''American Middle Class'' is the debut solo album by

Angaleena Presley Angaleena Loletta McCoy Presley (born September 1, 1976) is an American country music singer-songwriter. She is a member of the country trio Pistol Annies, which was formed in 2011 with Miranda Lambert and Ashley Monroe, and has released two s ...

, released on October 14, 2014, through Slate Creek Records.

Critical reception

''American Middle Class'' received highly positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 84 out of 100, which indicates "universal acclaim" based on nine reviews. In a four out of five star review

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

writes that the album "will linger for some time to come." In the three and a half out of five star review from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s Jonathan Bernstein, he remarks how it is an "impressive solo debut". There was a four star rating granted to the album from Neil Spencer of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', where he revealed he felt "Presley's vocal and lyrical touch are exceptional on an impressive state-of-the-nation album." At ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', Martin Chilton believes "the musicianship is top notch." The four star review delivered from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

''s Elias Leight is for "a focused collection of songs." The '' Uncut'' magazine rated the album an eight out of ten because "Presley has a wry, modern take on country music." In '' Cuepoint'',

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

called it a "moderately astonishing bunch of songs" on which "she sings pretty as you please." The eight out of ten rating bestowed on the release from Anthony Easton at

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

is in response to "the corruption and failure of the market rotting from the bottom and squeezing from the top, is profoundly realized here." Stuart Henderson rates the album a nine out of ten for ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' because "this debut is about as accomplished as one could reasonably expect." The ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute ...

'' grants the release an A, and Sean Daly sees how "she has a persistent knack for showmanship, small scenes but grand gestures." Nate Chinen of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' declares "American Middle Class, (Presley's) debut album, comes fully formed, clear about its purpose." The album was nominated for "International Album of the Year" by the UK Americana Music Association.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from

. Musicians *

– vocals * John Henry Trinko – keyboards,

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...

, Hammond B3 organ * Audley Freed – electric guitars, electric 12-string guitar,

dobro Dobro () is an American brand of resonator guitars owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally a gui ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

* Keith Gattis – acoustic guitars, electric guitars,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

, dobro, mandolin, harmony vocals (8) * Josh Grange –

steel guitar A steel guitar () is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conventional guitar i ...

* Aden Bubeck – bass guitar,

upright bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

* Glenn Worf – bass guitar, upright bass * Fred Eltringham – drums,

castanets Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument ( idiophonic), used in Spanish, Calé, Moorish, Ottoman, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Portuguese, Filipino, Brazilian, and Swiss music. In ancient ...

, shaker, assorted percussions * David Henry – cello, violin * Kelly Archer – harmony vocals (1, 12) * Gayle Mayes – harmony vocals (2, 11) * Angela Primm – harmony vocals (2, 11) *

Emily Saliers Emily Ann Saliers (born July 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the musical duo Indigo Girls. Saliers sings soprano and plays lead guitar as well as banjo, piano, mandolin, ukulele, bouzouki and many other instruments. Ea ...

– harmony vocals (3) *

Patty Loveless Patty Loveless (born Patricia Lee Ramey, January 4, 1957) is an American country music singer. She began performing in her teenaged years before signing her first recording contract with MCA Records' Nashville division in 1985. While her first ...

– harmony vocals (4) * Chris Stapleton – harmony vocals (6) * Sarah Siskind – harmony vocals (10) Production * Jordan Powell – producer * Angaleena Presley – producer * Charlie Brocco – engineer, mixing * Taylor Pollert – additional recording * Kam Luchterhand – assistant engineer, mix assistant * Brad Henderson – art direction * Sarah Barlow – photography * Stephen Schofield – photography * Tiffany Gifford – stylist * Lindsay Doyle – hair, make-up

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control 2014 debut albums Angaleena Presley albums Slate Creek Records albums