Words
Studio album by
Sara Evans
ReleasedJuly 21, 2017 (2017-07-21)
GenreCountry
Length51:55
LabelBorn to Fly
Producer
Sara Evans chronology
Slow Me Down
(2014) 		Words
(2017) 		The Barker Family Band
(2019)
Singles from Words
  1. "Marquee Sign"
    Released: June 9, 2017
  2. "All the Love You Left Me"
    Released: January 29, 2018
  3. "Long Way Down"
    Released: November 2018

Words is the ninth studio album by American country music singer Sara Evans. She released it independently on July 21, 2017 via her own Born to Fly Records. The lead single is "Marquee Sign".

Content

The album features fourteen songs, all of which have at least one female writer. Evans said that this was unintentional. She also told Billboard that "Eighty percent of this album will make you cry, and twenty percent will make you so happy. It's really deep with incredible lyrics. That's why I decided to call the album Words."[1] Evans wrote one of the songs, "Letting You Go", about her son Avery.[2] An acoustic version of Evans' Number One hit "A Little Bit Stronger" was also included as its final track.

"Long Way Down" was previously recorded by The SteelDrivers on their 2015 album, The Muscle Shoals Recordings.

Critical reception

Rating it 4 out of 5 stars, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that "it never flaunts its diversity; instead, its eclecticism is casual, with Evans sliding from stripped-back country-folk to breezy modern pop with ease" and "there's a measured assurance to her performances that lends the album warmth."[3] Matt Bjorke of Roughstock was positive, stating that "it finds her refreshed and sounding better than she did on her past couple of releases".[4]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at No. 4 on the Top Country Albums chart and No. 2 on the Independent Albums chart, selling 9,900 copies in the first week. It has sold 26,800 copies in the United States as of March 2018.[5]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Long Way Down"Liz Hengber, Tammy Rogers, Jerry Salley4:14
2."Marquee Sign"Evans, Heather Morgan, Jimmy Robbins4:00
3."Diving in Deep"Hillary Lindsey, Steve McEwan, Gordie Sampson2:36
4."All the Love You Left Me"Lindsey, Sampson, Ben West4:17
5."Like the Way You Love Me"Evans, Jason Massey3:04
6."Rain and Fire"Charles Harmon, Claude Kelly3:38
7."Night Light"Jaida Dreyer, Daniel Tashian3:38
8."I Need a River"Marcus Hummon, Sonya Isaacs, Darrell Scott4:22
9."I Don't Trust Myself"McEwan, Sampson, Caitlyn Smith3:34
10."Make Room at the Bottom"Brett James, Ashley Monroe3:12
11."Words"David Hodges, Robbins, Jake Scott2:48
12."I Want You"Thomas Lee Brown, Victoria McCants, Travis Sayles, Shane Stevens3:41
13."Letting You Go"Victoria Banks, Evans, Emily Shackelton4:11
14."A Little Bit Stronger" (acoustic)Luke Laird, Lindsey, Hillary Scott4:40
Total length:51:55

Personnel

Charts

Chart (2017) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[6] 46
US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[7] 4
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[8] 2

References

  1. ^ Dauphin, Chuck (July 19, 2017). "Sara Evans on Picking 13 Female Songwriters for Her New Album: 'It Wasn't Something I Did on Purpose'". Billboard. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  2. ^ Goldstein, Joelle (July 21, 2017). "Why Sara Evans Was 'Sobbing' While Writing a Song About Her Teenage Son". People Country. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  3. ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Words". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  4. ^ Bjorke, Matt (July 22, 2017). "Words review". Roughstock. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  5. ^ Bjorke, Matt (March 27, 2018). "Top 10 Country Album Sales Chart: March 27, 2018". Roughstock. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  6. ^ "Sara Evans Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  7. ^ "Sara Evans Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  8. ^ "Sara Evans Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard.
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