Up on the Ridge
Encyclopedia
Upon its release, Up on the Ridge received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 80, based on 7 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".
Jessica Phillips with Country Weekly
magazine rated the album four and a half stars out of five. She praised the sound of the album, saying that it "is built on a bedrock of bluegrass sensibility, but is colored by Dierks' various country, rock and folk influences." Jonathan Keefe with Slant Magazine
also rated the album with four and a half out of five stars, commenting that the album's "overall aesthetic... proves Bentley's deep respect for— and his legitimate, intuitive understanding of— country traditions, even as he uses those traditions in forward-thinking, progressive ways."
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
with Allmusic gave it four stars, and said it wasn't a traditional bluegrass album, saying "The very presence of a U2
song suggests that this is not a traditional bluegrass album, either in its content -- or in its approach, as he sometimes puts picking in the backseat, letting the instruments strum sweetly as he croons." Wade Jessen with Billboard
called it "a thrilling ride from start to finish" and called the track "Down in the Mine" "the standout track".
Hot Country Songs
chart for the week of May 1, 2010. The song later peaked at #21 in late July 2010, making it the first single of Bentley's career to miss the Top 20. The second single from the album, "Draw Me a Map," was released to country radio on August 23, 2010. It was even less successful than the title track, with a peak of #33, becoming his lowest charting single to date.
Additional musicians
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 80, based on 7 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".
Jessica Phillips with Country Weekly
Country Weekly
Country Weekly is an American tabloid style weekly magazine established in 1994. The magazine focuses on country music stars and events, and regularly features exclusive interviews with recording artists and country music news...
magazine rated the album four and a half stars out of five. She praised the sound of the album, saying that it "is built on a bedrock of bluegrass sensibility, but is colored by Dierks' various country, rock and folk influences." Jonathan Keefe with Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
also rated the album with four and a half out of five stars, commenting that the album's "overall aesthetic... proves Bentley's deep respect for— and his legitimate, intuitive understanding of— country traditions, even as he uses those traditions in forward-thinking, progressive ways."
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
with Allmusic gave it four stars, and said it wasn't a traditional bluegrass album, saying "The very presence of a U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
song suggests that this is not a traditional bluegrass album, either in its content -- or in its approach, as he sometimes puts picking in the backseat, letting the instruments strum sweetly as he croons." Wade Jessen with Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
called it "a thrilling ride from start to finish" and called the track "Down in the Mine" "the standout track".
Singles
The title track is the first single from Up on the Ridge, and was sent to radio stations on April 12, and debuted at #59 on the U.S. BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
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 for the week of May 1, 2010. The song later peaked at #21 in late July 2010, making it the first single of Bentley's career to miss the Top 20. The second single from the album, "Draw Me a Map," was released to country radio on August 23, 2010. It was even less successful than the title track, with a peak of #33, becoming his lowest charting single to date.
Track listing
Personnel
Production- Brandon Bell - Assistant Engineer, Engineer, Mixing Assistant
- Joanna Carter - Art Direction
- Danny ClinchDanny ClinchDanny Clinch is a photographer and film director who was born in Toms River, New Jersey in 1964. He graduated from Toms River High School East in 1982 and after attending Ocean County College, he attended the New England School of Photography, a two-year institution located in Boston, MA.Clinch...
- Photography - Michelle Hall - Art Producer
- Jeri Heiden - Design
- John Heiden - Design
- Scott Johnson - Production Assistant
- Ben Liscio - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
- Sangwook "Sunny" Nam - Mastering Associate
- Gary PaczosaGary PaczosaGary Paczosa is a nine-time Grammy Award winning audio engineer. He has also been nominated 5 times for the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. He is best known for working with Alison Krauss and Dolly Parton numerous times....
- Engineer, Mixing - Doug Sax - Mastering
Additional musicians
- Larry Atamanuik - Drums, Percussion
- Mike BubDel McCoury BandThe Del McCoury Band is a bluegrass band. Originally Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals with Del on guitar and his brother Jerry on bass, the band went through a number of changes until the 1980s when the band solidified its line-up, adding McCoury's sons, Ronnie and Robbie on mandolin and banjo,...
- Bass - Sam BushSam BushSam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
- Fiddle, Mandolin, Vocal Harmony - Jason CarterDel McCoury BandThe Del McCoury Band is a bluegrass band. Originally Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals with Del on guitar and his brother Jerry on bass, the band went through a number of changes until the 1980s when the band solidified its line-up, adding McCoury's sons, Ronnie and Robbie on mandolin and banjo,...
