''Start Here'' is the debut studio album by American country duo
Maddie & Tae
Maddie & Tae are an American female country music duo composed of Maddie Font (née Marlow) and Tae Kerr (née Dye), both of whom are singers, songwriters, and guitarists. The duo was signed to the revived Dot Records in 2014. Their debut album, ...
. It was released on August 28, 2015 via
Dot Records
Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...
Dann Huff
Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004, and 2016 at the Co ...
and Aaron Scherz, features eleven tracks. Its release was delayed so the duo could have more time to work on it.
Background
The album was originally scheduled to be released on June 2, 2015, but Maddie & Tae pushed back the album’s release date to August 28. Marlow said "what we had was good, but we knew it could be so much better", while Dye added "we wanted to get the feel — the sound of it — and the music right. You only make your first album once".
Content
Maddie & Tae stated: "we told our stories in this first album and that’s exactly what we plan to do for the albums to come, we want our fans to come along on this journey with us."
Album artwork
The official album cover was shot by photographer Allister Ann: "The thing about us that really defines Maddie and I is we’re not those girls who want to spend a lot of time getting our hair done," Dye said. "We’d rather be out on a four-wheeler, playing guitar or just hanging out, having fun. That’s what the songs are made of. We thought the pictures should look like that, too".
Singles
Four singles have been released from the album, the chart-topper "
Girl in a Country Song
"Girl in a Country Song" is a song recorded by American country music duo Maddie & Tae, co-written with Aaron Scherz. It was released in July 2014 as the lead single from their debut studio album ''Start Here''. The song criticizes the "bro-count ...
''Start Here'' received general acclaim from music critics, scoring an 80 out of 100 on the review aggregate website
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...
at
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 dat ...
bestowed a four and a half stars out of five rating upon the album writing: " In another's hands, such scheming could seem crass or nasty but placed in the context of Start Here, where it's surrounded by both sweetness and swagger, it simply adds another dimension to an album that embodies all the complex contradictions and unfettered optimism of modern country-pop in 2015." ''
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 ...
''s
Jon Dolan
Jon is a shortened form of the common given name Jonathan, derived from "YHWH has given", and an alternate spelling of John, derived from "YHWH has pardoned".
Bequeathing a four star rating out of five upon the album at ''
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 ...
'', Jewly Hight describing: "Just as the Chicks burnished a blend of modern bluegrass, singer-songwriter-style narration and adult contemporary pop sophistication a generation ago, Maddie & Tae are hyper-focused on shaping their own chipper, closer-harmonizing, string band-based aesthetic, though vocally, they're not yet the evocative storytellers they could be. And much as the Chicks have been known to embody a bold brand of femininity, the younger act strikes a posture of winsome self-assurance across these 11 tracks." '' Spin''s Jonathan Bernstein granted the album a seven out of ten stating: "''Start Here'' does a great job of cataloging the highs and lows of early milestones: first kisses, first breakups, leaving home for the first time."
Presenting a seven out of ten stars rating for
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, f ...
, Dave Heaton commenting: "There's a foundation here for greatness: on ''Start Here'' they seem to be aiming less for a towering achievement than for that sort of solid foundation upon which to build a career. The album is essentially packed-full of pleasantly put-together hooks, enjoyable melodic settings and observant if easy-to-slip-past-you lyrics." Judging the album an eight out of ten release, Stuart Henderson of ''
Exclaim!
''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...
'' suggesting: "Unlike those of many of their contemporaries, this album isn't offering much faux hard-won wisdom, and there's no late-night barstool proselytizing to speak of. Instead, ''Start Here'' channels the naïve wonder, genuine openness, and hopeful abandon of post-adolescence."
Glenn Gamboa assessing the album a B+ at ''
Newsday
''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and ...
'' calling: "The duo's debut "Start Here" (Big Machine) does not have anything to match their smart and savvy single that lampoons the objectification of women in country hits while using the same trappings of a bro-country hit." Digital Journal's Markos Papadatos rewarding the album with a four and a half out of five stars commenting: "Overall, Maddie & Tae deliver on their newest studio album ''Start Here''. Many of the songs on this release are compelling and relatable. It is great to hear female artists again on the country radio airwaves."
Commercial performance
''Start Here'' debuted at No. 7 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and No. 2 on the Top Country Albums chart, with 24,000 copies sold in its debut week. The album has sold 103,800 copies in the US as of July 2016.
Track listing
Personnel
;Maddie and Tae
* Maddie Marlow – lead vocals
* Taylor Dye – background vocals
;Additional Musicians
* Jason Bonilla – programming
* Joeie Canaday –
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 ...
* Dorian Crozier –
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 ...
*
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 ...
*
Dan Dugmore
Dan Dugmore is an American session musician known primarily for playing the pedal steel guitar
Born in 1949, Dugmore was raised in Pasadena, California. Influenced by the Flying Burrito Brothers, he learned to play steel guitar after Flying Bu ...
–
steel guitar
A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) 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 conve ...
,
lap steel guitar
The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ...
*
Stuart Duncan
Stuart Duncan (born April 14, 1964) is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and banjo.
Life
Duncan was born in Quantico, Virginia, and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band. ...
Shannon Forrest
Shannon Forrest (born August 22, 1973 in Easley, South Carolina) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. As a session drummer, he has contributed to the work of many well-known artists, and he is also a pr ...
Dann Huff
Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004, and 2016 at the Co ...
–
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 ...
,
dobro
Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently 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 origin ...
,
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, ...
,
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 ...
* David Huff – percussion, programming
* Charlie Judge – keyboards
* Jerry McPherson – electric guitar
* Mike Rojas – keyboards
* Aaron Scherz – acoustic guitar, electric guitar
*
Jimmie Lee Sloas
Jimmie Lee Sloas is an American session musician, producer, and songwriter, who plays bass guitar.
History
Jimmie Lee Sloas, born in Ashland, Kentucky, grew up in Fairborn, Ohio and Isonville, Kentucky. His father, Dave, was a member of the ...
– bass guitar
*
Ilya Toshinsky
Bering Strait was a Russian country music band, whose style was sometimes called "redgrass". In 2003, the band was nominated for a Grammy Award and appeared on the TV show ''60 Minutes''. The group disbanded in 2006. The lineup on their first alb ...
– banjo, acoustic guitar,
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 ...
* Derek Wells – electric guitar
*
Jonathan Yudkin
Jonathan Yudkin is an American multi-instrumentalist who is a proficient player of banjo, violin, mandolin, and other stringed instruments. He is a Nashville-based session musician, record producer, arranger, and band leader.
Biography
Growin ...