Greenfields (album)
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''Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1'' is the third solo album by British singer-songwriter
Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Along with his younger fraternal twin brothers, Robin Gibb, Robin and Maurice Gibb, Maurice, he rose to global fame as a member ...
, which was released on 8 January 2021 by
Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...
in America and
EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...
internationally. The album features re-imaginings of songs written by the
Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...
with
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 ...
singers. The album's title is taken from a lyric in the song "Butterfly". At 74 years, 4 months and 17 days old, Gibb became the oldest artist to peak at number 1 on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart.


Background

Gibb announced the album on 6 November 2020 with the release of "Words of a Fool". As a lifelong fan of country and bluegrass music, he sought a way to record some songs with some of the greatest names in the genre which eventually led to the creation of ''Greenfields''. Gibb selected
Dave Cobb Dave Cobb (born July 9, 1974) is an American record producer based in Nashville, Tennessee, best known for producing the work of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, The Highwomen, Take That, Rival ...
as the album's producer after his son
Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...
showed him a
Chris Stapleton Christopher Alvin Stapleton (born April 15, 1978) is an American country singer-songwriter and guitarist. Born in Kentucky, Stapleton moved to Nashville in 1996 to study for an engineering degree from Vanderbilt University, but dropped out to pur ...
song, with Gibb recalling that "I freaked out and I said, "Wow, there are people making records like this now? There are still bands making records and not programming and that it's real?" I said, "Who is this?" And he said, hris Stapleton and then he said, "Dave Cobb is the producer." I said, "I want to work with that guy. If I make any more records, it's with him." and he flew to Nashville to record. Gibb stated that "from the first day we stepped into RCA Studio A in Nashville (the very place where
Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's sexuall ...
,
Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Allen (basketball) (born 1949), American basketball player and ...
, Waylon, Roy, the
Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, an ...
and so many other legends made their magic) the album took on a life of its own. I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to work with Dave and all the artists who stopped by. They were all incredibly generous with their time and talent. They inspired me more than words can express. I feel deep down that Maurice and Robin would have loved this album for different reasons. I wish we could have all been together to do it but I think we were." The album's lead single "Words of a Fool" was originally for a 1986 Barry Gibb solo project that never wound up being released. Of his collaboration on the track,
Jason Isbell Michael Jason Isbell ( ; born February 1, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. One of the most celebrated contemporary songwriters in his genre, his lyrics are defined by their raw emotional honesty. Isbell began his career as a me ...
enthused that Gibb "is one of the greatest songwriters and singers in popular music history, and I'm happy to say he still has that beautiful voice and that magical sense of melody. Working with him on this project has been one of the great honors of my career. He's a prince." "Butterfly", which features musical partners David Rawlings and
Gillian Welch Gillian Howard Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, coun ...
, was written when the Gibb brothers were living in Australia before they became household names and has been covered by the likes of
Marmalade Marmalade (from the Portuguese ''marmelada'') is a fruit preserves, fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It also has been made from lemons ...
and Ronnie Burns. Of re-interpreting his hits as country tracks, Gibb noted that "There were so many songs that were really written in the spirit of country music. “ Islands in the Stream” for instance, was written for Diana Ross, but when I agreed to work with
Kenny Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names. In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation of the Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant of Cionnaith". ...
, he wanted to do a duet with Dolly. And so we suggested that one -- we knew it was good, we knew it was potentially very strong, but we didn't know it was a duet. So we just went to work on that, and the R&B song became a country song."


