The Way I'm Livin'

by Lee Ann Womack

Overview

Lee Ann Womack began recording a sequel for MCA Nashville after 2008's Call Me Crazy, but none of its advance singles stuck, leading the singer to shift direction for her seventh studio album. This album didn't appear until 2014, not on Universal but on Sugar Hill/Welk, who picked up The Way I'm Livin', an album that effectively reboots her career. Produced by Frank Liddell -- Womack's husband but more notably the producer behind recent hit records by Miranda Lambert, Pistol Annies, David Nail, and the Eli Young Band -- The Way I'm Livin' finds the veteran singer intentionally abandoning the chart race for deeply felt intimacy. Womack didn't write any of the songs on The Way I'm Livin' -- a collection of writers ranging from Bruce Robison, Kenny Price, Julie Miller, and Mindy Smith to Hayes Carll and Neil Young bear credits -- but the material is so carefully selected, the album plays personally. Naturally, this is a testament to Womack's skills as a singer -- she's never been more nuanced, sliding into the lyrics, laying back sometimes, leaning into the lyrics elsewhere, all the twists giving the songs an earthiness that grounds the record -- but also to Liddell's lithe production, which never draws attention to itself. The Way I'm Livin' maintains an easy, mellow vibe but it contains plenty of sly, unexpected turns; the title track is dressed in sympathetic strings, "Chances Are" glides on a steamy Southern soul crawl, "Sleeping with the Devil" echoes with the memories of forgotten country classics. There's pleasure within the sounds Womack and Liddell make with their crack supporting musicians and the songs resonate emotionally, their themes of love, regret, and maturity enhancing each other. In that sense, The Way I'm Livin' plays like a classic album: it's a record where the sum is greater than the individual parts.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/23/2014
Label:	Welk Records
UPC:	0015891410722
catalogNumber:	141072
Rank:	84940

Tracks

1. Prelude: Fly
2. All His Saints
3. Chances Are
4. The Way I'm Livin'
5. Send It on Down
6. Don't Listen to the Wind
7. Same Kind of Different
8. Out on the Weekend
9. Nightwind
10. Sleeping With the Devil
11. Not Forgotten You
12. Tomorrow Night in Baltimore
13. When I Come Around

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Lee Ann Womack   Primary Artist
Ashley Cleveland   Background Vocals
Duke Levine   Acoustic Guitar,Electric Guitar
Matt Chamberlain   Percussion,Drums
Paul Franklin   Steel Guitar
Kenny Greenberg   Electric Guitar
Mac McAnally   Acoustic Guitar,Piano,Keyboards,Background Vocals,Mandocello,fender rhodes,Hammond B3
Buddy Miller   Background Vocals
Mike Rojas   Accordion
Hank Singer   Fiddle
Glenn Worf   Bass,Upright Bass
Tom Hambridge   Bass Drums
Chris Carmichael   Strings
Jason Sellers   Background Vocals
Mick Flannery   Background Vocals
Frank Rische   Background Vocals
Charlie Pate   Background Vocals
Aubrie Sellers   Background Vocals
Morgane Stapleton   Background Vocals
Annalise Liddell   Background Vocals

Technical Credits

Neil Young   Composer,Lyricist
Kenny Price   Composer,Lyricist
Julie Miller   Composer,Lyricist
Natalie Hemby   Composer,Lyricist
David Leone   Composer,Lyricist
Bruce Robison   Composer,Lyricist
Glenn Worf   Producer
Reed Foehl   Composer,Lyricist
Chris Carmichael   String Arrangements
Chuck Ainlay   Producer,Engineer
John Scarpati   Art Direction
Chris Knight   Composer,Lyricist
Frank Liddell   Producer
Hayes Carll   Composer,Lyricist
Brennen Leigh   Composer,Lyricist
Mindy Smith   Composer,Lyricist
Adam Hood   Composer,Lyricist
Mando Saenz   Composer,Lyricist
Adam Wright   Composer,Lyricist
Brent Cobb   Composer,Lyricist