The Blade (Ashley Monroe album)
The Blade is the third studio album by American country music artist Ashley Monroe, released on July 24, 2015, through Warner Bros. Nashville. The album was produced by Vince Gill and Justin Niebank and includes the lead single "On to Something Good." The album made numerous "Best Albums of 2015" lists and was nominated for Best Country Album at the 58th Grammy Awards.
Promotion
In support of the album, Monroe toured with Little Big Town throughout the summer of 2015. Monroe then embarked on a headlining tour, "The Blade Tour," in the fall of 2015.Promotional appearances in the media included a live performance of "Winning Streak" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on July 27, 2015, "The Blade" on ABC's The View on August 6, 2015 and "I Buried Your Love Alive" on Conan on August 26, 2015.
Critical reception
The Blade received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 86 out of 100, which indicates "universal acclaim" based on 14 reviews.Rolling Stones Will Hermes gave the album four stars believing "The Blade dials it back... You won't know whether to whoop or weep...It's a beautiful thing." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated the album four and a half out of five stars and states: "She rolls easy, luxuriating in that exquisite sound, her soft touch making the heartbreak and the humor seem equally alluring." The four out of five star review Jewly Hight delivered for Billboard was for Monroe's ability to "sing these songs, many of which she co-wrote, with exquisite, bruised sensitivity." It was Spin's "album of the week," and in a seven out of ten rating Alfred Soto writes: "A couple of wooly moments aside, Monroe's third album, The Blade, continues a remarkable hot streak for writers Luke Laird, Jessi Alexander, Chris Stapleton, and Monroe herself." Robert Ham for Paste rated the album an 8.9 out of ten, succinctly sums-up the album, for being a "heartfelt and engaging" affair. This album got an A- from Nash Country Weekly, Tammy Ragusa realizes the release cements Monroe "as one of the premiere and rare female neo-traditionalists in the format." Sam C. Mac, gave the release an A- rating on behalf of The A.V. Club, informs the listener, "The majority of Monroe's superb third album hunkers down with heartache and struggle." Judging the album to be a B+ release, Glenn Gamboa writes for Newsday, asking a hypothetical question: "Monroe is still sorting out her own sound, but who can complain when that process is so compelling?" This album got an eight out of ten stars rating by PopMatters, Dave Heaton reminds it's not how many questions of pain with regards to the release, rather in hearing them, "they sound splendid." The release got a 7.5 out of ten from Pitchfork, Stephen M. Deusner marginally derides, "The Blade could be stronger if it was more streamlined and sequenced with some kind of overarching narrative in mind, but that's almost beside the point when the album sounds so damn good."
Meet-Country.com praised the album, in particular the title track, stating "“The Blade” is the crown jewel on the whole album. Although not penned by Ashley herself, she still took command on this one and sings it as if its one of her own. On the flip side, the narrator is the one who is still in love with someone who isn’t in love with them."
Accolades
| Publication | Rank | List |
| AllMusic | N/A | AllMusic Best of 2015 |
| AllMusic | N/A | Best Country Albums of 2015 |
| American Songwriter | 18 | Top 50 Albums of 2015 |
| Nashville Scene | 3 | Best Country Albums of 2015 |
| NPR | N/A | 50 Favorite Albums of 2015 |
| Paste | 37 | The 50 Best Albums of 2015 |
| PopMatters | 38 | The 80 Best Albums of 2015 |
| PopMatters | 1 | The Best Country Music of 2015 |
| Rolling Stone | 38 | 50 Best Albums of 2015 |
| Rolling Stone | 5 | 40 Best Country Albums of 2015 |
| Time | 1 | Top 10 Best Albums of 2015 |
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from AllMusic.;Musicians
- Richard Bennett – electric guitar
- Tom Bukovac – electric guitar
- Eric Darken – percussion
- Charles Dixon – viola, violin
- Stuart Duncan – fiddle
- Paul Franklin – steel guitar
- Tony Harrell – keyboards, synthesizer
- Charlie Judge – Hammond B3, keyboards, strings, synthesizer
- Tim Lauer – keyboards
- Anthony LaMarchina – cello
- Paul Martin – background vocals
- Ashley Monroe – lead vocals
- Justin Niebank – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, percussion
- Danny Rader – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandola
- Michael Rhodes – bass guitar
- Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar
- Harry Stinson – background vocals
- Dan Tyminski – background vocals
- Charlie Worsham – background vocals
- Derek Wells – electric guitar
- Jeff White – background vocals
- Sarah Zimmermann – background vocals
- Fred Eltringham – drums
- Vince Gill – dulcimer, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, background vocals
- Alison Krauss – background vocals
- Miranda Lambert – background vocals
- Marty Stuart – background vocals
- Drew Bollman – assistant, engineering
- Andrew Darby – assistant
- Steven Dewey – assistant
- Vince Gill – production
- Mike "Frog" Griffith – production coordination
- Adam Grover – assistant
- Cris Lacy – A&R
- Joseph Llanes – photography
- Justin Luffman – management
- Andrew Mendelson – mastering
- Mike Moore – art direction, design
- Justin Niebank – engineer, mixing, production
- Matt Rausch – assistant, engineer
- Shane Tarleton – creative director
- Brian David Willis – digital editing
Chart performance