''Perfectly Clear'' is the seventh studio album recorded by American singer Jewel. Her first album of

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

, it was released on Valory Records (an imprint of

Big Machine Records Big Machine Records is an American independent record label, distributed by Universal Music Group. Specializing in country and pop artists, Big Machine is based on Music Row in Nashville, Tennessee. The label was founded in September 2005 by for ...

) on June 3, 2008 (see 2008 in country music).

Album description

The album is composed of a mixture of new and old fan-favorite songs, although only one of the songs had previously appeared on one of her albums. "

2 Become 1 "2 Become 1" is a song by the English girl group the Spice Girls. Written by the group members, together with Matt Rowe and Richard Stannard during the group's first professional songwriting session, it was produced by Rowe and Stannard for t ...

", from ''

0304 ''0304'' is the fifth studio album by American singer Jewel, released on June 3, 2003, by Atlantic Records. Inspired by the sudden success of scoring a number one on the US '' Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play chart with " Serve the Ego"—the fi ...

'' appeared in a new country version that was re-titled, "Two Become One". Its lead single, " Stronger Woman", peaked at #13 on the ''

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 ...

'' Hot Country Songs chart.

John Rich John Rich (born January 7, 1974) is an American country music singer-songwriter. From 1992 to 1998, he was a member of the country music band Lonestar, in which he played bass guitar and alternated with Richie McDonald as lead vocalist. After d ...

, one half of the country rock duo

Big & Rich Big & Rich is an American country music duo composed of Big Kenny and John Rich, both of whom are songwriters, vocalists, and guitarists. Before the duo's foundation, Rich was bass guitarist in the country band Lonestar, while Kenny was a sol ...

, produced the album. "I Do", was released to country radio on June 23, 2008 as the album's second single, which peaked in the Top 40. "Till It Feels Like Cheating" was released on October 27, 2008 as the third single, but only stayed on the charts for one week debuting and peaking at #57. ''Perfectly Clear'' debuted at #8 on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 48,000 copies. The album was released in Australia on May 29, 2009. It was released across Europe in June 2009. The European edition also includes the video for the first single "Stronger Woman". As of June 2010, the album has sold 370,000 copies worldwide, including 240,000 in the U.S.

Critical reception

The album received generally favorable reviews. ''

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. It was first known for its co ...

'' magazine gave a mixed review, giving the album 2.5 stars out of 5. The reviewer said that "Jewel doesn't call upon the gritty storytelling of a real Nashville star ��the album is overcrowded by placid soft-rock tunes like "Two Become One" and "Anyone But You" with schmaltzy choruses and flavorless piano-laden verses." Allmusic gave a mixed review too, giving the album 3 stars out of 5. The reviewer also criticized Rich's production and the "poppy, simple songs about relationships ��but it does mean it feels more like the Jewel that everybody came to love back in 1995 A positive review came from ''Entertainment Weekly'', which received the album well, calling Jewel an "earnest storyteller", and ''Billboard'' magazine, which said that the album "is not only persuasive, but down-home, old-school country." ''The New York Times'' gave the album an ambivalent review, saying that Jewel's voice was "sharp ndassured" but criticizing the production.

Track listing

Personnel

* Steve Brewster -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

* Mike Brignardello -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

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 A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

* Jason Freese -

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 pushes a length of magnetic tape against a capstan, which pulls it across a playback head. ...

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

, synthesizer strings,

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

* Wes Hightower - background vocals * Jewel -

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, ...

, lead vocals, background vocals * Mike Johnson -

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all steel guitars, it can ...

* Liana Manis - background vocals * Ethan Pilzer - bass guitar *

- background vocals * Mike Rojas - accordion, Hammond organ,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

, Wurlitzer * Adam Shoenfeld -

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

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 * Jonathan Yudkin -

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 usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of th ...

, fiddle,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Singles

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums Big Machine Records albums Jewel (singer) albums Albums produced by John Rich