''Simple Life'' is a studio album by American

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, ...

singer

Mac McAnally Lyman Corbitt McAnally Jr. (; born July 15, 1957), known professionally as Mac McAnally, is an American country music singer-songwriter, session musician, and record producer. In his career, he has recorded ten studio albums and eight singles. ...

. It was released in 1990 by

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

Nashville.

Content

The album includes McAnally's only solo single to reach Top 40 on the

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts, "

Back Where I Come From "Back Where I Come From" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Mac McAnally. It was released in January 1990 as the first single from his album ''Simple Life''. The song reached number 14 on the '' Billboard'' Hot Count ...

", which peaked at No. 14 in 1990. The album's only other single, " Down the Road", peaked at No. 70.

Kenny Chesney Kenneth Arnold Chesney (born March 26, 1968) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He has recorded more than 20 albums and has produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Coun ...

and McAnally recorded "Down the Road" as a duet on the former's ''

Lucky Old Sun ''Lucky Old Sun'' is the twelfth studio album by American country music artist Kenny Chesney. It was released on October 14, 2008 as the first release for Blue Chair Records, Chesney's personal division of the BNA Records record label. The album ...

'' album, and this version was a No. 1 single in 2009. Chesney had previously recorded "Back Where I Come From" on his 1996 album '' Me and You'', and included a live version on his 2000 ''

Greatest Hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

'' package.

Linda Davis Linda Kaye Davis (born November 26, 1962) is an American country music singer. Before beginning a career as a solo artist, she had three minor country singles in the charts as one half of the duo Skip & Linda. In her solo career, Davis has recor ...

covered "Company Time", the B-side of "Back Where I Come From", on her 1994 album '' Shoot for the Moon'', and her version was a No. 43 country single that year. Also,

Sammy Kershaw Samuel Paul Kershaw (born February 24, 1958) is an American country music artist. He has released 16 studio albums, with three RIAA platinum certifications and two gold certifications among them. More than 25 singles have entered the Top 40 on the ...

released "Southbound" as a single from his 1994 album ''

Feelin' Good Train ''Feelin' Good Train'' is the third studio album by American country music artist Sammy Kershaw. It was released in 1994 (see 1994 in country music) on Mercury Records. The album produced four singles for Kershaw on the ''Billboard'' country charts ...

'', taking the song to No. 27 on the country charts that year. Finally,

Andy Childs Andy Childs (born December 7, 1962) is an American country music singer-songwriter. In 1993, Childs released one studio album for RCA, which produced three singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. His highest charting si ...

covered the title track on his 1993 self-titled debut, taking it to No. 61 that year.

Critical reception

Rating it 3 out of 5 stars, Michael McCall of ''

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' wrote that "The album features well-crafted lyrics, fastidious acoustic-pop arrangements and his unremarkable voice." A review in ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' was positive, saying that McAnally "makes the 'simple life' seem so intriguing, as he touches on every aspect of life" and "delights us with his own style of singing and musical accompaniment".

Track listing

All songs written by

References

{{Authority control 1990 albums Mac McAnally albums Warner Records albums Albums produced by Jim Ed Norman Albums produced by Mac McAnally