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''High-Tech Redneck'' is an
album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
by American
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
singer
George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American Country music, country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, and is well known for his distinctive voice an ...
. It was released in 1993 on the MCA Nashville Records label and went
Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
in 1994.


Recording

By 1993, Jones had recorded two critically acclaimed albums for MCA but was still having a great deal of difficulty getting played on the radio, which was focused on younger, emerging stars. The new album, which employed two producers, Buddy Cannon and Norro Wilson, was an attempt by MCA to broaden the singer's appeal, with biographer Bob Allen observing in his book ''George Jones: The Life and Times of a Honky Tonk Legend'', "In 1993, the label released ''Hi-Tech Redneck'', a new and oddly uneven Jones LP that tried to cast him in a slightly different and more lighthearted perspective, in hopes of breaking the radio deadlock." It did not work; the album made it to number 30 on the ''Billboard'' country albums chart while the single peaked at 24—a very respectable showing in reality, considering the lack of radio play the singer was receiving. The other single from this album to make a chart appearance on ''Billboard'' was his duet with Sammy Kershaw, "Never Bit a Bullet Like This", a song also found on Kershaw's 1994 album ''Feelin' Good Train''. The album was dedicated to Conway Twitty, who had died in June 1993 and features a cover of Twitty's " Hello Darlin'" to close out the album, which Jones had also recorded during his stint on the Musicor label. "A Thousand Times a Day" was later recorded by Patty Loveless on her 1996 album ''The Trouble with the Truth,'' from which it was released as the second single, becoming a Top 20 hit for her that year. "The Visit" was later recorded by Chad Brock on his 2000 album ''Yes!''


Reception

Jimmy Guterman of ''New Country'' magazine rated the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying that "Jones expertly walks through a series of boasts, gags... fables, and depictions of emotional devastation that suggest what
Hank Williams Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. W ...
might have sounded like had he lived to record using the Nashville sound." Guterman also praised the duet with Sammy Kershaw on "Never Bit a Bullet Like This" as a "riot", and noted the album's cover of " Hello Darlin'" that it "succeeds both as a tribute to Twitty's style and to Jones' ability to wrench new ideas out of a song country fans have heard hundreds of times."


Track listing


Personnel

*George Jones – vocals, guitar * Barry Beckett – piano * David Briggs – piano *Mike Chapman – bass *Sonny Garrish – steel guitar *Rob Hajacos – fiddle * John Hughey – steel guitar *Kirk "Jellyroll" Johnson – harmonica * Sammy Kershaw – vocals *Mike Lawler – keyboards * Brent Mason – guitar * Reggie Young – guitar *Danny Parks – guitar *Larry Paxton – bass *Steve Turner – drums * Lonnie Wilson – drums * Vince Gill – background vocals *Cindy Walker – background vocals *Dennis Wilson – background vocals * Chely Wright – background vocals *Curtis Young – background vocals * Nashville String Machine – strings


Certifications


References

{{Authority control George Jones albums MCA Records albums 1993 albums Albums produced by Buddy Cannon Albums produced by Norro Wilson