Recording

During the recording process, Gibb sang live with the majority of the album's guest artists, with the exception of
Brandi Carlile Brandi Marie Carlile (born June 1, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and producer. Her music spans different genres, including folk rock, alternative country, Americana, and classic rock. Throughout her career, she has received eleven Gramm ...
and
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 ...
. Gibb noted that "Brandi wanted to do "Run to Me" before I could get to Nashville. So she went ahead and recorded it with Dave, and then I put my vocal on that later" and added that "I didn't meet Miranda – she did it when I wasn't in the studio. I think some artists are like that. They go, "Well, I'll come in and sing, but I don't want anyone else there." I dealt with that with producing
Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...
, where someone else being in the sound booth room was just not acceptable, you know? And I think even Dave's like that. He doesn't really like people being there that really don't have a reason to be there." Gibb spoke highly of recording with
Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...
, stating that "he's fantastic. I mean, he gave us a great gift because he brought Nicole with him, and that was such a thrill. I'm freaking out, you know. It's not really about anyone else being impressed by me or intimidated by me -- it's the other way around." Similarly, recording with
Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...
, whom Gibb had not seen in over 40 years, "was a great thrill, and as incredible as she always is. She's such a humble person" and noted that "Dolly told me that where she was standing at the microphone is exactly where she stood when she did "
I Will Always Love You "I Will Always Love You" is a song written and originally recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. Written as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing Parton's decision to pursue a solo career ...
" and " Jolene." You know, that's mind blowing." Gibb also explained that
Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer, fiddler and music producer. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of eight and recording for the first time at ...
"was fantastic" and that
Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million record ...
"was spot on from the first note. She hasn't been in the studio for awhile, she'd been out of action, and she was so thrilled to just get back to singing". The song was one of the last Newton-John recorded before her death in 2022.


Critical reception

''Greenfields'' was met with "generally favorable" reviews from 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 rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received 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 73 based on 11 reviews. In a 4/5 star review,
Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...
of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' summarised that "with subtle, beautiful arrangements, this foray into country-pop with covers by the likes of Dolly Parton, Jason Isbell and Gillian Welch is testament to the Bee Gees’ greatness". He noted that, upon first glance, Gibb recording a country album seems "peculiar" but adds that "you understand why Gibb might be keen to undertake the endeavor. The sheer wattage of Nashville star power in the supporting cast – everyone from Keith Urban and Alison Krauss to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings – underlines the regard the Gibb brothers are held in by their fellow musicians, which is never a bad thing." Petridis goes on to say that several of the more well-known tracks "can't help but be dulled by familiarity" and states that the cover of "Jive Talkin'" with Lambert and Buchanan "doesn't really work" but praises Krauss' vocal performance on "Too Much Heaven" for "casting the song's melodic richness in new light". Similarly he asserts that Carlile's performance on "Run to Me" indicates "underlines the fact that only in a catalogue as thick with hits as the Bee Gees would a ballad this strong be relatively overlooked". Sonically, he notes that "the arrangements here are subtly done and often beautiful, led by piano or acoustic guitar, the orchestrations muted; the pedal-steel-heavy "Words of a Fool" aside, they're closer to country-inflected pop than country per se. You wonder about the results had Gibb and Cobb stripped them back even more, or hauled them into grittier Americana territory". In conclusion, he praises Rawlings and Welch's appearance on "Butterfly" before stating that "titling this album Volume 1 suggests Greenfields represents more than a one-off experiment: for all its strengths, there's scope for Barry Gibb to develop this unlikely late-period diversion further." In another positive review, Chris Willman of ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' explains that the album "pays tribute to ibband his late brothers' rich, melodic catalog, now freshly approached with a rootsy but cosmopolitan country vibe that feels as ingrained and intrinsic to the aged material as it sounds. Each lustrous song's theatrical and trembling tone, once heard in this new, folksy form, seem so instinctually right as a country cut that you'll nearly forget the disco and chamber-pop originals" and goes on to declare that "save for a few hiccups, the overall results of the "Greenfields" experiment are pretty magnificent, actually". Willman continues by praising the performances of Carlile, Isbell, Welch, Krauss and Gibb himself, who he describes as a "a weirdly stirring, breathy marvel" and concludes that the success of Volume 1 means Gibb new direction is "well worth a Volume 2. And 3".


Track listing

All tracks written by
Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...
. Except tracks 9 and 10 written by Barry & Robin Gibb, and tracks 2, 11 and 13 written by Barry Gibb.


