What This Country Needs is a 1998 album released by country music

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 Aaron Tippin

Aaron Tippin

Aaron Dupree Tippin is an American country music artist and record producer. Initially a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Music, he gained a recording contract with RCA Records in 1990...

. It was his first full studio album since switching from RCA Records

RCA Records

RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...

 to Lyric Street Records

Lyric Street Records

Lyric Street Records was an American record label specializing in country music. The label was part of the Disney Music Group, owned by the The Walt Disney Company. President Randy Goodman, formerly a general manager for RCA Records, founded the label in 1997...

. The album includes three singles: "For You I Will", "I'm Leaving", and "Her", which respectively reached #6, #17, and #33 on the 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...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now 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...

) charts in 1999. The track "Sweetwater" was originally recorded by McBride & the Ride

McBride & the Ride

McBride & the Ride was an American country music band initially composed of Terry McBride , Ray Herndon and Billy Thomas . The group was founded in 1989 through the assistance of record producer Tony Brown...

 on their 1993 album Hurry Sundown

Hurry Sundown (McBride & the Ride album)

Hurry Sundown is the third album released by American country music band McBride & the Ride. Released in 1993 on MCA Records, it produced the hit singles "Love on the Loose, Heart on the Run" and the title track, which peaked at #3 and #17, respectively, on the Billboard Hot Country Singles &...

, and by Greg Holland

Greg Holland

Greg Holland is an American country musician. Holland grew up in Douglas, Georgia, where he performed as a youngster in local play productions and on television. He recorded a demo before reaching his teens and opened in concert for Ronnie Milsap when he was 12 years old...

 on his 1994 album Let Me Drive.

Track listing

1. "What This Country Needs" (Aaron Tippin, Donny Kees) – 3:09
2. "For You I Will
   For You I Will (Aaron Tippin song)
   "For You I Will" is the title of a song written by Mark Nesler and Tony Martin, and recorded by American country music singer Aaron Tippin. It was released in August 1998 as the lead single from the album, What This Country Needs. The song reached number 6 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles...
   
   " (Mark Nesler
   Mark Nesler
   Mark Nesler is an American country music artist. Signed to Elektra Records as a recording artist in 1998, Nesler charted three singles on the U.S. Billboard country charts...
   
   , Tony Martin
   Tony Martin (songwriter)
   Tony Martin is a country music songwriter who has had twelve Number One hits as a songwriter. Among his compositions are "Third Rock from the Sun" by Joe Diffie and "Just to See You Smile" by Tim McGraw....
   
   ) – 3:32
3. "Her" (Craig Wiseman
   Craig Wiseman
   Craig Michael Wiseman is an American country music songwriter. Active since the late 1980s as a songwriter, he has had his songs recorded by Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, LeAnn Rimes, and several other acts....
   
   , Jeffrey Steele
   Jeffrey Steele
   Jeffrey LeVasseur is an American country music singer and songwriter, more commonly known by the name Jeffrey Steele...
   
   ) – 3:14
4. "I Didn't Come This Far (Just to Walk Away)" (Michael P. Heeney, Tippin) – 2:55
5. "I'm Leaving" (Ron Harbin, Aaron Barker, David Lewis) – 3:21
6. "Nothing Compares to Loving You" (Wiseman, Steele) – 4:10
7. "Don't Stop (We're Just Gettin' Started)" (Al Anderson
   Al Anderson (NRBQ)
   Alan Gordon "Al" Anderson is an American guitarist, singer, and songwiter. Between 1971 and the early 1990s, he was the lead guitarist in the rock band NRBQ, also releasing several solo albums. He also played electric guitar on Jonathan Edwards' 1973 album Have a Good Time for Me...
   
   , Dean Dillon
   Dean Dillon
   Dean Dillon is an American country music artist. Between 1982 and 1993, Dillon recorded six studio albums on various labels, and charted several singles on the Billboard country charts. Although he has not charted since 1993, Dillon has continued to write several hit songs for other artists, most...
   
   ) – 3:03
8. "Somewhere Under the Rainbow" (Scott Blackwell, Jerry Laseter, Kerry Kurt Phillips) – 3:35
9. "Back When I Knew Everything" (Tippin, Mel Besher) – 3:02
10. "Sweetwater" (Jon Vezner, Allen Shamblin
    Allen Shamblin
    Allen Shamblin is a country music songwriter who was born in Tennessee, and was brought up in Texas.After graduating from Sam Houston State University he worked in Austin as a real estate appraiser. In 1987, he quit his job and moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a song writer. He supported...
    
    ) – 4:09
11. "You're the Only Reason for Me" (Heeney, Tippin) – 3:32

Personnel

Amalgamated from liner notes

• 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
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , percussion
• Dennis Burnside - 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...
  
  , organ
• 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...
  
  , mandolin
  Mandolin
  A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
  
  
• Wes Hightower - background vocals (tracks 1, 3, 6, 7 & 9)
• Steve Hill - background vocals (tracks 2 - 11
• Mike Johnson - 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...
  
  
• Chris Leuzinger - 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...
  
   (tracks 1, 3 - 5, 7, 9 - 11), acoustic guitar on track 4
• 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 (tracks 2, 4, 6 & 8)
• Michael Rhodes - bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
   (tracks 1, 3 - 5, 7, 9 - 11)
• Biff Watson - 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...
  
   (tracks 1 - 3, 5 - 11)
• 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 (tracks 2, 6 & 8)
• Curtis Young - background vocals (tracks 1, 2, 4 - 6, 8, 10 & 11)

Strings arranged by Dennis Burnside and performed by the Nashville String Machine

Nashville String Machine

Nashville String Machine is a musical collective comprising session musicians and has been credited on recordings as far back as 1974. The Nashville String Machine's composition varies from project to project. It has appeared as large as an orchestra, or as small as a duo.-Notable members:Being a...

. Contracted by Carl Gorodetzky.

Chart performance

Chart (1998)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	23