Pinmonkey (album)

Before signing with BNA Records in 2002, Pinmonkey self-released an album titled Speak No Evil. Record executive Joe Galante allowed the band to release this project while signing to BNA Records, as he thought doing so would allow them to have a project to promote while on tour.^[1]

Pinmonkey contains two singles. First was "Barbed Wire and Roses", which peaked at number 25 on Billboard Hot Country Songs in 2002. The only other single was a cover of Cyndi Lauper's "I Drove All Night", which the band took to number 36 on the same chart.^[2] According to an interview with Country Standard Time, the decision to cover "I Drove All Night" was recommended by group member Chad Jeffers's girlfriend, who was a fan of Lauper's music. The band intentionally based their cover off an acoustic rendition sung by Jeffers, so as not to let Lauper's original version influence their own. Additionally, lead singer Michael Reynolds sought out a cover of Dolly Parton's "Falling Out of Love with Me" because he wanted to include a Parton cover on the album; however, he did not think the song was suitable for Pinmonkey until Chad began singing it in conversation.^[3] The Parton cover also includes her on backing vocals.^[4][5] Additional cover songs on the album include Sugar Ray's "Fly", Gwil Owen's "Augusta", and the Staples Singers's "Stay with Us".^[4][5]

Deborah Evans Price of Billboard found influences of bluegrass, swamp rock, and country rock in their sound. She also praised Michael Reynolds's lead vocals as "a clear, high tenor adept at up-tempos and stunning on...ballads".^[6] Jack Leaver of The Grand Rapids Press rated the album three-and-a-half stars out of four, praising the cover songs in particular, as well as the use of Dobro and vocal harmony.^[5] AllMusic writer Erik Hage praised the "tight musicianship" and Reynolds's lead vocals, giving the album four out of five stars.^[7]