Personnel

These credits follow the track listing of the US Target and Japanese deluxe edition of the album. Musicians *
Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Along with his younger fraternal twin brothers, Robin Gibb, Robin and Maurice Gibb, Maurice, he rose to global fame as a member ...
– vocals; acoustic guitar (9, 12, 14) *
Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...
– vocals and electric guitar (1) *
Jason Isbell Michael Jason Isbell ( ; born February 1, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. One of the most celebrated contemporary songwriters in his genre, his lyrics are defined by their raw emotional honesty. Isbell began his career as a me ...
– vocals (2), acoustic guitar (2, 4, 12, 13),
slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...
(2), electric guitar (3) *
Brandi Carlile Brandi Marie Carlile (born June 1, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and producer. Her music spans different genres, including folk rock, alternative country, Americana, and classic rock. Throughout her career, she has received eleven Gramm ...
– vocals (3) *
Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer, fiddler and music producer. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of eight and recording for the first time at ...
– vocals (4) * Jimi Westbrook – vocals (5, 8) * Karen Fairchild – vocals (5, 8) * Kimberly Schlapman – vocals (5, 8) * Philip Sweet – vocals (5, 8) *
Dolly Parton Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and philanthropist, known primarily as a country music, country musician. After achieving success as a songwriter for others, Parton's debut album ...
– vocals (6) *
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 ...
– vocals (7) * Jay Buchanan – vocals (7, 10), handclaps (7) *
Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her Optimism, optimistic and Idealism, idealistic subject matter, and incorporation of genres including Rock music, rock, Po ...
– vocals (9) *
Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million record ...
– vocals (11) *
Gillian Welch Gillian Howard Welch (; born October 2, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, coun ...
– vocals and acoustic guitar (14) * Leroy Powell – electric guitar (1, 5, 6, 10, 11), handclaps (7) *
Dave Cobb Dave Cobb (born July 9, 1974) is an American record producer based in Nashville, Tennessee, best known for producing the work of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, The Highwomen, Take That, Rival ...
– acoustic guitar (2, 3, 5, 6, 9–14), percussion (7),
Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...
(14), 12-string acoustic guitar (14) * Tim Hanseroth – guitar (3) * Elizabeth Lamb – 12-string acoustic guitar (7),
viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...
(7) * Tommy Emmanuel – acoustic guitar (8) * David Rawlings – acoustic guitar (14) * Brian Allen – bass * Philip Towns – acoustic piano (1, 4–9, 11, 12, 13),
organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...
(1, 2, 4–11), Mellotron (5, 14) * Chris Powell – drums (1-5, 7–14), percussion (4, 8, 14), handclaps (5, 7) * David Goodstein – drums (6) * Robby Turner
pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...
(1) * Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar (5, 6, 12) * Becky Fluke – handclaps (5) * Stephen Gibb – handclaps (5) * Toby Hulbert – handclaps (5, 7) * Jay Landers – handclaps (5) Horns and Strings * Sam Levine – saxophones * Roy Agee –
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 ...
* Mike Haynes and Steve Patrick –
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 ...
s * David Angell, Monisa Angell, Jenny Bifano, David Davidson, Conni Ellisor, Alicia Enstrom, and Mary Kathryn Vanosdale –
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
s * Monisa Angell, Kevin Bate, Chris Farrell, Elizabeth Lamb, and Kristin Wilkinson – violas * Kevin Bate, Anthony LaMarchina, Carole Rabinowitz, and Sarighani Reist –
cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
s * Stephen Lamb – orchestra copyist * Kristin Wilkinson – string conductor (14)


Production

* Barry Gibb – executive producer, liner notes * Jay Landers – executive producer * Dave Cobb – producer * Stephen Gibb – associate producer * John Merchant – additional vocal production, recording * Darrell Thorp – recording * Tom Elmhirst – mixing at
Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer. It was completed by 1970. Hendrix ...
(New York City, New York) * Brandon Bost – mix assistant * Matt Scatchell – mix assistant * Pete Lyman – mastering at Infrasonic Sound (Los Angeles, California) * Daniel Bacigalupi – mastering assistant * Andrew Brightman – A&R * Dick Ashby – project coordinator * Nicole Frantz – creative direction * Katie Moore – design * Becky Fluke – studio photography * Zsolt Zsigmond – photography


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


References

{{Authority control 2021 albums Barry Gibb albums Albums produced by Dave Cobb