Unconditional (Clay Davidson album)

Last updated
Unconditional
Clayalbum.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedApril 11, 2000 (2000-04-11)
Recorded1999–2000
Genre Country, southern rock
Length38:34
Label Virgin
Producer Jude Cole, Chris Farren, Scott Hendricks

Unconditional is the only studio album by American country music artist Clay Davidson, released in 2000 on Virgin Records Nashville. Its title track was a Top 5 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) charts in 2000. "I Can't Lie to Me" and "Sometimes" were also released from this album, both charting in the Top 30 on the same chart. Jude Cole and Scott Hendricks produced the album, with additional production from Chris Farren on "What Was I Thinking Of". To date, this remains Clay Davidson's only studio album as a solo artist.

Contents

Critical reception

William Ruhlmann of Allmusic rated the album three stars, comparing its sound to southern rock on some tracks but saying "there's nothing here that's particularly striking from a creative standpoint." [1] Entertainment Weekly critic Alanna Nash rated it B+, comparing Davidson's vocals to Delbert McClinton and calling the album "a tender-tough charmer." [2]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Makin' Hay" Marcus Hummon, Jason Sellers 3:05
2."I Can't Lie to Me" Casey Beathard, Kenny Beard, Clay Davidson 3:21
3."Unconditional" Rivers Rutherford, Deanna Bryant, Liz Hengber 4:01
4."Plain Ol' Pain" Tim Nichols, Jimmy Alan Stewart3:07
5."Sometimes"Beathard, Beard, C. Davidson3:18
6."My Best Friend and Me"C. Davidson2:56
7."Doghouse Rights"C. Davidson, Jude Cole 4:22
8."Come Rain or Shine"C. Davidson, Johnny Park, David Lee3:22
9."One More Day"C. Davidson2:59
10."What Was I Thinking Of" Chris Farren, Chuck Jones3:59
11."We're All Here"C. Davidson, Frances Davidson, Mark Marchetti4:05

Chart performance

Chart (2000)Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums33
U.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers39

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracy Lawrence</span> American musician

Tracy Lee Lawrence is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Atlanta, Texas, and raised in Foreman, Arkansas, Lawrence began performing at age 15 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1990 to begin his country music career. He signed to Atlantic Records Nashville in 1991 and made his debut late that year with the album Sticks and Stones. Five more studio albums, as well as a live album and a compilation album, followed throughout the 1990s and into 2000 on Atlantic before the label's country division was closed in 2001. Afterward, he recorded for Warner Bros. Records, DreamWorks Records, Mercury Records Nashville, and his own labels, Rocky Comfort Records and Lawrence Music Group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooks & Dunn</span> American country music duo

Brooks & Dunn is an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, both of whom are vocalists and songwriters. The duo was founded in 1990 through the suggestion of songwriter and record producer Tim DuBois. Before their formation, both members were solo recording artists, having charted two solo singles apiece in the 1980s. Brooks also released an album for Capitol Records in 1989 and wrote hit singles for other artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaron Tippin</span> American country musician and record producer

Aaron Dupree Tippin is an American country music singer, songwriter and record producer. Initially a songwriter for Acuff-Rose Music, he gained a recording contract with RCA Nashville in 1990. His debut single, "You've Got to Stand for Something" became a popular anthem for American soldiers fighting in the Gulf War and helped to establish him as a neotraditionalist country act with songs that catered primarily to the American working class. Under RCA's tenure, he recorded five studio albums and a Greatest Hits package. Tippin switched to Lyric Street Records in 1998, where he recorded four more studio albums, counting a compilation of Christmas music. After leaving Lyric Street in 2006, he founded a personal label known as Nippit Records, on which he issued the compilation album Now & Then. A concept album, In Overdrive, was released in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clay Walker</span> American country musician

Ernest Clayton Walker Jr. is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1993 with the single "What's It to You", which reached Number One on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, as did its follow-up, 1994's "Live Until I Die". Both singles were included on his self-titled debut album, released in 1993 via Giant Records. He stayed with the label until its 2001 closure, later recording for Warner Bros. Records, RCA Records Nashville, and Curb Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Diffie</span> American country singer (1958–2020)

