Bullets in the Gun
Encyclopedia
Upon its release, Bullets in the Gun received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic
, which assigns a normalized
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 76, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".
Bill Friskics-Warren of The Washington Post
complimented the tracks on the release, saying "There isn't a weak track on the record, and most of the songs [...] are pretty terrific". Stephen Thomas Erlewine
of Allmusic gave the album 4½ out of 5 stars and called it "a lean, tight record", stating "Bullets in the Gun winds up being the Toby Keith album with the lightest touch since 2006’s White Trash with Money
." Matt Bjorke with Roughstock commented on the album, saying "Bullets in the Gun is an interesting album and it feels like a joyful mixture of songs about different stages of relationships and life" and called it "Keith’s best album of at least the last five years". Gary Graff with Billboard Magazine
gave a favorable review of the album, saying "It's full of shoot-from-the- hip cleverness".
Jessica Phillips with Country Weekly
gave it three stars, commented saying that "the album [is packed] with songs meant to heal (or at least dull) a broken heart". Jon Caramanica with The New York Times
referred to Bullets in the Gun as "[Keith's] most scattershot album to date; a jumble of attitudes and tactics" and said "[he] is singing without conviction on songs that are mere archetypes and lack any of his signature gestures".
Additional musicians
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalized
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 76, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".
Bill Friskics-Warren of The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
complimented the tracks on the release, saying "There isn't a weak track on the record, and most of the songs [...] are pretty terrific". Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
of Allmusic gave the album 4½ out of 5 stars and called it "a lean, tight record", stating "Bullets in the Gun winds up being the Toby Keith album with the lightest touch since 2006’s White Trash with Money
White Trash with Money
White Trash with Money is the eleventh album by country music superstar Toby Keith, which was released on April 11, 2006. It is Keith's first album on his own Show Dog Nashville label. The album shipped platinum, meaning one million or more units were distributed to outlets ahead of its release.It...
." Matt Bjorke with Roughstock commented on the album, saying "Bullets in the Gun is an interesting album and it feels like a joyful mixture of songs about different stages of relationships and life" and called it "Keith’s best album of at least the last five years". Gary Graff with Billboard Magazine
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
gave a favorable review of the album, saying "It's full of shoot-from-the- hip cleverness".
Jessica Phillips with Country Weekly
Country Weekly
Country Weekly is an American tabloid style weekly magazine established in 1994. The magazine focuses on country music stars and events, and regularly features exclusive interviews with recording artists and country music news...
gave it three stars, commented saying that "the album [is packed] with songs meant to heal (or at least dull) a broken heart". Jon Caramanica with The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
referred to Bullets in the Gun as "[Keith's] most scattershot album to date; a jumble of attitudes and tactics" and said "[he] is singing without conviction on songs that are mere archetypes and lack any of his signature gestures".
Track listing
Personnel
Production- Robert Ascroft - Photography
- Susie Carlson - Stylist
- Kim Debus - Stylist
- P.J. Fenech - Assistant
- Tom Freitag - Assistant
- Jed Hackett - Overdubs
- Meredith Louie - Creative Director
- Ken Love - Mastering
- Mike Paragone - Assistant
- Lowell Reynolds - Assistant
- Brien Sager - Assistant
- Elaine Shock - Creative Director
- Andrew Southam - Photography
- Todd Tidwell - Assistant
- Ted Wheeler - Assistant
Additional musicians
- Pat BergesonPat BergesonPat Bergeson is an American guitarist, harmonica player and occasional songwriter. Based in Nashville, he is best known for his live and session work with Chet Atkins, Lyle Lovett and Suzy Bogguss.-Biography:...
- Acoustic Guitar, Harmonia, Harmonica, Jew's-Harp - Bruce Bouton - Pedal Steel
- Tom BukovacTom BukovacTom Bukovac is an American session musician.Bukovac began playing guitar at age ten, and started playing his first shows at age thirteen. He grew up in Willowick, Ohio and moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1992, where he found work playing for Tanya Tucker, Lionel Cartwright and others...
- Electric Guitar - Perry Coleman - Background Vocals
- Chad CromwellChad CromwellChad Cromwell is an American drummer, best known for his work with Neil Young and with Mark Knopfler.- Personal life :Cromwell was born in Paducah, Kentucky, and three years later moved with his family to Memphis, Tennessee...
- Drums - Eric Darken - Percussion, Vibraphone
- Paul FranklinPaul Franklin (musician)Paul Franklin is an American multi-instrumentalist, known mainly for his work as a steel guitarist. He began his career in the 1970s as a member of Barbara Mandrell's road band; in addition he toured with Mel Tillis and Jerry Reed. He has since become a prolific session musician in Nashville,...
- Dobro, Pedal Steel - Kevin Grantt - Bass
- Kenny Greenberg - Electric Guitar
- Aubrey HaynieAubrey HaynieAubrey Haynie is an American bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle and mandolin. In his career, he has recorded three studio albums for the Sugar Hill Records label, all three of which contained mostly songs that he wrote himself...
- Fiddle - John Hobbs - Organ, Piano
- Charlie Judge - Strings, Synthesizer
- Toby KeithToby KeithToby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...
- Producer, Background Vocals - Mills Logan - Engineer, Mixing, Overdub Engineer
- Phil MadeiraPhil MadeiraPhil Madeira is an American songwriter, producer, musician and singer from Nashville, Tennessee. He was raised in Barrington, Rhode Island and attended Taylor University, which he graduated from in 1975....
- Accordion, Organ, Wurlitzer - Chris McHughChris McHughChris McHugh was the drummer of Christian rock band White Heart from 1986 to 1989. He also worked in the recording of several of their later albums....
- Drums - Steve Nathan - Piano
- Michael Rhodes - Bass
- Randy ScruggsRandy ScruggsRandy Scruggs is a music producer, songwriter and guitarist. He had his first recording at the age of 13...
- Banjo - Steven Sheehan - Acoustic Guitar
- Jimmie Lee Sloas - Bass
- Ilya Toshinsky - Banjo, Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin
Album
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums Chart | 23 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 |
| US Billboard Top Country Albums | 1 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2010) | Year-end 2010 |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
199 |
| US Billboard Top Country Albums | 41 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
||
| 2010 | "Trailerhood Trailerhood "Trailerhood" is the title of a song written and recorded by Toby Keith for his 2010 album Bullets in the Gun. It was released as the first single from the album in June 2010. It is his 50th single.-Content:... " |
19 | 97 |
| "Bullets in the Gun Bullets in the Gun (song) "Bullets in the Gun" is the title of a song co-written by Toby Keith and Rivers Rutherford, and recorded by Keith. It is the title track to, and second single from, his 2010 album Bullets in the Gun... " |
12 | 83 | |
| 2011 | "Somewhere Else Somewhere Else (Toby Keith song) "Somewhere Else" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Toby Keith. It is the third single from his 2010 album Bullets in the Gun, from which it was released in February 2011 as the third single.-Content:... " |
12 | 80 |