Full Circle (Loretta Lynn album)

Last updated

Full Circle
Loretta Lynn--Full Circle.jpeg
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 4, 2016 (US)
Recorded2007–2015
StudioCash Cabin Studio, Hendersonville, TN
Genre Country, Americana, country folk
Length38:49
Label Sony Legacy
Producer Patsy Lynn Russell, John Carter Cash
Loretta Lynn chronology
Van Lear Rose
(2004)
Full Circle
(2016)
White Christmas Blue
(2016)
Singles from Full Circle
  1. "Everything It Takes"
    Released: January 14, 2016
  2. "Who's Gonna Miss Me?"
    Released: February 4, 2016
  3. "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven"
    Released: February 16, 2016
  4. "Lay Me Down"
    Released: March 23, 2016

Full Circle is the forty-third solo studio album by American country music singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn. It was released on March 4, 2016, by Sony Legacy. It was produced by Lynn's daughter, Patsy Lynn Russell, and John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. The album became Lynn's 40th album to reach the top ten of the US Billboard Top Country Albums chart and her career peak on the US Billboard 200, debuting at number 19. [1] The album received a nomination for Best Country Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.

Contents

Background

Recorded at Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, the album was Lynn's first new studio recording in 12 years. [2] The album is a mixture of recordings inspired by Appalachian folk songs Lynn learned as a child and newer versions of past hits, [3] and includes duets with Elvis Costello and Willie Nelson. [4]

Previous recordings

Four songs on the album had previously been recorded by Lynn:

Promotion

The album's first single, "Everything It Takes", premiered on Rolling Stone 's website on January 14, 2016. [5] It was released for digital download the following day, January 15.

On February 4, 2016, Pitchfork premiered the second single, "Who's Gonna Miss Me?", on their website. [6] It was made available for digital download on February 5.

An updated version of Lynn's 1965 song, "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven", was released as the third single from the album. It was premiered by Time magazine via their website on February 16, 2016. [7] On February 17 the single was made available for digital download.

The album's fourth and final single, "Lay Me Down", was written by Mark Marchetti, husband of Lynn's daughter, Peggy. It was released as a single on March 23, 2016. A music video was released on Lynn's VEVO channel the same day. [8]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [9]
Pitchfork Media (8.0/10) [10]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [11]
Spin Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Flood Magazine(7/10) [13]
Vice (Expert Witness) Five Pointed Star Solid.svg Five Pointed Star Solid.svg Five Pointed Star Solid.svg [14]

Full Circle was released to strong reviews and near universal acclaim. It received a rating of 84 at Metacritic.com to date. [15] Country Weekly called the album "a wonderful and welcome piece of work, 14 solid songs that shift easily from Appalachian mountain soul to pure country and even spiritual fare. Plus, Loretta has simply never sounded better." [16] Pitchfork wrote "She makes a grab-bag late-late-career album feel not only emotionally grounded, but like a powerful choice." [17] Houston Press' positive review writes "For an artist who has been so incredibly prolific, it's statistically improbable that, at 83 years old, Lynn would be recording some of the best music of her career." [18] Spin opined that it was "a mandatory look back at one of country music's most essential artists." [19] In Vice , Robert Christgau named "Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven" and "Wine Into Water" as highlights while summing the album up as "remakes that never seem redundant from an 83-year-old who's lived clean but never been a prig about it". [14]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at No. 4 on the Top Country Albums chart, the 40th top 10 on the chart for Lynn, selling 20,000 in its release week. It also debuted at No. 19 on the Billboard 200, the highest in her career on that chart. [20] The recording has sold 75,300 U. S. copies as of September 2017. [21]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Whispering Sea Introduction"Loretta Lynn0:55
2."Whispering Sea"Loretta Lynn2:16
3."Secret Love" Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster 3:20
4."Who's Gonna Miss Me?"Loretta Lynn, Lola Jean Dillon2:44
5."Black Jack David" A. P. Carter 2:09
6."Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven"Loretta Lynn2:53
7."Always on My Mind" Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, Mark James 3:27
8."Wine Into Water" T. Graham Brown, Bruce Burch, Ted Hewitt 3:21
9."In the Pines"Unknown3:07
10."Band of Gold" Bob Musel, Jack Taylor2:52
11."Fist City"Loretta Lynn2:16
12."I Never Will Marry" A. P. Carter 3:37
13."Everything It Takes" (duet with Elvis Costello)Loretta Lynn, Todd Snider3:01
14."Lay Me Down" (duet with Willie Nelson)Mark Marchetti2:50
Total length:38:49

Personnel

Chart performance

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References

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  4. "Loretta Lynn on New Album Full Circle: 'We Don't Have Real Country Music Anymore'". Time . March 2, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
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  9. Full Circle at AllMusic
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  12. Spin review
  13. Flood Magazine review
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