Joe Logan Diffie was an American country music singer and songwriter. After working as a demo singer in the mid 1980s, he signed with Epic Records' Nashville division in 1990. Between then and 2004, Diffie charted 35 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, five of which peaked at number one: his debut release "Home", "If the Devil Danced ", "Third Rock from the Sun", "Pickup Man" and "Bigger Than the Beatles". In addition to these singles, he had 12 others reach the top 10 and ten more reach the top 40 on the same chart. He also co-wrote singles for Holly Dunn, Tim McGraw, and Jo Dee Messina, and recorded with Mary Chapin Carpenter, George Jones, and Marty Stuart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montgomery Gentry</span> American country music duo

Montgomery Gentry is an American country music duo founded by singers Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry, both Kentucky natives. They began performing together in the 1990s as part of two different bands with Montgomery's brother, John Michael Montgomery. Although Gentry won a talent contest in 1994, he reunited with Eddie Montgomery after Gentry was unable to find a solo record deal, and Montgomery Gentry was formed in 1999. The duo is known for its Southern rock influences, and has collaborated with Charlie Daniels, Toby Keith, Five for Fighting, and members of The Allman Brothers Band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kathy Mattea</span> American musician, activist (born 1959)

Kathleen Alice Mattea is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reached No. 1: "Goin' Gone", "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses", "Come from the Heart", and "Burnin' Old Memories", plus 12 more that charted within the top ten. She has released 14 studio albums, two Christmas albums, and one greatest hits album. Most of her material was recorded for Universal Music Group Nashville's Mercury Records Nashville 8division between 1984 and 2000, with later albums being issued on Narada Productions, her own Captain Potato label, and Sugar Hill Records. Among her albums, she has received five gold certifications and one platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She has collaborated with Dolly Parton, Michael McDonald, Tim O'Brien, and her husband, Jon Vezner. Mattea is also a two-time Grammy Award winner: in 1990 for "Where've You Been", and in 1993 for her Christmas album Good News. Her style is defined by traditional country, bluegrass, folk, and Celtic music influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doug Stone</span> American country music singer

Doug Stone is an American country music singer and songwriter. He debuted in 1990 with the single "I'd Be Better Off ", the first release from his 1990 self-titled debut album for Epic Records. Both this album and its successor, 1991's I Thought It Was You, earned a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. Two more albums for Epic, 1992's From the Heart and 1994's More Love, are each certified gold. Stone moved to Columbia Records to record Faith in Me, Faith in You, which did not produce a Top Ten among its three singles. After suffering a heart attack and stroke in the late 1990s, he exited the label and did not release another album until Make Up in Love in 1999 on Atlantic Records. The Long Way was released in 2002 on the Audium label, followed by two albums on the independent Lofton Creek Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shenandoah (band)</span> American country music group

Shenandoah is an American country music band founded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, in 1984 by Marty Raybon, Ralph Ezell, Stan Thorn, Jim Seales, and Mike McGuire. Thorn and Ezell left the band in the mid-1990s, with Rocky Thacker taking over on bass guitar; Keyboardist Stan Munsey joined the line up in 1995, until his departure in 2018. The band split up in 1997 after Raybon left. Seales and McGuire reformed the band in 2000 with lead singer Brent Lamb, who was in turn replaced by Curtis Wright and then by Jimmy Yeary. Ezell rejoined in the early 2000s, and after his 2007 death, he was replaced by Mike Folsom. Raybon returned to the band in 2014. That same year, Jamie Michael replaced the retiring Jim Seales on lead guitar.

