Happy Hour (Uncle Kracker album) explained
Happy Hour is the fourth studio album by American musician Uncle Kracker. It was released on September 15, 2009 via Top Dog/Atlantic Records. Production was handled by Rob Cavallo, except for "Good to Be Me", which was produced by Kid Rock, and "Hot Mess", which was produced by S*A*M and Sluggo.
The album peaked at number 38 on the Billboard 200 and number 13 on the Top Rock Albums in the United States. Its lead single, "Smile" made it to number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Critical reception
Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated the album two-and-a-half stars out of five, saying "his attitude gets in his way, his party-hearty quips never jibing with his marshmallow music". Mikael Wood of Entertainment Weekly wrote: "Uncle Kracker's always believed in the power of positive thinking (or at least in the power of a case of Coors Light), so there's little here that hints at his recent troubles. Instead, you get smarmy frat-country jams about taking a seat at the corner bar and discovering that your girlfriend has a girlfriend now. On "Livin’ the Dream", he even comforts himself by quoting Whitesnake".
Track listing
- Outtakes
- "Vegas Baby" (featuring Mr. Hahn of Linkin Park) - 4:07
- "The One That Got Away" - 3:34
- "That's What's Happenin" - 3:37
Personnel
- Matthew "Uncle Kracker" Shafer – main artist, vocals
- Jessica Lee "Jesse Lee" Levin – featured artist, vocals (track 6)
- Alfie Silas Durio – backing vocals
- Carmen Carter – backing vocals
- Clydene Jackson – backing vocals
- Rae Rae Jensen – backing vocals
- Ty Stone – backing vocals
- Herschel Boone – backing vocals (track 7)
- Dave Katz – backing vocals & programming (track 9)
- Sam Hollander – backing vocals & programming (track 9)
- Neal Tiemann – guitar
- Tim Pierce – guitar
- Marlon Young – acoustic guitar & bass (track 7)
- Sean Gould – guitar & engineering (track 9)
- Jamie Muhoberac – keyboards
- James "Jimmie Bones" Trombly – B3 electric piano (track 7)
- Ben Levels – organ (track 9)
- Alex Al – bass
- Chris Chaney – bass
- Michael Bradford – bass
- Paul Bushnell – bass
- Sean Hurley – bass
- Rashawn Ross – trumpet
- Dorian Crozier – percussion & programming
- Steve Stetson – drums (track 7)
- Dan Chase – programming
- Doug McKean – programming, engineering
- Mike Fasano – drum technician
- David Campbell – strings arranger (track 1)
- Rob Cavallo – producer
- Robert "Kid Rock" Ritchie – producer & programming (track 7)
- Jaime Neely – assistant producer
- Chris Lord-Alge – mixing
- Al Sutton – engineering & mixing (track 7)
- Lars Fox – Pro-Tools engineering
- Aaron Walk – engineering assistant
- Russ Waugh – engineering assistant
- Steve Rea – engineering assistant
- Andrew Schubert – additional mixing
- Brad Townsend – additional mixing
- Keith Armstrong – mixing assistant
- Nik Karpen – mixing assistant
- Ted Jensen – mastering
- Alex Kirzhner – art direction, design
- Chris Woehrle – design
- Kristie Borgmann – design
- Chapman Baehler – photography
- Craig Rosen – A&R
- Lesley Melincoff – A&R
- Pete Ganbarg – A&R
- Cheryl Jenets – product management
- Lee Trink – management
- Vera Salamone – management
- Chris Stang – marketing
- Thomas Valentino – legal
- Kyle Wilensky – booking
- Mitch Rose – booking
- Rick Roskin – booking
