''Unglamorous'' is the first major label debut album from

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

singer

Lori McKenna Lorraine McKenna ( Giroux; born December 22, 1968) is an American folk, Americana, and country music singer-songwriter. In 2016, she was nominated for the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and won Best Country Song for co-writing the hit singl ...

. After three songs written by McKenna appeared on

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American Country music, country singer. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold almost 50 million albums worldwide ...

's 2005 album, ''

Fireflies The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

'',

Warner Bros. 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 ...

re-released McKenna's 2004 album '' Bittertown'' (her fourth independent release). ''Unglamorous'', however, is the first album of McKenna's recorded specifically for a major label. The album was released August 14, 2007 on StyleSonic Records through

. Hill's husband,

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. He has released 17 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, five for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albums have reached number one on ...

co-produces the album and each of them contributes vocals to one of the tracks. Other notable guest appearances are made by

Kelly Willis Kelly Diane Willis (born October 2, 1968) is an American country music singer-songwriter. Her music has been described as being new traditionalist and alternative country. Early life Born in Lawton, Oklahoma, Willis was the youngest of three ...

Darrell Scott James Darrell Scott (born August 6, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He has written several mainstream country hits, and is well-established as one of Nashville's premier session instrumentalists. B ...

Bryan Sutton James Bryan Sutton (born 1973) is an American musician. Primarily known as a flatpicking acoustic guitar player, Sutton also plays mandolin, banjo, ukulele, and electric guitar. He also sings and writes songs. Biography Early career Sutton's gr ...

and

Buddy Miller Steven Paul "Buddy" Miller (born September 6, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in T ...

Songs

All of the songs were written or co-written by McKenna. She describes her songs as a collision of autobiography, observation and a vivid imagination. As a 38-year-old mother of five and married 19 years to the same man, McKenna has a lot of life experience to draw upon. "I only can write about what I know or conversations I've had with people who have the same type of life that I do," McKenna says in ''

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 ...

'', "I live in the same town I grew up in. I only have a sixth grade vocabulary, and I only know three chords. This is who I am, and I don't really have time to take a piano class or anything." The opening cut, "I Know You", makes a reference to poet,

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, playwright, literary critic, travel writer, essayist, and painter. His modernist works reflect on modernity, social alienation ...

. The first single release from the album was the title track, "Unglamorous".

Reception

''Unglamorous'' was widely reviewed with a generally favorable reception. An analysis of reviews by

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

assigned the album a score of 80 out of 100 placing the album just below the top rated albums of 2007."Lori McKenna: ''Unglamorous'' (2007): Reviews"

Writing for ''

'', critic Ken Tucker suggests the album may be "one of 007'sbest country albums."Tucker, Ken, "''Unglamorous''", ''

'' 119:33, 18 August 2007, p.47 A number of reviews expressed concern that the more slick Nashville production was not the best setting for McKenna's songs, and ''

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. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' describes the sound at times as falling into "unglamorous midtempo muck." Other writers felt that the production, while evidently high-end, still served the musical direction of the album. According to ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'', "The subtle twang that crept into the smart folk and finely wrought Americana on McKenna's four previous albums has been shined up and sharpened, but the endeavor still feels natural."Anderman, Joan
"CD Review: Nashville adds some gloss, but McKenna retains her grace"
''

'', August 14, 2007

Tour

McKenna toured as an opening act for

and

on the first five weeks of their Soul2Soul 2007 Tour in June and July 2007 to help promote the album. This 18 show run in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

introduced McKenna's music to 260,000 Hill and McGraw fans.Tucker, Ken, "''Unglamorous'' Life", ''

''119:31, 18 August 2007, p.35 McKenna also appeared with Hill on ''

Oprah Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', broadcast from Chic ...

''. She performed on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

's ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'', often abbreviated as ''GMA'', is an American breakfast television, morning television program that is broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends wit ...

'' on the day the album was released and was also featured on ''

Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...

''. ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' and

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

's '' O: The Oprah Magazine'' also featured pieces covering McKenna. McKenna tours with the support of a

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

band (musicians that do not appear on this recording) that includes

Mark Erelli Mark Erelli (born June 20, 1974) is an American singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist,Chilton, Martin''The Telegraph'' (UK), November 22, 2011. and touring folk musician from Reading, Massachusetts who earned a master's degree in evolutionary b ...

