, Jurek reviewed the album with a more positive responsse in general. In concluding his review, Jurek said, "The bottom line here is that Keep on Loving You may jar some longtime Reba fans on first listen, but despite the record's sound it's all her in this mix, and they will more than likely celebrate this. As far as the new fans this set clearly hopes to gain, it's got the right elements; if country music's finicky youth-obsessed radio and video machine can hear this set for what it is, listeners will connect in droves."

Bobby Peacock of Roughstock also gave a generally positive review, saying that some songs such as "Consider Me Gone", the second single, recalled her early-1990s work. He criticized the lyrics and "sometimes-sterile production" of some songs but added, "Despite the flaws, the album has more than enough redeeming qualities, and with any luck, the right single choices should reverse the long, slow decline that her musical career has been on since the beginning of the decade, and prove that age should not be a factor in an artist's success."

The 9513s Jim Malec, on the other hand, gave the production a negative response. Malec found Keep On Loving You to be long and feel "even longer due to its wordiness, its disappointing lack of focus, and its inability to capitalize on the momentum of a number of exemplary tracks." Jim Malec of The 9513 gave the album three-and-a-half out of five stars, with a less positive response. While Malec did call the title track a "beautifully subtle title track that she handles with an appropriately gentle touch," he was mainly displeased with the release. Concluding his review, Malec stated, "Keep on Loving You contains some of the most worthwhile Reba music released in a very long time, with compelling performances making up the bulk of the disc. But as an album it’s an absolute mess, and while it’s wonderful to hear Reba making an effort to reclaim some of her artistic credo–which she does here, make no mistake of that—the project is almost unlistenable in succession and would have significantly benefited from more specific and focused creative direction."

Whitney Pastorek of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

gave Keep On Loving You a "B-" rating, stating, "Though her voice has aged well, few of these tunes provide it enough of a challenge, and the ones that do often sound like something she's already done better."

Release

The album's lead single, "Strange
Strange (Reba McEntire song)
"Strange" is the title of a song written by Wendell Mobley, Jason Sellers and Neil Thrasher. It was recorded by American country music artist Reba McEntire as her first release for the Valory label, a sister label of Big Machine Records. McEntire debuted the song on the Academy of Country Music...

" was released April 6, 2009 to radio and was first performed at the Academy of Country Music Awards a few days before. The song became McEntire's highest-debuting single of her career, debuting at #39 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 chart. Within a week, the song rose eleven spaces to #28, eventually peaking at #11 on the chart by summer 2009, while also reaching #10 on the Mediabase
Mediabase
Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytical tools for radio and record industry professionals...

 country chart around the same time. McEntire released the album's second single, "Consider Me Gone
Consider Me Gone
"Consider Me Gone" is the title of a song written by Steve Diamond and Marv Green. It was recorded by American country music artist Reba McEntire as her second release for the Valory label, a sister label of Big Machine Records. It is also the second single from her twenty-sixth studio album Keep...

," to radio the day of the album's official release. Keep On Loving You was released August 18, 2009, becoming McEntire's second album to debut at #1 on both the Billboard Top Country Albums and Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 charts, with 96,000 copies sold its first week. This is lower than the 300,000 first-week sales for her album Reba: Duets
Reba: Duets
Reba: Duets is the twenty fourth studio album by American country music artist, Reba McEntire. The album was released September 18, 2007 on MCA Nashville Records and September 24, 2007 on Humphead Records in the UK, and was produced by Tony Brown, Dann Huff, McEntire, and Justin Timberlake.Reba:...

.
With the release, McEntire currently holds the record for being the female country artist with the most Billboard #1 albums. The record had previously been held by Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...

. It was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

.

Worldwide the album was fairly successful peaking at #16 on the ARIA
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...

, #5 on the UK Country Album Charts, and #98 on the Japan Oricon Top 100.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians
  • Eddie Bayers
    Eddie Bayers
    Eddie Bayers is an American session drummer who has played on 150 gold and platinum albums. He received the Academy of Country Music 'Drummer of the Year Award' for eight straight years, and has three times won the Nashville Music Awards 'Drummer of the Year'...

     – drums
  • Tom Bukovac – electric guitar
    Electric guitar
    An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

  • Ashley Cleveland
    Ashley Cleveland
    Ashley Cleveland is an American singer/songwriter perhaps best known as a background vocalist and Grammy-winning gospel singer. Ashley Cleveland was born in Knoxville, Tennessee...

     – background vocals
  • Perry Coleman – background vocals
  • Katrina Elam
    Katrina Elam
    Katrina Ruth Elam is an American country music singer and songwriter. Signed to Universal South Records in 2004, she released her self-titled debut album that year, charting in the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks with the #29 "No End in Sight" and the #59 "I Want a Cowboy"...

