Diamonds & Dirt

Diamonds & Dirt
Studio album by
Rodney Crowell
ReleasedMarch 30, 1988
Recorded1987
StudiosEmerald Sound Studios, Nashville, Tennessee
GenreCountry
Length34:54
LabelColumbia
Producers
Rodney Crowell chronology
Street Language
(1986)		 Diamonds & Dirt
(1988)		 The Rodney Crowell Collection
(1989)
Singles from Diamonds & Dirt
  1. "It's Such a Small World"
    Released: January 1988
  2. "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried"
    Released: May 1988
  3. "She's Crazy for Leavin'"
    Released: September 1988
  4. "After All This Time"
    Released: January 1989
  5. "Above and Beyond"
    Released: June 1989
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStarStar[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular MusicStarStarStarStar[2]
The Rolling Stone Album GuideStarStarStarStarHalf star[3]

Diamonds & Dirt is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell, released in 1988.[4][5] His fifth studio album, it was his second release for Columbia Records.[2] The album was his most successful, achieving RIAA gold certification. All five of its singles reached nomber one on the Billboard country charts, setting a record for the most number-one hits from a country album.[6] In order of release, they were "It's Such a Small World" (a duet with then-wife Rosanne Cash), "I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried", "She's Crazy for Leavin", "After All This Time", and a cover of Harlan Howard's "Above and Beyond (The Call of Love)".

The album was later reissued by Columbia Legacy with three bonus tracks.

Production

Diamonds & Dirt was Crowell's first album recorded entirely in Nashville and the first aimed squarely at a country audience.[7] It was produced by Tony Brown and Crowell.[3][8]

Critical reception

The Rolling Stone Album Guide called the album "a stirring treatise on the quest for understanding and balance in a relationship."[3] No Depression wrote that the songs are "played by a band that, in its day, rivaled the Desert Rose Band and Dwight Yoakam’s backing unit as the tightest pseudo-honky-tonkers in country music."[9] Reviewing the reissue, The A.V. Club wrote that the album "still sounds pretty good ... especially in light of the sort of unnatural, reverb-laden late-'80s production that makes everything go 'poof'."[10] Spin deemed it "a traditional country record [on which Crowell] ends ups rocking harder than ever before."[11]

Track listing

All songs written by Rodney Crowell, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Crazy Baby"Crowell, Will Jennings3:06
2."I Couldn't Leave You If I Tried" 3:17
3."She's Crazy for Leavin'"Crowell, Guy Clark3:16
4."After All This Time" 4:28
5."I Know You're Married" 3:31
6."Above and Beyond"Harlan Howard2:28
7."It's Such a Small World" (duet with Rosanne Cash) 3:21
8."I Didn't Know I Could Lose You" 3:21
9."Brand New Rag"Crowell, Jennings3:07
10."The Last Waltz"Crowell, Jennings5:21
Legacy reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
11."I've Got My Pride but I Got to Feed the Kids"2:28
12."It's Lonely Out"3:40
13."Lies Don't Lie"3:04

Personnel

Charts

References

  1. ↑ AllMusic review
  2. 1 2 Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 2. MUZE. p. 644.
  3. 1 2 3 The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 170–171.
  4. ↑ "Rodney Crowell | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  5. ↑ Longsdorf, Amy. "With 'Diamonds,' Country's Rodney Crowell Gets Through the Rough". mcall.com.
  6. ↑ "Rodney Crowell: Singing From A Dark, Raucous Place". NPR.org.
  7. ↑ Anon. "Country concert series opens soon." Aiken (SC) Standard 2 Apr 1989: 11
  8. ↑ "Flashback: Rodney Crowell Sings 'She's Crazy for Leavin" Inside an Airport". Rolling Stone. April 8, 2019.
  9. ↑ "Rodney Crowell – Diamonds and Dirt". No Depression. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Rodney Crowell: Diamonds & Dirt". The A.V. Club. April 19, 2002. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  11. ↑ "The Last (Album) Roundup". SPIN. SPIN Media LLC. October 31, 1988 – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ McClain, Buzz (April 23, 2021). "The Eagles' Steuart Smith keeps his rockstar title private". Northern Virginia Magazine. Northern Virginia Magazine. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Rodney Crowell Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  14. ↑ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 1988". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  15. ↑ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 1989". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 1990". Billboard. Retrieved December 27, 2020.
  • Diamonds & Dirt (cassette liner notes). Rodney Crowell. Columbia Records. 1988. 44076.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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