, Paul Kochanski, Russell Chudnofsky, and John Sands. She has since toured as an opener for country singer

Trisha Yearwood Patricia Lynn Yearwood (born September 19, 1964) is an American country singer. She rose to fame with her 1991 debut single "She's in Love with the Boy", which became a number one hit on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Country Songs ...

Track listing

# "I Know You" (McKenna) – 3:57 # "Unglamorous" (McKenna,

Liz Rose Elisabeth Wagner (born September 6, 1957), known professionally as Liz Rose, is an American country music songwriter, best known for her work with Taylor Swift. She has co-written 17 of Swift's officially released songs, including " You Belong wi ...

) – 4:12 # "Your Next Lover" (McKenna) – 4:28 # "I'm Not Crazy" (McKenna) – 4:18 # "Falter" (McKenna) – 4:49 # "Witness to Your Life" (McKenna) – 3:31 # "Drinkin' Problem" (McKenna, Mark D. Sanders) – 4:00 # "How to Survive" (McKenna, Rose) – 4:37 # "Written Permission" (McKenna) – 4:08 # "Confetti" (McKenna, Fred Wilhelm) – 4:01 # "Leaving This Life" (McKenna, Sanders) – 4:53

Credits

Musicians

* Lori McKenna – vocals and acoustic guitar *

Tom Bukovac Tom Bukovac (born December 20, 1968) is an American session guitarist and producer. He is also a popular YouTube personality with over 100,000 subscribers. He is a five-time winner of Music Row's Top Ten Album All-Stars award in the guitar categ ...

– acoustic &

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

s *

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 Bur ...

–

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 ...

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 ...

Stuart Duncan Stuart Ian 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 ...

–

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

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 ...

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 p ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Byron Gallimore Byron Gallimore (born in Puryear, Tennessee) is an American record producer known for his work in the field of country music. He has worked with artists Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Sugarland, Lee Ann Womack, and Jo Dee Messina. Faith Hill's 1999 albu ...

–

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 ...

& electric guitar * Tony Harrell –

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

harmonium The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ (which employs a va ...

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 ...

– acoustic guitar, mandolin *

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 Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*String arrangements on "Your Next Lover", "Falter" & "Leaving This Life" by Kristin Wilkinson ** Kristin Wilkinson – viola ** David Angell – violin ** David Davidson – Violin ** John Catchings – cello *Background vocals: ** Greg Barnhill – "I Know You", "Unglamorous", "Your Next Lover", "Written Permission" & "Confetti" **

Bekka Bramlett Rebekka Ruth Lazone Bramlett (born April 19, 1968) is an American singer. She is the daughter of Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, of the music duo Delaney & Bonnie. Currently, she is a session singer, songwriter, and backing vocalist, working with ...

– "Unglamorous" **

– "Written Permission" **

– "Falter" **

– "Drinkin' Problem" **

– "How to Survive" **

– "I'm Not Crazy" & "Leaving this Life"

Production

* Produced by

* Recorded by Julian King at

Ocean Way Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, Nashville, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates recording facilities, but Oc ...

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

* Assistant engineers – David Bryant, PJ French, and Todd Shall * Additional editing and

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture (sound design, audio post-productio ...

– Erik Lutkins, Sara Lesher & Jesse Chrisman at Essential Sound, Nashville * Kelly Willis' background vocals: **Recorded at Premium Recording **Engineer Kevin Symanski * "Confetti" and "I Know You" ** Mixed by Julian King at Ocean Way, Nashville ** Mix assistants – Leslie Richter, David Bryant *"I'm Not Crazy" and "Drinkin' Problem" ** Mixed by Erik Lutkins at Essential sound, Nashville **Mix assistant – Sara Lesher * "Leaving This Life", "Unglamorous", "Your Next Lover", "Falter", "Witness to Your Life", "How to Survive", and "Written Permission" **Mixed by Byron Gallimore at Essential Sound, Nashville **Mix assistants – Erik Lutkins, sara Lesher and Jesse Chrisman *Mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering

Artwork

* Art direction & design – Stephen Walker * Art production – Aaron Horwitz * Photography – Andrew Southam, Michael "Mick" Wilson & Nancy Giroux

Management

Management – Brian Avnet, Amos Newman, & Michael Gorffaine

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control Lori McKenna albums 2007 albums Albums produced by Byron Gallimore Warner Records albums Albums produced by Tim McGraw