     – background vocals
  • Paul Franklin
    Paul Franklin (musician)
    Paul Franklin is an American multi-instrumentalist, known mainly for his work as a steel guitarist. He began his career in the 1970s as a member of Barbara Mandrell's road band; in addition he toured with Mel Tillis and Jerry Reed. He has since become a prolific session musician in Nashville,...

     – steel guitar
    Steel guitar
    Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...

  • Shannon Forrest – drums
  • Kenny Greenberg – electric guitar
  • Aubrey Haynie
    Aubrey Haynie
    Aubrey Haynie is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle and mandolin. In his career, he has recorded three studio albums for the Sugar Hill Records label, all three of which contained mostly songs that he wrote himself...

     – fiddle
    Fiddle
    The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...

  • Wes Hightower – background vocals
  • Charlie Judge – keyboards
    Keyboard instrument
    A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

  • Mike Johnson – Dobro
    Dobro
    Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...

    , steel guitar
  • Kim Keyes – background vocals
  • Wayne Kirkpatrick
    Wayne Kirkpatrick
    Wayne Kirkpatrick is an American singer/songwriter and musician born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana but now lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He graduated from Baton Rouge Magnet High School in 1979....

     – background vocals
  • Brent Mason
    Brent Mason
    Brent Mason is an American session guitarist and occasional songwriter. He is known primarily for his work in the field of country music. In addition to releasing two instrumental studio albums, he holds several credits as a songwriter...

     – electric guitar
  • Reba McEntire – lead vocals
  • Gordon Mote – piano
    Piano
    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

  • Steve Nathan – Hammond B-3 organ
  • Matt Rollings
    Matt Rollings
    Matt Rollings is an American composer, musician and record producer. He plays piano, organ, and keyboards.Known mainly for playing in Lyle Lovett's Large Band, he has worked with many artists, not all country...

     – piano
  • Jason Sellers
    Jason Sellers
    Jason Sellers is an American country music artist. After several years of touring the United States in his family's band, Sellers joined the road band of Ricky Skaggs. By 1997, he was signed to a recording contract with BNA Records, for whom he recorded two studio albums: 1997's I'm Your Man and...

     – background vocals
  • Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

  • Judson Spence
    Judson Spence
    Judson Spence is an American pop music singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist based in Nashville, Tennessee. He originally gained fame when he released his eponymously titled debut solo effort on Atlantic Records in 1988...

     – background vocals
  • Bryan Sutton
    Bryan Sutton
    Bryan Sutton is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicked acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays many other instruments including mandolin, banjo, and electric guitar....

     – acoustic guitar
    Acoustic guitar
    An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...

  • Llya Toshinsky – acoustic guitar
  • Glenn Worf
    Glenn Worf
    Glenn Worf is one of the premier Nashville session bassists. He was born in Dayton, Ohio but grew up in Madison, Wisconsin and has concentrated on the bass guitar since he was thirteen. He majored in music at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. Inevitably his talents forced him to abandon the...

     – bass guitar
  • Jennifer Wrinkle – background vocals


Technical personnel
  • Chris Ashburn – assistant
  • Derek Bason – engineering
    Audio engineering
    An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...

    , mixing
  • Tristan Brock Jones – assistant
  • Todd Cassetty – design
  • Nathan Dickinson – digital editing
  • Trey Fanjoy
    Trey Fanjoy
    Trey Fanjoy is a country music and pop music video director. Fanjoy has directed over 150 major label music videos. Her videos have appeared on CMT, VH-1, GAC, The Nashville Network, CMT Canada, and MTV.-Music videos:...

     – director
  • Terry Gordon – stylist
  • Mike "Frog" Griffith – production coordination
  • Russ Harrington – photography
  • Steve Marcantionio – engineering
  • Erin McAnally – production coordination
  • Whitney Sutton – copy coordination
  • Todd Tidwell – engineering
  • Hank Williams – mastering
  • Kirsten Wines – production assistant

Album

Chart (2009) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums 1
U.S. Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

1
Canadian Albums Chart
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...

5
UK Top 40 Country Albums 5

End of year charts

Chart (2010) Year-end
2010
US Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

142
US Billboard Top Country Albums 24

Singles

Year Song Chart positions
US Country
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

US
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

CAN
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...

2009 "Strange" 11 76 94
"Consider Me Gone" 1 38 52
2010 "I Keep On Loving You" 7 78 97

Chart procession

Release history

Country Date
United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

August 18, 2009
Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

August 20, 2009
United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

August 31, 2009
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

August 31, 2009
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