''Annie Up'' is the second studio album by American

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

girl group

Pistol Annies Pistol Annies are an American country music group composed of Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, and Angaleena Presley. The trio gave its debut performance on April 4, 2011, on the CBS special Academy of Country Music's ''Girls' Night Out: Supersta ...

, but this is the first album with

RCA Nashville RCA Nashville is an American country music record label based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is distributed by Sony Music Nashville which is part of Sony Music. Artists Current artists *Kane Brown * Corey Kent * Nate Smith * Morgan Wade Former art ...

. The group consists of

Miranda Lambert Miranda Leigh Lambert (born November 10, 1983) is an American country music, country singer. Born in Longview, Texas, she started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place ...

Ashley Monroe Ashley Lauren Monroe (born September 10, 1986) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Monroe has released two solo singles, "Satisfied" and "I Don't Want To" (which featured Brooks & Dunn singer Ronnie Dunn), that reached the U.S. ''Bi ...

and

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 ...

. ''Annie Up'' started with 83,000 albums sold in the first week. The vinyl LP version of the record was pressed by

United Record Pressing United Record Pressing (founded as Southern Plastics) is a vinyl pressing plant located in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been in operation since 1949. United has pressed records for such artists as the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Ja ...

in Nashville, TN.

Critical reception

''Annie Up'' has received almost universally positive reviews and ratings from music critics. 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 weighted average score out of 100 to reviews and ratings from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 87, based on 11 reviews.

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 ...

called it a "thoroughly integrated effort; the work of a group, not three individuals" that has a "bruised, beautiful richness." At

MSN Music ''MSN Music'' was a part of MSN's web services. It delivered music news, music videos, spotlights on new music, artist information, and live performances of artists. The website also served as a digital music store from 2004 to 2008. History ...

's Expert Witness blog,

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 ...

highlighted how "a lark evolves into a business proposition as an album of 10 inspired three-minute songs eventuates in an album of 12 expert three-and-a-half-minute songs." At '' Nash Country Weekly'', Jon Freeman found that this album even more so than its predecessor has "more engaging studies of real-life heartbreak, domestic inertia and the daily trials of womanhood." Kyle Anderson of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' alluded to that the release "is a more fully formed take on Southern sisterhood." At ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', Randy Lewis evoked that "their switchblade-sharp vision incorporates acute observational powers about the human condition and savvy compositional skills that come together in songs that are piercingly honest, funny and sometimes both." In addition, Lewis said that "mostly it feels like eavesdropping on one helluva lively girls night out." Rob Burkhardt of ''Music Is My Oxygen Weekly'' told that the release "doesn’t take this popularity for granted; instead, it wisely spends the political capital", and that is because it "has enough sex appeal to keep the men interested, a deeper look reveals that it is really an album by women, for women." At ''

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 ...

'',

Jody Rosen Jody Rosen (born June 21, 1969 in New York City) is an American journalist and author. He is a contributing writer for ''The New York Times Magazine''. Career Journalism Rosen served as critic-at-large for '' T: The New York Times Style Magaz ...

affirmed that like the predecessor the work is "full of attitude and guffaws, delivered in three-part harmony over down-home country", and found that the trio "drop the 'tude altogether for a love song as poignant as the rest is fun." Roughstock's Matt Bjorke wrote that the effort "is the work of a band and is clearly no side project for any of the band's members." At ''

The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...

'', David Burger called it a "bluegrass-inspired collection is nothing short of entertaining, even when the women complain non-stop about the men in their lives." Annie Galvin of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American 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 Yor ...

'' highlighted that "''Annie Up'' doesn't quite break the country genre's familiar format, it's a hell of a lot of fun, and one could do worse than spend 40 minutes with these sassy almost-outlaws."

Taste of Country Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wit ...

's Billy Dukes stated that Pistol Annies "make strides with the arrangements and production on 'Annie Up,' but the stories aren't as sharp and the messages aren't nearly as emotional." At ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'', Elysa Gardner found that "the clichés are far less striking than the trio's gritty-sweet harmonies, taut musicianship and genuine pluck."

Track listing

Personnel

Pistol Annies *

– lead vocals, backing vocals *

– lead vocals, backing vocals Musicians * Bobby Wood – acoustic piano,

Hammond B3 organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

Glenn Worf Glenn Worf is an American bassist known mainly for his work as a session musician. He has recorded with many major country music acts and also tours with Mark Knopfler. Early life and education Worf was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up in Madis ...

–

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 ...

, 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 ...

, slide bass *

Randy Scruggs Randy Lynn Scruggs (August 3, 1953 – April 17, 2018) was an American music producer, songwriter and guitarist. He had his first recording at the age of 13. He won four Grammy Awards and was named Musician of the Year at the Country Music ...

– acoustic guitars, electric guitars, acoustic slide guitar,

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. ...

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 ...

* Guthrie Trapp – electric guitars,

National guitar The National String Instrument Corporation was an American guitar company first formed to manufacture banjos and then the original resonator guitars. National also produced resonator ukuleles and resonator mandolins. The company merged with Dobr ...

, mandolin * Steve Fishell –

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 ...

lap steel guitar The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of pla ...

* Fred Eltringham – drums, percussion, finger snaps *

Eric Darken Eric A. Darken is an American percussionist, composer, and programmer. Biography Drawing inspiration from his grandfather, a band leader. Darken began playing drums at age 12, and played timpani and mallets in high school. Darken attended ...

– percussion

Production

* Frank Liddell – producer * Glenn Worf – producer * Chuck Ainlay – producer, recording, mixing * Leslie Richter – recording assistant, mix assistant * Brandon Schexnayder – recording assistant, mix assistant, additional engineer *

Bob Ludwig Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...

– mastering at Gateway Mastering (Portland, Maine) * Brittany Hamlin – production coordinator * Randee St. Nicholas – photography * Ryan Supple – photo shoot producer * Tiffany Gifford – stylist * Philip Carreon – hair * Karolina Kangas – make-up * Myah Morales – make-up * Naja – nails * ShopKeeper Management – management

Chart performance

Album

Sales 221,145 (US Only)

Year-end charts

Singles

References

{{Authority control 2013 albums RCA Records albums Pistol Annies albums Albums produced by Frank Liddell Albums produced by Chuck Ainlay