| Years of Tears | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Bobby "Blue" Bland |
| Cover: | Years of Tears.jpg |
| Released: | 1993 |
| Studio: | Muscle Shoals Sound |
| Genre: | Blues, R&B |
| Label: | Malaco |
| Producer: | Wolf Stephenson, Tommy Couch |
| Prev Title: | I Pity the Fool: The Duke Recordings |
| Prev Year: | 1992 |
| Next Title: | Turn on Your Love Light: The Duke Recordings |
| Next Year: | 1994 |
Years of Tears is an album by the American musician Bobby "Blue" Bland, released in 1993.[1] [2] Bland supported the album with a North American tour.[3] The album peaked at No. 80 on Billboards Top R&B Albums chart. It won a W. C. Handy Award, in the Soul/Blues category.[4]
Produced by Wolf Stephenson and Tommy Couch, Years of Tears was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.[5] Bland worked on the album for more than a year.[6] Frederick Knight wrote three of the album's songs; including Knight's songs, the majority were written by Malaco Records songwriters.[7] [8]
The San Antonio Express-News considered Years of Tears to be among Bland's best albums.[9] The Los Angeles Times wrote that it "plays to his key strength, which is an ability to bring you into the bleak, dark, anxious and solitary places inhabited by troubled minds."[10] The Denver Post noted that "the Muscle Shoals, Ala., session players provide him with gritty, introspective deep-soul instrumental support that seems relevant and vital for the 1990s."[11] The Commercial Appeal concluded that Bland "is in excellent voice throughout."[12] Texas Monthly determined that "the label's synthesizer-and-strings approach has kept him contemporary without making him sound foolish."[13]
AllMusic wrote: "Bland's animated, raw voice, though not as wide-ranging, still has a character and quality unmatched in blues, soul or vintage R&B."