Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates
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- Blackbird (Nashville, Tennessee)
- Emerald Sound (Nashville, Tennessee)
- Keith Harter Music (San Antonio, Texas)
- Love Shack (Nashville, Tennessee)
- Masterfonics (Nashville, Tennessee)
- Studio Without Walls (Los Angeles, California)
- Sound Emporium (Nashville, Tennessee)
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| Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 11, 2007 | |||
| Recorded | 2007 | |||
| Studio |
| |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 48:43 | |||
| Label | BNA | |||
| Producer | Buddy Cannon and Kenny Chesney (all tracks) Joe Walsh ("Wild Ride" only) | |||
| Kenny Chesney chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates | ||||
| ||||
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | (70/100)[1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| The A.V. Club | B−[3] |
| Billboard | (favorable)[4] |
| Blender | [1] |
| The Boston Globe | (favorable)[5] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B[6] |
| Los Angeles Times |  [1][7] |
| The New York Times | (favorable)[8] |
| PopMatters | [9] |
| Rolling Stone | [10] |
Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates is the eleventh studio album by American country music artist Kenny Chesney. It was released on September 11, 2007 via BNA Records. The album was leaked on the Internet on September 5, 2007. It produced four singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart between 2007 and 2008, three of which reached number one. The album also includes duets with George Strait and Joe Walsh. This is Chesney’s second album where he was not a writer or co-writer on any of the tracks, the first being 1996's Me and You.
The album's first two singles are "Never Wanted Nothing More" and "Don't Blink", which were officially released to country radio in June and September 2007. Both singles reached number one the Hot Country Songs charts in late 2007, as did "Better as a Memory" (the fourth and final single) in June 2008. "Shiftwork" is a duet with George Strait. It was released as the album's third single in December 2007. It peaked at number 2 in early 2008. The song "Wild Ride", a duet with Joe Walsh, was originally recorded by Dwight Yoakam on his 1993 album This Time.
Critical reception
The album represented a move by Chesney to a more Gulf and Western sound with a number of "breezy, steel-drum island songs."[2]
Commercial performance
Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 387,000 copies in first week.[11] The album had the best weekly sales of any country album since the Dixie Chicks' Taking the Long Way in May 2006[12] As of August 2008, the album has sold 1.4 million copies in the United States.[13] On December 10, 2007, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over a million copies in the United States.[14]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Never Wanted Nothing More" | 3:29 | |
| 2. | "Don't Blink" |
| 4:46 |
| 3. | "Shiftwork" (duet with George Strait) | Troy Jones | 4:29 |
| 4. | "Just Not Today" | David Lee Murphy | 4:05 |
| 5. | "Wife and Kids" | 4:23 | |
| 6. | "Got a Little Crazy" |
| 4:03 |
| 7. | "Better as a Memory" |
| 4:12 |
| 8. | "Dancin' for the Groceries" |
| 5:11 |
| 9. | "Wild Ride" (featuring Joe Walsh) | Dwight Yoakam | 4:20 |
| 10. | "Scare Me" | 4:14 | |
| 11. | "Demons" | 5:31 | |
| Total length: | 48:43 | ||
Personnel
As listed in liner notes.[15]
- Wyatt Beard – background vocals
- William F. Bowman – acoustic guitar
- Bekka Bramlett – background vocals
- Mat Britain – steel drums
- Pat Buchanan – electric guitar
- Buddy Cannon – background vocals
- Melonie Cannon – background vocals
- Kenny Chesney – lead vocals
- Jeff Coffin – tenor saxophone
- Eric Darken – percussion
- Dan Dugmore – steel guitar
- Chris Dunn – trombone
- Sonny Garrish – steel guitar, Dobro
- Vince Gill – electric guitar
- Kenny Greenberg – electric guitar
- Rob Hajacos – fiddle
- Tim Hensley – background vocals
- Steve Herman – trumpet
- John Hobbs – piano, keyboards
- Jim Horn – baritone saxophone
- Paul Leim – drums, percussion
- Randy McCormick – Hammond B-3 organ, piano, keyboards, synthesizer, Wurlitzer
- Jonell Mosser – background vocals
- Larry Paxton – bass guitar, upright bass
- Gary Prim – Hammond B-3 organ, piano, keyboards
- Jon Randall – background vocals
- Mickey Raphael – harmonica
- Chris Stapleton – acoustic guitar
- George Strait – duet vocals on "Shiftwork"
- Scott Vestal – banjo
- Joe Walsh – electric guitar and talk box on "Wild Ride"
- Quentin Ware, Jr. – trumpet
- John Willis – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, talk box guitar, gut string guitar
- Andrea Zonn – background vocals
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian Albums (Billboard)[16] | 7 |
| US Billboard 200[17] | 3 |
| US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[18] | 1 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2007) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200[19] | 61 |
| US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[20] | 12 |
| Chart (2008) | Position |
| US Billboard 200[21] | 49 |
| US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[22] | 9 |
