TheWay I'm Livin'
| Lee Ann Womack
TheWay I'm Livin'
The Way I'm Livin' is the eighth studio album by American country music recording artist Lee Ann Womack. The album was released via Sugar Hill Records on September 23, 2014. Her first album in six years, following 2008's Call Me Crazy, this album sees Womack embrace roots music and americana alongside neotraditional country rather than the country pop sound that was prevalent in several previous releases.-Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Telegraph
Lee Ann Womack's first album for six years is a collection of powerful songs including covers of compositions by Hayes Carll and Neil Young.
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Saving Country Music
The Way I’m Livin‘s true country songs are slightly more backloaded towards the end of the project, but no matter where you start this album, it’s hard not to land on something to like. A few of the tracks came across as a little bit sleepy towards the center.
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The Pappalarado Periodical
The album’s two best tracks are so good, it would’ve been a doggone shame had they never seen the light of day. Back solely by an acoustic guitar, album opener “Fly” finds Womack displaying her singular gifts as a vocalist to stunning effect. Adam Hood’s “Same Kind of Different,” meanwhile, is the album’s centerpiece, a warm and inviting number that builds in intensity from an a capella beginning to heights unimagined by the end.
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One Country
The Way I’m Livin’ (hoisted by the devilishly charming title track), the songbird returns atop her high perch of sublime melodies plastered beneath legitimately harrowing fables. It’s the like the winds that blow across a dusty, forlorn plain of rehashed idealism and deserted romanticism: that’s what you’ll find on this 13-song project. Womack weaves an extraordinary musical fabric, tearing down female expectations and building herself back up, with thrilling stories overlaid with a powerfully simple vocal.
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Digital Journal
Her title track lead single "The Way I'm Livin'" is sheer vocal perfection, which Digital Journal described as "mesmerizing." The piano-driven "Send It On Down" is a soothing, Christian tune. "Don't Listen to the Wind" is soaring, backed by neat fiddle instrumentation, while "Same Kind of Different" is hypnotic with meaningful lyrics.
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Digital Journal
"The Way I'm Livin'" has a traditional country vibe to it that it reminiscent of the songs from her There's More Where That Came From album. It is an acoustic vocal, where her vocals are piercing and haunting, while simultaneously honey-rich. Womack's talent is a rare combination for sure.
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LA Times
On “The Way I’m Livin’,” her first record since 2008, the answer is frank, small-scale songs about people in tough spots: the lonely drinker killing a quart by herself in “Send It on Down,” or the woman in “Chances Are” who “took the wrong turn every time I had a turn to take.” The sound is darker and more introspective than the high-powered party tunes Nashville pumps out these days. And it’s less polished than “I Hope You Dance,” the glossy pop-crossover ballad Womack drove to the top of the charts in 2000.
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Keep It Country Kids
There really isn't a bad track to be found. Some of the songs may not hold up as modern classics or anything, but they are all integral to the album. The Way I'm Livin' is the type of album that doesn't have a "Song of The Year" contender on it, but is an "Album of The Year" contender because the sum of all of its parts create a wonderful listening experience.
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Country Universe
It’s an adventurous performance, with Womack pushing herself as a vocalist, often a little too hard. But her willingness to do so makes for a satisfying listen overall, and adds an aura of intrigue to her upcoming album.
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Twang Nation
Womack’s seventh studio album, produced by her husband Frank Liddell (Miranda Lambert, Chris Knight, Pistol Annies) and her first effort for stalwart Americana label Sugar Hill Records, was recording live in the studio with the band. The 13 tracks has her wrapping Her warm-honey vocals around classic country themes of hardship, temptation and salvation, and she’s keeping mighty fine company on the journey.
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Hallels
On "The Way I'm Livin'" we meet a woman so harangued by her past that fear reigned in her every decision now. Then we meet another who is at the fork of the road where she is faced with the temptation of being seduced by the devil sitting beside the road. And then we have yet another lady who have been the victim of sins of the past that she is pleading for the intervention of Jesus before going crazy. Though this is not a Christian album per se, Womack deals with the angst of the souls in ways more transparent than many records in the Christian music genre.
