Here For The Party

Performer: Gretchen Wilson
Artist: Big & Rich
Engineer: Bart Pursley; Steve Marcantonio; Todd Gunnerson; Bart Pursley
Producer: Mark Wright; Joe Scaife; Mark Wright; Joe Scaife
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Gretchen Wilson (background vocals); Gretchen Wilson (vocals); Russ Pahl (guitar, steel guitar, lap steel guitar, banjo); John Rich (acoustic guitar); Michael Rhodes , Mike Brignardello (baritone guitar, bass guitar); Reese Wynans, Steve Nathan (piano, Hammond b-3 organ); Gale West, Joe Scaife, Angela Primm, Wes Hightower, Big Kenny (background vocals); John Willis (acoustic guitar); Kenny Greenberg, Tom Bukovac (electric guitar); Al Anderson (gut-string guitar); Larry Franklin (mandolin, fiddle); Greg Morrow (drums, percussion); Eric Darken (percussion). Audio Mixer: Bart Pursley. Recording information: Sony; Tree Studios, Nashville, TN. Photographers: Michael Penner; Glen Rose. In the tradition of singers such as Wanda Jackson and Tanya Tucker comes Gretchen Wilson, a self-proclaimed hard-living trailer-park inhabitant with country-rock attitude to spare. The pleasant surprise with Wilson is that, in stark contrast to the streamlined country-pop of Shania Twain and Faith Hill, she doesn't mind getting a bit dirty (musically or otherwise). Though her grassroots ethos clearly plays into her success, it's not a pose: Wilson means what she says, and her country twang, mixed with roots and mainstream rock, packs a punch. HERE FOR THE PARTY alternates between songs about rural, working-class nightlife (particularly Wilson's love of cowboys, whiskey, and, of course, country music) and its trials and tribulations (romantic heartache and spiritual struggle). The runaway single, "Redneck Woman," waves the banner of the "four-wheel-drive tailgate" and standing "barefoot in my own front yard with a baby on my hip." But where the anthemic choruses of songs such as "Here for the Party" are all bravado, "Holdin' You" and "The Bed" show the vulnerability of a dedicated and jilted lover, respectively. Wilson's range (listen to the gospel-derived "Chariot," complete with a mid-song rap) impresses, and adds to the appeal of a down-home girl that can rip up the honky-tonk and belt out a heartfelt ballad.

Rolling Stone (p.176) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[H]er vocals are just as brassy as her attitude, but she also proves you can be sandpaper-raw and still be complicated." Rolling Stone (p.153) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[T]here's a darkly adult perspective on romance and domesticity." Q (p.123) - 3 stars out of 5 - "Wilson is a brassy wake-up call."

A self-proclaimed "Redneck Woman," Gretchen Wilson injected Nashville's pop-oriented landscape of the early 2000s with a welcome dose of old-fashioned honky-tonk swagger and tear-in-your-beer country. A discovery of Nashville's Muzik Mafia duo Big & Rich, Wilson was named Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2005 Country Music Awards.

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