Wanna Be Your Joe is the ninth studio album released from country music artist Billy Ray Cyrus. Released on July 17, 2006 on New Door Records and UMe, it was Cyrus' first country album since 2000's Southern Rain. It is also his first album of non-gospel music in three years. From Billy Ray's exposure on Hannah Montana, the album debuted and peaked at number 24 on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums chart, number 113 on the Billboard 200 and number 118 on the Billboard Top Comprehensive Albums. The album sold well, but no hit single was released. The title track and "I Want My Mullet Back" were released as singles, but both failed to chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

Wanna Be Your Joe
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 17, 2006 (2006-07-17)
GenreCountry
Length58:17
LabelNew Door, UMe
ProducerBilly Ray Cyrus
Billy Ray Cyrus chronology
The Definitive Collection
(2004)
Wanna Be Your Joe
(2006)
Home at Last
(2007)
Singles from Wanna Be Your Joe
  1. "Wanna Be Your Joe"
    Released: June 6, 2006
  2. "I Want My Mullet Back"
    Released: August 29, 2006

Content

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The album features collaborations with Cyrus' daughter, Miley Cyrus, and a song with George Jones and Loretta Lynn. The song with Miley, "Stand", was made into a music video, but was not released as a single. "Country Music Has the Blues" is the song with Jones and Lynn; it was co-written with Cyrus' son, Trace Cyrus, lead singer for the pop group, Metro Station.

On the track "The Freebird Fell", Cyrus co-wrote the song with Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Ed King and drummer Artimus Pyle. Also, fellow country singer Mark Collie contributes to the track "What About Us"; co-written with Cyrus and Terry Shelton.

Also, the album has two hidden tracks. The song "Without You" was originally on Cyrus' 2000 album Southern Rain, but was not released as a single. "One Night" is the second hidden track. It was originally a UK Singles Chart number-one single for Elvis Presley in 1958.

Reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com     [1]
AllMusic     [2]
Slant     [3]

AllMusic gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5. Although they said the album had been labored over and revised.

On the one hand, there's a collection of romantic ballads — "Wanna Be Your Joe," "I Wouldn't Be Me," "What About Us," "I Wonder," "Lonely Wins," "How've Ya Been," and "Ole What's Her Name" — that run the gamut from sincere pledges of commitment to expressions of frustration and outright kiss-offs.[2]

The album debuted at number 113 on the Billboard 200, number 118 on the Top Comprehensive Albums and number 24 on the Top Country Albums chart,[4][5] where it stayed at the peak position for two consecutive weeks. Although the title track was released on June 6, 2006, it failed to chart on the country music charts. A second single, "I Want My Mullet Back," was released later in 2006, but it also failed to chart. Cyrus left New Door Records by the end of 2006 and signed with Walt Disney Records, due to the lackluster success of the album and its singles.

Track listing

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All tracks are written by Billy Ray Cyrus; additional writing credits below

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Wanna Be Your Joe" 3:12
2."I Want My Mullet Back" 3:18
3."The Man"Paul Abraham3:26
4."I Wouldn't Be Me"Jeff Tweel4:10
5."What About Us"Terry Shelton, Mark Collie3:01
6."Country Music Has the Blues" (with George Jones and Loretta Lynn)Trace Cyrus2:55
7."The Freebird Fell"Ed King, Artimus Pyle4:59
8."I Wonder" 3:46
9."Lonely Wins" 3:28
10."How've Ya Been" 3:19
11."Ole What's Her Name" 4:25
12."Hey Daddy" 3:47
13."Stand" (with Miley Cyrus)Andy Dodd, Adam Watts4:19
Bouns Track/Hidden Track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
14."A Pain in My Gas" (bonus track) 3:49
15."Without You" (bonus track)Cyrus, Jude Cole3:41
16."One Night" (hidden track)Dave Bartholomew, Pearl King, Anita Steiman2:25

Personnel

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Chart performance

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Album

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The album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart in 2006, number 113 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart and number 118 on the all-genre Billboard Top Comprehensive Albums chart, even after failing to release a hit single to county radio.

Charts (2006) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200[4] 113
U.S. Billboard Top Comprehensive Albums[5] 118
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums[4] 24

Singles

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Year Single Chart positions
US Country
2006 "Wanna Be Your Joe"
"I Want My Mullet Back"
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

References

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  1. ^ About.com review
  2. ^ a b Allmusic review
  3. ^ Slant review
  4. ^ a b c Allmusic staff. "allmusic ((( Wanna Be Your Joe > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". Allmusic. Retrieved 2009-12-23. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  5. ^ a b "Billboard Comprehensive Albums 2006-08-05". Billboard. August 5, 2006. Retrieved July 8, 2011.