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Billboard
Womack's sound isn't the only thing that puts her in a separate lane: this singer projects a different model of femininity than most the rest of the group of women who put out records in Nashville these days. Few singers express their woundedness more artfully than Womack, especially on her songs from The Way I'm Livin', which she sprinkled throughout the set. Rating:
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Gazette Review
A major sellout, The Way I’m Livin’ debuted at number 99 on the Billboard 200 and secured the eighteenth position on the Top Country Albums Chart; it soon sold over 4,300 units within the first week of release. Applauded by critics everywhere, it received an almost perfect four and a half star rating form AllMusic and a 89/100 score from Metacritic. As of 2015, The Way I’m Livin’ has sold over 14,600 units across the country.
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Entertainment Focus
The Way I’m Livin’ is a collection of songs that represent where Lee Ann is at this point in her life and career. The album was due to be released a couple of years back but a label change caused delays. For the most part the album was recorded live with Lee Ann’s husband Frank Liddell taking on production duties. Sonically The Way I’m Livin’ explores a variety of country music and includes covers of songs by Neil Young (Out on the Weekend) and Hayes Carll (Chances Are).
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Community Voices
Womack has that rare ability to create modern country tied to tradition. That's particularly true this time. In an era of music aimed at spring breakers and classic rock fans, she delivers a smart, realistic effort. It's not bright, sunshiney and cheery, unicorns and butterflies floating in the background but sober, somber, spiritual and adult.
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My Kind Of Country
She’s easily one of the most remarkable vocalists I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing in person. Unlike a lot of singers, she not only knows what she has but how to use it. I couldn’t ask for any more from an artist.
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Medium
The Way I’m Livin’ (Sugar Hill) Takes sin almost as seriously as Jerry Lee Lewis, only she’s nicer about it (“The Way I’m Livin’,” “Sleeping With the Devil”) .
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Tulsa World
It’s the first album Womack has released in seven years, and a recent review in the Wall Street Journal describes as sounding “as if she’s making up for lost time.”
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News and Observer
Womack fulfilled the promise of more great country music with the release of her sixth album, “The Way I’m Livin’,” a brilliant collection of straightforward country and gospel gems. The album has earned Womack a nomination for top female vocalist at this year’s CMA awards.
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American Songwriter
It took a long six years, and a label switch, between Lee Ann Womack’s 2008 Call Me Crazy and her next release, 2014’s superb The Way I’m Livin’. That layoff resulted in Womack re-evaluating her sound; stripping it down and shifting to murkier, more rootsy material with covers from writers like Neil Young, Hayes Carll and Mindy Smith.
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Magnet Magazine
She made a hell of a comeback with 2014’s The Way I’m Livin’, a roots move keyed to sinnin’ with hints of gospel and everything in between.
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Country Standard Time
Womack has long demonstrated a proclivity for the traditional side of country. While she also strays towards edgier sounds here, Womack deserves big kudos for having the artistic freedom to do as she pleases. And her ears are pretty darn good, too.
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Rolling Stone
“The Way I’m Livin'” is the first single off the Texas songbird’s forthcoming album of the same name. Due September 23rd, the 13-track collection is Womack’s first new LP in seven years.
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American Songwriter
Womack and husband/producer Frank Liddell have collected 13 terrific songs that not only stand on their own, but reflect an older, more mature look at life when taken as an album. Womack’s clear, sweet voice has seldom sounded better as when she digs into tunes penned by generally under-the-radar writers such as Chris Knight, Julie Miller, Mindy Smith, Hayes Carll and Mando Saenz. This is music that lives on the darker side of bad marriages and missed life chances, many filled with regrets.
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World Cat
After a seven year gap, Lee Ann Womack returns with a brand new studio album, which includes the hit title track. Each song tells a compelling story with unique characters while connecting with listeners with themes of everyday life.
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Entertainment
Livin’ is light on pop-crossover fare and production, and heavy on classic storytelling tunes weaved with her signature, filigree vocal.
