Never Will
2020 studio album by Ashley McBryde
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Never Will is the second studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Ashley McBryde. It was released on April 3, 2020 via Warner Music Nashville. The album is McBryde's second major label release and was preceded by the lead single "One Night Standards". McBryde launched the One Night Standards Tour in support of the album on January 30, 2020.
| Never Will | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | April 3, 2020 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 39:33 | |||
| Label | Warner Music Nashville | |||
| Producer | Jay Joyce | |||
| Ashley McBryde chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Never Will | ||||
| ||||
Never Will was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Country Album and the Country Music Association Award for Album of the Year.
Release and promotion
The album's title, track listing and release date were revealed on January 17, 2020.[1][2]
Singles
The first single from the album, "One Night Standards", was released on August 30, 2019. It impacted country radio on September 23, 2019.[3] The music video was released on December 19.
Two additional songs—"Martha Divine" and "Hang in There Girl"—were released ahead of the album as promotional singles in January 2020. Both were accompanied by music videos that made up a chronological 3-part series beginning with the video for "One Night Standards".[4][5]
Tour
Beginning January 30, 2020, McBryde launched the One Night Standards Tour to support the album.[6]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 83/100[7] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [8] |
| American Songwriter | [9] |
| And It Don't Stop | A−[10] |
| Exclaim! | 8/10[11] |
| Rolling Stone | [12] |
Never Will was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 83, based on 7 reviews.[7]
American Songwriter reviewer Hal Horowitz applauded the music, regarding it as "a rock/country hybrid that's more visceral than, well, country/rock, and hits harder too".[9] On the other hand, Robert Christgau lamented "the production here: Nashville rock at its bigged-up schlockiest, with McBryde belting to match", but applauded the songwriting as "compact", engaging, and "so sharp it gives her the right to belt: lyrically not one of the 11 tracks is merely passable".[10] Jonathan Bernstein from Rolling Stone similarly praised the lyrics, calling McBryde "one of country's sharpest truth-tellers".[12]
Accolades
| Publication | Accolade | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Billboard | Billboard's 50 Best Albums of 2020 – Mid-Year | N/a | |
| Rolling Stone | Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2020 – Mid-Year | N/a | |
| Spin | Spin's 30 Best Albums of 2020 – Mid-Year | N/a | |
| Stereogum | Stereogum's 50 Best Albums of 2020 – Mid-Year | 44 |
|
| Variety | Variety's Best Albums of 2020 – Mid-Year | N/a |
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hang in There Girl" |
| 3:49 |
| 2. | "One Night Standards" |
| 3:10 |
| 3. | "Shut Up Sheila" |
| 3:51 |
| 4. | "First Thing I Reach For" |
| 3:14 |
| 5. | "Voodoo Doll" |
| 3:29 |
| 6. | "Sparrow" |
| 3:50 |
| 7. | "Martha Divine" |
| 3:37 |
| 8. | "Velvet Red" |
| 3:27 |
| 9. | "Stone" |
| 4:15 |
| 10. | "Never Will" |
| 3:56 |
| 11. | "Styrofoam" | Clay | 2:55 |
| Total length: | 39:33 | ||
Personnel
- Blue Foley - background vocals
- Jason Hall- background vocals
- Chris Harris - acoustic guitar, mandolin, background vocals
- Matt Helmkamp - electric guitar, background vocals
- Quinn Hill - drums, percussion, background vocals
- Jay Joyce - Farfisa organ, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, piano, programming, background vocals
- Jimmy Mansfield - background vocals
- Ashley McBryde - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lead vocals, background vocals
- Chris Sancho - bass guitar, background vocals
- Trick Savage - background vocals
- Dan Smalley - background vocals
Charts
| Chart (2020) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Scottish Albums (OCC)[19] | 23 |
| UK Country Albums (OCC)[20] | 2 |
| US Billboard 200[21] | 54 |
| US Top Album Sales (Billboard)[22] | 6 |
| US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[23] | 5 |