- Fiddle - Stuart DuncanStuart DuncanStuart Duncan is a bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo. Born in Quantico, Virginia and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band, he has been a member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band since 1985, and is a much-in-demand session musician...
- Cello, Fiddle, Octave Fiddle - Chris EldridgeChris EldridgeChris Eldridge is an American guitarist and singer best known for being a member of Punch Brothers. He was also a founding member of the bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters. His father is noted banjoist Ben Eldridge of the Seldom Scene.-Punch Brothers:...
- Acoustic Guitar - John Gardner - Drums, Percussion
- Vince GillVince GillVincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...
- Vocal Harmony - Rob IckesRob IckesRob Ickes is a dobro player. A Northern California native , Rob Ickes [rhymes with "bikes"] moved to Nashville in 1992 and joinedthe contemporary bluegrass band Blue Highway as a founding member in 1994...
- Dobro, Weissenborn - Sonya IsaacsSonya IsaacsSonya Melissa Isaacs is an American country and Christian music singer. Isaacs grew up near Morrow, Ohio, and graduated from Little Miami High School in 1992....
- Vocal Harmony - Randy Kohrs - Weissenborn
- Paul KowertPunch BrothersPunch Brothers are a progressive bluegrass band. The band consists of Chris Thile , Gabe Witcher , Noam Pikelny , Chris Eldridge , and Paul Kowert...
- Bass - Alison KraussAlison KraussAlison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
- Vocal Harmony - Rob McCouryDel McCoury BandThe Del McCoury Band is a bluegrass band. Originally Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals with Del on guitar and his brother Jerry on bass, the band went through a number of changes until the 1980s when the band solidified its line-up, adding McCoury's sons, Ronnie and Robbie on mandolin and banjo,...
- Banjo - Ronnie McCouryRonnie McCouryRonnie McCoury is a mandolin player, singer, and songwriter born in 1967. He is the son of bluegrass musician Del McCoury, and is best known for his work with the Del McCoury Band. He has also recorded several solo albums....
- Mandola, Mandolin - Tim O'BrienTim O'Brien (musician)Tim O'Brien is an American country and bluegrass musician. In addition to singing, he plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki and mandocello...
- Mandolin, Vocal Harmony - Noam PikelnyNoam PikelnyNoam Pikelny is an American banjoist. He is a member of the "Americana country-classical chamber music" group Punch Brothers and was previously in Leftover Salmon as well as the John Cowan Band.-History:...
- Banjo - Jon RandallJon RandallJon Randall Stewart is an American country music artist. Signed to RCA Records in 1995, he debuted that year with the album What You Don't Know. A second album for RCA, 1996's Great Day to Be Alive, was recorded but never released...
- Bass, Acoustic and Electric Guitar, Producer, Vocal Harmony - Chris StapletonChris StapletonChris Stapleton is an American country, bluegrass, and rock musician. He co-wrote the singles "Never Wanted Nothing More" for Kenny Chesney, "Swing" for Trace Adkins, "Your Man" for Josh Turner, "Keep On Lovin' You" for Steel Magnolia and "Come Back Song" for Darius Rucker.Between 2008 and 2010,...
- Vocal Harmony - Bryan SuttonBryan SuttonBryan 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 - Chris ThileChris ThileChristopher Scott Thile is an American musician, best known as the mandolinist and a singer for the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek. His current band is Punch Brothers whose most recent album is Antifogmatic...
- Mandolin, Vocal Harmony - Guthrie Trapp - Electric Guitar
- Scott Vestal - Banjo
- Gabe WitcherGabe WitcherGabe Witcher is an American fiddle player and singer, possibly best known for being a member of Chris Thile's band, Punch Brothers. Witcher started fiddling at the age of 5, and competed in Southern California fiddling competitions until he was 14...
- Fiddle, Vocal Harmony - Glenn WorfGlenn WorfGlenn 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
Album
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
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... |
9 | 197 |
| US Billboard Top Bluegrass Albums | 1 | 1 |
| US Billboard Top Country Albums | 2 | 39 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak 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... |
||
| 2010 | "Up on the Ridge Up on the Ridge (song) "Up on the Ridge" is a song recorded by American country music artist Dierks Bentley. It was released to radio on April 12, 2010, and serves as the lead-off single to his fifth studio album, also titled Up on the Ridge.-Content:... " |
21 | 99 |
| "Draw Me a Map Draw Me a Map "Draw Me a Map" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Dierks Bentley. It is the fifteenth single release of his career, and the second and final single from his bluegrass album Up on the Ridge... " |
33 | 108 | |