<i>Greater Need</i> 1996 studio album by Lorrie Morgan

Greater Need is the fifth studio album by American country music artist Lorrie Morgan, released in 1996. It included three singles, all of which entered the Billboard country singles charts: "By My Side", "I Just Might Be" and "Good as I Was to You."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Chesnutt</span> American singer-songwriter (born 1963)

Mark Nelson Chesnutt is an American country music singer and songwriter. Between 1990 and 1999, he had his greatest chart success recording for Universal Music Group Nashville's MCA and Decca branches, with a total of eight albums between those two labels. During this timespan, Chesnutt also charted twenty top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, of which eight reached number one: "Brother Jukebox", "I'll Think of Something", "It Sure Is Monday", "Almost Goodbye", "I Just Wanted You to Know", "Gonna Get a Life", "It's a Little Too Late", and a cover of Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing". His first three albums for MCA along with a 1996 Greatest Hits package issued on Decca are all certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); 1994's What a Way to Live, also issued on Decca, is certified gold. After a self-titled album in 2002 on Columbia Records, Chesnutt has continued to record predominantly on independent labels.

Clay Davidson is an American country music artist. He signed to Virgin Records' Nashville division in late 1999. Davidson released his debut album Unconditional on April 11, 2000. Its title track was a top 5 hit for him on the Billboard country charts, and the album produced two more Top 30 hits. Davidson was later transferred to Capitol Records Nashville after Virgin Nashville's lineup was merged into Capitol, although he did not record anything for Capitol and was soon dropped. To date, Unconditional remains his only studio album.

Robert Andrykowski is an American country music artist who records under the name Davis Daniel. Between 1991 and 1996, he recorded three studio albums on various divisions of Mercury Records: 1991's Fighting Fire with Fire, 1994's Davis Daniel, and 1995's I Know a Place. In that same time span, seven of his singles entered the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, including the Top 40 hits "Picture Me", "For Crying Out Loud" and "Fighting Fire with Fire."

<i>Shane Minor</i> (album) 1999 studio album by Shane Minor

Shane Minor is the debut studio album by American country music artist Shane Minor. It contains the singles "Slave to the Habit", "Ordinary Love", and "I Think You're Beautiful", all of which entered the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts between 1999 and 2000. It is also Minor's only studio album.

<i>Let Me In</i> (Chely Wright album) 1997 album by Chely Wright

Let Me In is the third studio album by American country music artist Chely Wright. The album was released on September 9, 1997 on MCA Nashville Records and was produced by Tony Brown. Let Me In was Wright's first album to chart on the Billboard Magazine album charts and also spawned her first Top 40 singles. It was also the first of three albums Wright recorded for the MCA Nashville label.

<i>No Doubt About It</i> (album) 1994 studio album by Neal McCoy

No Doubt About It is the third studio album by American country music artist Neal McCoy. Released in 1994, it is considered his breakthrough album, and has been certified platinum in the United States. Both the album's title track and "Wink" reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts, the latter holding its peak position for four weeks. The album's third single, "The City Put the Country Back in Me", was also a Top 5 hit.

<i>Life Is Messy</i> 1992 studio album by Rodney Crowell

Life Is Messy is the seventh studio album by American country music artist Rodney Crowell, released in 1992 by Columbia Records. It peaked at number 30 on the Top Country Albums chart. The songs, "Lovin' All Night", "What Kind of Love", "It's Not for Me to Judge", and "Let's Make Trouble" were released as singles.

"Walk on Faith" is the debut single by American country music artist Mike Reid, released in November 1990. It is from his 1991 debut studio album Turning for Home. The song became his only number one country hit in February 1991. Reid wrote the song with Allen Shamblin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It's Midnight Cinderella</span> 1996 single by Garth Brooks

"It's Midnight Cinderella" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music singer Garth Brooks. It was released in June 1996 as the fifth single from his album Fresh Horses. The song reached a peak of number 5 on the U.S. country charts in mid-1996. It was written by Brooks, Kent Blazy and Kim Williams.

<i>Lying to the Moon</i> 1990 studio album by Matraca Berg

Lying to the Moon is the debut studio album of American country music singer Matraca Berg. It was released in September 1990 via RCA Records Nashville. The album accounted for the singles "Baby, Walk On", "The Things You Left Undone", "I Got It Bad", and "I Must Have Been Crazy". Berg co-wrote all ten of the tracks.

References

  1. Ruhlmann, William. "Unconditional review". Allmusic. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  2. Nash, Alanna (11 February 2000). "Unconditional review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 4 March 2010.