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Boston Globe
Produced by her husband, Frank Liddell (best known for his work with Miranda Lambert), the superb 13-track collection finds the celestial-voiced songbird delving into traditional country, haunting ballads, and gospel sounds. It was showered immediately with critical plaudits, landed on many year-end top 10 lists, and garnered Grammy, CMT, and Americana award nominations.
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Mixonline
This lovely country album—recorded almost three years ago with producer Frank Liddell (Womack’s husband), producer/musician Glenn Worf and producer/engineer Chuck Ainlay—finally found a label (Sugarhill) and was released this past November. It was worth the wait: Womack’s voice has never sounded more clear and sweet, the song choices are excellent, and during the week of our interview with Ainlay for this piece, the record was Grammy-nominated for Best Country Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
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Lonestar Music
When Lee Ann Womack released The Way I’m Livin’ in late September 2014, the award-winning country singer knew she and her producer/husband Frank Liddell had made a record they could both be proud of, regardless of how her bold departure from the Nashville mainstream in favor of Americana ended up be received by fans, critics, and the rest of the industry. As things turned out, though, the Jacksonville, Texas-native’s first record for indie label Sugar Hill fared very well indeed. Not only was the album warmly embraced by the Americana community and critics (earning Womack some of the best reviews of her career), the slew of award nominations it collected included one for Best Country Album at last year’s Grammy Awards.
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Country Music News International
Lee Ann Womack’s The Way I’m LIvin’ begins with a wounded whisper, followed by a gospel rouser that somehow begs for mercy while asserting the fervor of devotion, a heartbreaking account of one more night in a forsaken saloon, an exhilarating, string-soared plea for some way to reconcile these extremes … and so on through 13 songs that unfold like chapters in recounting a life nearly lost to turbulence and trouble.
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The Daily Observer
With the release this week of country covers record “The Way I’m Livin’,” the singer with the soul-moving voice is aiming for something very different from what’s typically played on country radio, tapping a diverse group of artists who are not part of the Music Row songwriting machine. Womack chose and recorded the 13 songs on “Livin'” with the help of her husband, producer Frank Liddell. It’s something they’ve worked on off and on for the length of their relationship, but it wasn’t until the final album of her contract with MCA Nashville was shelved that she was free to pursue her own musical ambition.
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NPR
"The Way I'm Livin'," is very different from the kind of country that's dominating the industry right now.
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Wide Open Country
While Womack usually plays herself in these videos, the title track from her 2014 album features promo footage that casts her as the voice of God for a story about sin and guilt.
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Las Vegas Review Journal
Womack’s latest album, “The Way I’m Livin’,” has drawn comparisons to the work of Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette and was recorded mostly live in the studio.
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CMT
The Way I’m Livin’ album, was nominated for best country song and best solo country vocal performance at the 2016 Grammy Awards.
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Alan Cackett
THE WAY I’M LIVIN’ is more than just an album, it’s Lee Ann’s mission to reconnect with the single most important element of her music career: her art. She’s shifted her mind and creative energy to rediscover the pure motivation for creating her music and chosen songs that mirror the country roots of her childhood listening to her father’s records of Ray Price, Willie Nelson and George Jones.
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The Star
It’s only during the past couple of albums, beginning with 2014’s Americana covers classic The Way I’m Livin’, that Womack truly has eschewed the trappings of corporate Music City, following a long association with the Tennessee branch of the Universal Music record label.
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Global Texan Chronicle
“The Way I’m Livin’.” The featured song, Hayes Carll’s “Chances Are” was already featured for almost a year and a half as a record studio performance video by record company Sugar Hill on YouTube and released as a single in October of last year, but with no remarkable chart action. The song and its album performance were also nominated for this year’s Grammy Awards for Carll as “Song of the Year” (Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose won for Lady Antebellum’s “Girl Crush”) and “Best Country Solo Performance” (Chris Stapelton won for “Traveller”.)
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Telegram
In addition to the lyrics, a lot of the album benefits from a sense of immediacy, a spark that feels ineffably contemporary, even when the stylings are classic.
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Gulf News
New album from the singer features a mix that’s far from mainstream country.
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Texas Monthly
The Way I’m Livin’ –a collection of sad songs focused on dark, complicated characters.
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