''Real Friends'' is the third 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 ...

singer

Chris Janson Christopher Pierre Janson (born April 2, 1986) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Janson has recorded three full-length albums, '' Buy Me a Boat'', '' Everybody'', and '' Real Friends'', through Warner Records Nashville, along wi ...

. It was released via

Warner Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

Nashville on October 18, 2019. The album contains the singles " Good Vibes" and "Done" and "Waitin' on 5".

Content

Janson produced the album with Tommy Cecil, Brock Berryhill, and Zach Crowell, who also co-wrote tracks on the album. It is also Cecil's first production credit.

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...

sings duet vocals on the title track. Janson said that he wanted the album to have a positive theme, and told ''

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 ...

'' that "We wrote it with a positive narrative and tone all the way through." "Hawaii on Me" was later recorded by

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, ...

for his 2022 album ''

Good Day for Living "Good Day for Living" is a song recorded by American country music artist Joe Nichols. It was released as the second single from his tenth studio album of the same name in January 2022. It was written by Dave Cohen, Bobby Hamrick, and Neil Mason. ...

''.

Critical reception

Rating it 3.5 out of 5 stars,

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 ...

said of the album that it was "a cheerful, breezy affair, filled with reassuring ballads and party tunes that mindfully avoid pressing the pedal to the metal."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at No. 12 on ''Billboard''s Top Country Albums with 3,400 copies sold. It has sold 9,900 copies in the United States as of March 2020.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits by

*Matt Alderman – background vocals *Brock Berryhill – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, programming, background vocals *Jason Blaine – electric guitar *

Shy Carter Blake Anthony Carter (born August 21, 1984), known professionally as Shy Carter, is an American songwriter, record producer, rapper and singer. He has written for Meghan Trainor, Jason Derulo, Charlie Puth, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, K ...

– background vocals *Ben Caver – background vocals *Tommy Cecil – percussion, programming, background vocals *Zach Crowell – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, programming, background vocals *Josh Dunne – background vocals *Jerry Flowers – bass guitar *Scotty Huff – horn arrangements, trumpet *Evan Hutchings – drums, percussion *Greylon James – bass guitar, electric guitar,

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 ...

*Chel Janson – background vocals *

–

gut string guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the modern steel-string a ...

, lead vocals, background vocals *Georgia Janson – background vocals *Jesse Janson – background vocals *Devin Malone – banjo,

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 ...

, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar *James McNair – background vocals *Jovan Quallo –

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 ...

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 ...

*Josh Scalf – trombone *Justin Schipper – banjo, dobro, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, steel guitar,

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 ...

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 ...

*Isaac Senty – drums, cowbell *

– duet vocals on "Real Friends" *Jonathan Singleton – background vocals *

Aaron Sterling Aaron Sterling (born July 9, 1980) is an American drummer, producer, engineer, and session musician who lives in Los Angeles and Nashville, Tennessee. The son of professional musicians, Sterling grew up in Texas and Nashville, before moving to L ...

– drums, percussion, piano *Tim Galloway – banjo, bass guitar,

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', , from Greek , from Turkish ) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq), Europe and Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey). It is a member of the long-necked lute fam ...

, acoustic guitar,

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Sche ...

, electric guitar, hi-string guitar,

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

, background vocals *Brad Winters – background vocals *Alex Wright –

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

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 ...

omnichord The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It allows users to play distinctive harp-like arpeggios produced through an electronic strum plate, simulating the experience of ...

, piano,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

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 ...

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Chris Janson albums Warner Records albums