Road Less Traveled

構成数 : 1枚
合計収録時間 : 00:42:11
Personnel: Lauren Alaina (background vocals); Carl Miner (acoustic guitar, banjo, bouzouki, mandolin); Pat McGrath (acoustic guitar, banjo, mandolin); Derek Wells (electric guitar, banjo, mandolin); Jerry McPherson, J.T. Corenflos (electric guitar); David Dorn, Dave Cohen , Jason Webb (piano, Hammond b-3 organ, Wurlitzer organ, synthesizer); Busbee (piano, keyboards, programming, background vocals); Evan Hutchings (drums, percussion, programming); Aaron Sterling (drums, percussion); Jesse Frasure, Eric Olson, Mason Levy, Lindsay Rimes, Casey Brown (programming); Kristen Rogers, Emily Weisband, Erika Attwater, Seth Ennis, Stephcynie Curry, Morgan Hebert, Russell Terrell, Kim Keyes, Carolyn Dawn Johnson (background vocals). Audio Mixer: Justin Niebank. Recording information: Blackbird Studios, Nashville, TN; Eastside Studios, Nashville, TN; House of Blues Studios,; Pioneertown Studios, Nashville, TN; Sound Emporium, Nashville, TN; Sterloid Sound, Encino, CA; The Tzudio, Nashville, TN; The Warner Brothers Studio, Nashville, TN. Lauren Alaina traveled a long road to her second album, taking six years to deliver a sequel to her 2011 debut. Blame the delay on vagaries of the marketplace and also a 2014 vocal surgery, two elements that ensure a slow working pace, but the upside of this half-decade hiatus is that Road Less Traveled almost plays like a second debut album. It announces a new Lauren Alaina, one who is happy to be a country diva in the vein of Carrie Underwood. Wildflower, her 2011 album, also carried a debt to Underwood but it retained a bit of a twang, whereas Road Less Traveled is a big, bright country confection. Alaina co-wrote every one of the 12 songs and whether they're ballads or chipper pop tunes, they're usually sturdy numbers. She may drift into the saccharine when she slows the tempo -- the closing "Pretty" is a self-empowerment anthem that attempts to spin Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" toward Middle America -- but the faster cuts are usually jubilant and help propel Road Less Traveled, turning it into a strong modern country-pop album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine