''Crickets'' is the eighth studio album 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 ...

artist

Joe Nichols Joseph Edward Nichols (born November 26, 1976) is an American country music artist. Between 1996 and 2001, he held recording contracts with the Intersound and Giant Records (Warner), Giant labels. In 2002, he signed with Universal South Records, ...

, released on October 8, 2013 by Red Bow Records. It includes a cover of

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential figures in country music, he was a central pioneer of the Bakersfield ...

's "Footlights". The album sold 12,330 albums its first week.

Mickey Jack Cones Mickey Jack Cones (born in San Antonio, TX) is an American record producer, engineer, session musician, singer and songwriter. Raised in a musical family, he is the grandson of Glenn Gray Orchestra singer Jane Cones and son of Jackie Cones of The ...

produced the entire album, co-producing with Tony Brown on " Yeah" and "Billy Graham's Bible", and

Derek George Derek George (born in Philadelphia, Mississippi) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist currently signed to Spirit Music Group. He is known for his work in Pearl River and Williams Riley, and his frequent collaborations ...

on all other tracks.

Critical reception

''Crickets'' garnered generally positive reception from the ratings and reviews of

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 ...

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 ...

rated the album three stars out of five, remarking how "All of ''Crickets'' is peppered with these kind of off-hand references to the modern world, but Nichols' true tell is the bright, affable sound of the record, how it finds a cozy middle ground between his burnished signature and the hyper-stylized, over-sized country of new millennial sports bars." In addition, Erlewine says "his true strengths are rooted in the past, not the present." At ''

Country Weekly ''Country Weekly'' (known as ''Nash Country Weekly'' from 2015–16) was an American magazine about country music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site Nash Country Daily. O ...

'', Jon Freeman graded the album a B, indicating how "At times, the overstuffed (at 16 tracks) album struggles to keep the memorable hooks coming, opting instead for generic tales of women on creek banks." Also, Freeman writes that "the beloved neotraditionalist may surprise some listeners by trying on some contemporary clothes." Markos Papadatos of Digital Journal graded the album an A+, highlighting how the listener "can really hear Nichols' heart on this album and his love for the country genre" because Nichols' "leaves his fans yearning for more." Furthermore, Papadatos states Nichols' is "stronger than ever" on a release that "contains 16 songs", which "is a real treat and its production is brilliant." At Roughstock, Ashley Cooke rated the album four stars out of five, calling Nichols' a "completely underrated" musician, and this is evidenced by the "jammed packed album with many different songs and while some of the songs do fall within the cliché of country music out there, the delivery is different", which this is done with a "sound

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

is authentic and his vocals are smooth."

Track listing

Personnel

Eddie Bayers Eddie Bayers (born January 28, 1949) is an American session drummer who has played on 300 gold and platinum albums. He received the Academy of Country Music 'Drummer of the Year Award' for fourteen years, has three times won the Nashville Music ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*The Brentwood Good Ole Boys Choir - background vocals on "Open Up a Can" *Pat Buchanan -

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, electric guitar,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, background vocals *

J.T. Corenflos Jerry Troy "J. T." Corenflos (November 6, 1963 – October 24, 2020), was an American session musician and country guitarist, who played on an estimated 75 Number One hit records as well as hundreds of other recordings and hits. He received 14 n ...

- electric guitar *Scott Ducaj -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

on "Gotta Love It" *Jeneé Fleenor -

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

*Larry Franklin - fiddle,

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 ...

* Paul Franklin -

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 ...

- acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, programming, background vocals *Kenny Greenberg - acoustic guitar *Tony Harrell - keyboards *

Aubrey Haynie Aubrey E. Haynie (born March 27, 1974) 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 w ...

- fiddle, mandolin *Wes Hightower - background vocals *Mark Hill -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

*Jim Horn -

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

and

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

on "Gotta Love It" *Mike Johnson - steel 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 ...

on "Crickets" *Troy Lancaster - electric guitar *B. James Lowry - acoustic guitar, 10-string acoustic guitar, ganjo *

Brent Mason Brent Mason (born July 13, 1959) is an American country music guitarist, songwriter and session musician. ''Guitar World'' magazine listed Mason as one of the "Top Ten Session Guitarists of All Time". Discovered and mentored by Chet Atkins, Maso ...

- electric guitar *Steve Nathan -

Hammond B-3 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 to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created from rotat ...

, keyboards *

- lead vocals *Russ Pahl - steel guitar *Charles Rose -

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

on "Gotta Love It" *

Jimmie Lee Sloas Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass. History Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the popular ...

- bass guitar *

Bryan Sutton James Bryan Sutton (born 1973) is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicking acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and electric guitar. He also sings and writes songs. Biography Early career Sutton's gr ...

- acoustic guitar *

Biff Watson Fletcher Bangs "Biff" Watson (born 1952) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. His musicianship has been a part of recording sessions for many artists. Biography Early years Raised in Chatham, Virginia, Watson learned how to play ...

- acoustic guitar *The Wild Wild Western Women - background vocals on "Open Up a Can" *

Lonnie Wilson Lonnie Wilson is an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer, known primarily for his work in country music. Life and career Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Wilson was originally the lead singer of the band Bandana, which charted ten single ...

- drums *Casey Wood - percussion, programming *

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 ...

- bass guitar

Chart performance

Album

Singles

References

{{Authority control 2013 albums Joe Nichols albums BBR Music Group albums Albums produced by Derek George