Town Line

For the community in New York, see Town Line, New York.
Town Line
EP by Aaron Lewis
Released March 1, 2011
Genre Country, country rock
Length 32:57
Label Stroudavarious
Producer Aaron Lewis
James Stroud
Aaron Lewis chronology
Town Line
(2011)
The Road
(2012)
Singles from Town Line
  1. "Country Boy"
    Released: December 7, 2010
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Country Weekly[2]
Engine 145[3]

Town Line is the first EP by Staind frontman Aaron Lewis. An extended play consisting of country songs, it was released on March 1, 2011 on Stroudavarious Records.[4] As of the chart dated September 3, 2011, the album has sold 200,208 copies in the US.[5]

Content

The first single, "Country Boy", which features George Jones, Charlie Daniels, and Chris Young, was released on December 7, 2010. This song has charted on both Hot Country Songs and Rock Songs.[6] The track "Tangled Up in You" is a re-recording of a song from Staind's album The Illusion of Progress.[2]

Live versions of the songs "Vicious Circles" and "Country Boy" also appear on the deluxe edition of Lewis' 2012 album, The Road.

Critical reception

Giving it three stars out of five, Jessica Phillips of Country Weekly thought that the songs were "rich with imagery." She also praised Lewis for "resist[ing] the temptation to don a faux twang", but criticized the single "Country Boy" as "an unfortunately overextended string of rural impressions."[2] Sam Gazdziak of Engine 145 rated it two stars out of five, calling "Country Boy" "turgid" and "polarizing", also criticizing the three versions present on the EP. His review criticized most of the songs for their themes, but praised "Vicious Circles" and "Tangled Up in You" by saying that they "don’t sound like Lewis was working off of a checklist of things that belong in country music[…]and they end up being the best two of the bunch."[3] Stephen Thomas Erlewine criticized Lewis for having "no good feel for country music tradition", and saying that "By Lewis' limited reading, country music is only about god, guns, family, and country". He gave the album one star out of five.[1]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Aaron Lewis. 

No. Title Length
1. "The Story Never Ends"   4:47
2. "Vicious Circles"   5:07
3. "Country Boy" (featuring George Jones, Charlie Daniels and Chris Young) 4:43
4. "Tangled Up in You" (featuring Alexa Carter) 4:29
5. "Massachusetts"   5:03
6. "Country Boy" (radio edit) 4:20
7. "Country Boy" (acoustic version) 4:20

Personnel

Chart performance

Album

Chart (2011) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200 7
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums 1
U.S. Billboard Top Independent Albums 3
U.S. Billboard Top Rock Albums 3

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions
US US Country US Main US Rock
2011 "Country Boy" (with George Jones and Charlie Daniels) 87 50 23 39
Preceded by
Need You Now by Lady Antebellum
Top Country Albums number-one album
March 19, 2011
Succeeded by
Stronger by Sara Evans

References

  1. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Town Line review". Allmusic. Retrieved July 9, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 Phillips, Jessica (7 March 2011). Country Weekly 18 (10): 56. ISSN 1074-3235. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. 1 2 Gazdziak, Sam (13 April 2011). "Town Line review". Engine 145. Retrieved 13 April 2011.
  4. "Town Line". Allmusic. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  5. "It's Country Boy's World on SoundScan Charts This Week". Roughstock. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  6. "Charts for Town Line". Allmusic. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
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