The self-produced album showcases McAnally, one of music's most respected creators, on acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic and electric piano, harmonica, ukulele and percussion. On the title track, you can hear the Muscle Shoals energy in the instrumentation. While songs like "On Account Of You" and "Until Then" allow his vocal and guitar work to shine through.
The album's first single, "You First," offers a poignant series of vignettes in McAnally's direct yet profound simplicity of style. He also pledged his artist royalties from the single to the Wounded Warriors Project, whose mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors. The commitment to helping wounded soldiers fits well with the song's theme of brotherly love. Earlier this summer, McAnally performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC to honor wounded soldiers as part of The Launching Challenge America initiative.
Starting as a Muscle Shoals session musician while still essentially a child, signing as Geffen Records' first artist at the age of 16, McAnally went on to become one of the most respected guitar players in the world. He's played behind or sang harmony for artists including Roy Orbison, Hank Williams, Jr., Amy Grant, Jimmy Buffett, Travis Tritt, Linda Ronstadt, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Dolly Parton and many more. As a producer, he's helmed successful projects by Sawyer Brown, Chris LeDoux and Little Feat, among others. In addition to the hits he has penned for artists, McAnally received his first No. 1 single as an artist and sixth as a writer on his collaboration with Kenny Chesney, "Down The Road." The song penned by McAnally and recorded by Chesney, who invited the acclaimed music maker to sing on the track with him, also led to an ACM Vocal Event of the Year nod for the collaboration.
Mac was named 2008 Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association, the same year he was inducted into the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame. He is also a 2007 inductee to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
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