Diamonds & Dirt is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell, released in 1988.[4][5] His fifth studio album, it was his second release for Columbia Records.[2] The album was his most successful, achieving RIAA gold certification. All five of its singles reached Number One on the Billboard country charts, setting a record for the most Number One hits from a country album.[6] In order of release, they were "It's Such a Small World" (a duet with then-wife Rosanne Cash), "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried", "She's Crazy for Leavin", "After All This Time", and a cover of Buck Owens' "Above and Beyond (The Call of Love)".
| Diamonds & Dirt | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 30, 1988 | |||
| Recorded | 1987 | |||
| Studio | Emerald Sound Studios, Nashville, TN | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 34:54 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Rodney Crowell Tony Brown | |||
| Rodney Crowell chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Diamonds & Dirt | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  [1] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [2] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [3] |
The album was reissued by Columbia Legacy, with three bonus tracks.
Production
editDiamonds & Dirt was Crowell's first album recorded entirely in Nashville and the first aimed squarely at a country audience.[7] It was produced by Tony Brown and Crowell.[3][8]
Critical reception
editThe Rolling Stone Album Guide called the album "a stirring treatise on the quest for understanding and balance in a relationship."[3] No Depression wrote that the songs are "played by a band that, in its day, rivaled the Desert Rose Band and Dwight Yoakam’s backing unit as the tightest pseudo-honky-tonkers in country music."[9] Reviewing the reissue, The A.V. Club wrote that the album "still sounds pretty good ... especially in light of the sort of unnatural, reverb-laden late-'80s production that makes everything go 'poof'."[10] Spin deemed it "a traditional country record [on which Crowell] ends ups rocking harder than ever before."[11]
Track listing
editAll songs written by Rodney Crowell except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Crazy Baby" | Crowell, Will Jennings | 3:06 |
| 2. | "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried" | 3:17 | |
| 3. | "She's Crazy for Leavin'" | Crowell, Guy Clark | 3:16 |
| 4. | "After All This Time" | 4:28 | |
| 5. | "I Know You're Married" | 3:31 | |
| 6. | "Above and Beyond" | Harlan Howard | 2:28 |
| 7. | "It's Such a Small World" (duet with Rosanne Cash) | 3:21 | |
| 8. | "I Didn't Know I Could Lose You" | 3:21 | |
| 9. | "Brand New Rag" | Crowell, Jennings | 3:07 |
| 10. | "The Last Waltz" | Crowell, Jennings | 5:21 |
| 11. | "I've Got My Pride but I Got to Feed the Kids" | 2:28A | |
| 12. | "It's Lonely Out" | 3:40A | |
| 13. | "Lies Don't Lie" | 3:04A |
AOnly included on Legacy re-issue.
Personnel
edit- Eddie Bayers – drums
- Barry Beckett – piano, organ
- Rosanne Cash – background vocals
- Rodney Crowell – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
- Glen Duncan – fiddle
- Paul Franklin – steel guitar
- Vince Gill – background vocals
- Russ Kunkel – drums
- Mark O'Connor – fiddle, mandolin
- Michael Rhodes – bass guitar
- Vince Santoro – background vocals
- Preston Smith – harmonica, background vocals
- Steuart Smith – electric guitar[12]
Charts
edit
Weekly chartsedit
|
Year-end chartsedit
|
References
edit- ^ AllMusic review
- ^ a b Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 2. MUZE. p. 644.
- ^ a b c The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 170–171.
- ^ "Rodney Crowell | Biography & History". AllMusic.
- ^ LONGSDORF, AMY. "WITH 'DIAMONDS,' COUNTRY'S RODNEY CROWELL GETS THROUGH THE ROUGH". mcall.com.
- ^ "Rodney Crowell: Singing From A Dark, Raucous Place". NPR.org.
- ^ Anon. "Country concert series opens soon." Aiken (SC) Standard 2 Apr 1989: 11
- ^ "Flashback: Rodney Crowell Sings 'She's Crazy for Leavin" Inside an Airport". Rolling Stone. April 8, 2019.
- ^ "Rodney Crowell – Diamonds and Dirt". No Depression. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
- ^ "Rodney Crowell: Diamonds & Dirt". The A.V. Club. 19 April 2002. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
- ^ "The Last (Album) Roundup". SPIN. SPIN Media LLC. October 31, 1988 – via Google Books.
- ^ McClain, Buzz (April 23, 2021). "The Eagles' Steuart Smith keeps his rockstar title private". Northern Virginia Magazine. Northern Virginia Magazine. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
- ^ "Rodney Crowell Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
- ^ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 1988". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
- ^ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 1989". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
- ^ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 1990". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
- Diamonds & Dirt (cassette liner notes). Rodney Crowell. Columbia Records. 1988. 44076.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)