''Long Walk Back'' is an album by the American musician
Junior Brown
Jamieson "Junior" Brown (born June 12, 1952) is an American country guitarist and singer. He has released twelve studio albums in his career, and has charted twice on the ''Billboard'' country singles charts. Brown's signature instrument is t ...
, released in 1998. He supported it with a North American tour and an appearance on an episode of ''
The X-Files
''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The original series aired from September 10, 1993, to Ma ...
''. The album peaked at No. 34 on the ''Billboard''
Top Country Albums
Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...
chart.
Production
The album was produced by Brown, who also wrote nine of the eleven songs. He decided not to include as many comedic songs; "Read 'Em and Weep" is an attempt at a traditional country ballad.
[ "]Rock-A-Hula Baby
"Rock-A-Hula Baby ("Twist" Special)" is a 1961 song recorded by Elvis Presley and performed in the 1961 film ''Blue Hawaii''. The song was also released as a single.
Background
The song was recorded on March 23, 1961 at Radio Recorders in Hollywoo ...
" is a cover of the song made famous by Elvis Presley
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 Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
.[ "Lookin' for Love" is a version of the song from the ]Connie Francis
Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero ( ; born December 12, 1937), known as Connie Francis, is a retired American Pop music, pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. She is estimated to have sold more th ...
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
. Mitch Mitchell
John Graham "Mitch" Mitchell (9 July 194612 November 2008)In his book about the Experience, Mitchell states he celebrated his 21st birthday while on tour on 9 July 1967, which makes his birth year 1946.Mitchell's obituaries in ''Billboard (mag ...
played drums on "Stupid Blues" and "Keepin' Up with You".
Critical reception
The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...
'' praised "the deepest country voice since the late Ernest Tubb."[ '']Texas Monthly
''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. Founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, ''Texas Monthly'' chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the Natura ...
'' wrote that "Brown is so danged gifted that he'd be pigeonholed as the guitar hero's guitar hero if not for his peculiar subject matter, which ping-pongs from hula girls and fast cars to pure schmaltz." ''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 ...
'' considered the songs "old-fashioned Texas shuffles, kitschy '60s-style retro-rock with cooing girl choruses, and feedback-laced blues numbers that mix in jazz voicings and country licks."[
'']The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'' concluded that Brown's "one of those artists, almost impossibly rare, whose ideas just can't be predicted... What he really does is just flat git it when the going gets strange." 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 ...
deemed the album "virtuosity as novelty act, meaning virtuosity that knows itself."[ '']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, ...
'' noted that ''Long Walk Back'' was "the first time the radical-traditionalist Texan honky-tonker has made a record as out-there as his talent merits."[ The '']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 ...
'' wrote that "Brown is still more involving than your standard country fare, but his own musical path seems unusually straight this time out."[ '']The Vancouver Sun
The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, and is the larg ...
'', the ''Orange County Register
''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily List of newspapers in California, newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digit ...
'', and ''The Denver Post
''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in the Denver metropolitan area. it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 mil ...
'' were among the many periodicals that considered ''Long Walk Back'' to be one of the best albums of 1998.
Track listing
Charts
References
{{reflist
1998 albums
Curb Records albums