Cass County (album)

Cass County is the fifth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Don Henley. The album was released on September 25, 2015, by Past Masters Holdings and Capitol Records. It is Don Henley's first new solo album in 15 years since 2000's Inside Job.

Cass County
Studio album by
Don Henley
ReleasedSeptember 25, 2015
Recorded2014–2015
StudioRed Oak Studios and Luminous Sound (Dallas, TX); Allentown Studios, Sound Emporium, Blackbird Studio and House of Blues Studios (Nashville, TN).
GenreCountry, rock
Length48:43
LabelPast Masters Holdings, Capitol Records
ProducerDon Henley, Stan Lynch
Don Henley chronology
The Very Best of Don Henley
(2009)		 Cass County
(2015)

Background

In June 2015, Don Henley spoke about recording the album in Nashville, Tennessee, saying: "The great majority [of recording] was done right here in Nashville and I can truthfully say that I enjoyed making this record more than any record I've made in my career. And a lot of the reason is because of the people who participated. There's some amazing musicians here and the best thing about it is, most of them are funny. So it was a real pleasure."[1]

The album is named after the East Texas county where Henley grew up.[2]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic72/100[3]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
American Songwriter[5]
The Guardian[6]
PopMatters[7]
Rolling Stone[8]

Cass County received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 72 based on 9 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[3] David Icke of Rolling Stone said, "Written and produced with Stan Lynch, the original drummer in Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, Cass County is meticulously crafted, sharply written and absolutely free of neo-country additives like reheated Seventies-rock bombast and Twitter-verse vernacular."[8] Dave Heaton of PopMatters stated, "At the album’s best, Henley conjures up the push-pull between restlessness and contentment in a way that jibes well with the musical interest in the traditions of the genre. At its worst, the album makes me want to throw it out the window, either for the cliches or more often the way the persona of the album comes from a lecturing place of “wisdom”; an I’ve-lived, so I know attitude."[7] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times said, "The number and potency of these guests sometimes make Cass County sound like a tribute album to someone not yet gone. They also take away from Mr. Henley, now 68, whose voice has decayed, though it now lacks the wise punch it had on The End of the Innocence, his excellent 1989 album."[9]

Rolling Stone ranked the release at Number 20 on their Top 50 Best Albums of 2015,[10] and Number 2 on their Top 40 Best Country Albums of 2015.[11]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Top Country Albums on its release. It was also the top selling album of the week, with 87,000 copies of pure albums sold in the United States.[12] The album has sold 259,400 copies in the US as of August 2016.[13]

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Bramble Rose" (featuring Mick Jagger & Miranda Lambert)4:30
2."The Cost of Living" (featuring Merle Haggard)3:40
3."No, Thank You" (featuring Vince Gill)3:45
4."Waiting Tables" (featuring Jamey Johnson and Lee Ann Womack)4:47
5."Take a Picture of This"4:06
6."Too Far Gone" (deluxe edition bonus track featuring Alison Krauss and Jamey Johnson)3:43
7."That Old Flame" (featuring Martina McBride)4:25
8."The Brand New Tennessee Waltz" (deluxe edition bonus track featuring Alison Krauss)3:20
9."Words Can Break Your Heart" (featuring Trisha Yearwood)3:40
10."When I Stop Dreaming" (featuring Dolly Parton)3:06
11."Praying for Rain" (featuring Molly Felder, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Ashley Monroe and Trisha Yearwood)5:00
12."Too Much Pride" (deluxe edition bonus track)3:45
13."She Sang Hymns Out of Tune" (deluxe edition bonus track featuring Court Yard Hounds and Ashley Monroe)3:15
14."Train In the Distance" (featuring Lucinda Williams)4:47
15."A Younger Man"4:20
16."Where I Am Now" (featuring Trisha Yearwood)2:34
Target deluxe edition bonus tracks[14]
No.TitleLength
17."It Don't Matter to the Sun" (featuring Stevie Nicks)3:40
18."Here Come Those Tears Again" (featuring Alison Krauss)3:50

Personnel

Production
  • Producers – Don Henley and Stan Lynch
  • Production Assistant – Scott Johnson
  • Engineers – Jeff Balding, Chris Bell, Gordon Hammond and Hank Linderman.
  • Additional Engineers – Billy Chapin, Richard Davis and Tim Kimsey.
  • Assistant Engineers – Matthew Allen, Sean Badum, Matt Coles, Tom Freitag, Nick Kallstrom, David Mikeal, Seth Morton, Seth Myers, Mike Stankiewicz, Adam Taylor, Christopher Wilkinson and Nathan Yarbourough.
  • Mixed by Jeff Balding at Blackbird Studio (Nashville, TN) and Opolona Studio (Los Angeles, CA).
  • Technician – Bill Lanham
  • Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering (Portland, ME).
  • Art Direction and Design – Jeri Heiden at SMOG Design.
  • Photography – Danny Clinch
  • Additional Photography – David McClister
  • Management – Irving Azoff
  • Legal – Jordan Bromley, Eric Custer and Lee Phillips.

Charts

References
  1. Shelburne, Craig (June 12, 2015). "Don Henley on New Country Album: 'It's Who I Am'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  2. Willman, Chris (September 17, 2015). "Review: Don Henley, 'Cass County'". NPR. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
  3. "Reviews for Cass County by Don Henley". Metacritic. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  4. Stephen Thomas Erlewine (September 18, 2015). "Cass County – Don Henley | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  5. "Don Henley: Cass County". American Songwriter. September 22, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  6. Caroline Sullivan. "Don Henley: Cass County review – peppery country music from sometime Eagle". The Guardian. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  7. "Don Henley: Cass County". PopMatters. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  8. Fricke, David (September 21, 2015). "Don Henley's New Album: Cass County". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  9. "Review: 'Cass County,' Don Henley's Latest Album, Embraces Country". The New York Times. September 24, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  10. "50 Best Albums of 2015". Rolling Stone. December 1, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  11. "40 Best Country Albums of 2015". Rolling Stone. December 8, 2015. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  12. "Fetty Wap Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart". Billboard. February 2, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
  13. Bjorke, Matt (August 14, 2016). "Top 10 Country Albums Sales Chart: August 15, 2016". Roughstock.
  14. "New Don Henley Solo Album, "Cass County," Released Today; Exclusive Target Version Features Stevie Nicks Duet". Abcnewsradioonline.com. September 25, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  15. "Australiancharts.com – Don Henley – Cass County". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  16. "Austriancharts.at – Don Henley – Cass County" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 3, 2015.
  17. "Ultratop.be – Don Henley – Cass County" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  18. "Ultratop.be – Don Henley – Cass County" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  19. "Don Henley Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  20. "Danishcharts.dk – Don Henley – Cass County". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
  21. "Dutchcharts.nl – Don Henley – Cass County" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  22. "Offiziellecharts.de – Don Henley – Cass County" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  23. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 40, 2015". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  24. "Italiancharts.com – Don Henley – Cass County". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  25. "Chart Track". Oricon. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  26. "Charts.nz – Don Henley – Cass County". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 16, 2015.
  27. "Norwegiancharts.com – Don Henley – Cass County". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  28. "Scottish Albums". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  29. "Swedishcharts.com – Don Henley – Cass County". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
  30. "Swisscharts.com – Don Henley – Cass County". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  31. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 2, 2015.
  32. "Don Henley Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  33. "Don Henley Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  34. "Don Henley Chart History (Top Americana/Folk Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  35. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2015". Billboard. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  36. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2015". Billboard. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
  37. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
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