We Are Tonight is the fifth studio album by American country music singer Billy Currington. It was released on September 17, 2013 via Mercury Nashville. The album includes the singles "Hey Girl" and "We Are Tonight".

Content Currington told Country Weekly that he wanted the album to be "completely happy". Unlike his previous four albums, Currington did not write any of the songs on We Are Tonight.

Among the tracks are a cover of Jack Johnson's "Banana Pancakes", from his album In Between Dreams, and a duet with Willie Nelson on "Hard to Be a Hippie". According to Currington, the song ended up as a duet with Nelson because Currington had told co-writer Scotty Emerick, a mutual friend of the two, that he wanted to record the song; when Emerick said that Nelson wanted to record it, Currington then suggested that they do it as a duet.

Critical reception

We Are Tonight has generally received positive reviews from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic told that "none of [Currington’s] moves feel self-conscious", and that album was "guaranteed to create some nice mellow vibes." Jon Freeman of Country Weekly said that "Billy is a skilled interpreter of songs with a knack for finding the soul in every selection." He generally praised the song selection, but criticized the title track for "fall[ing] back on the small-town truck-riding clichés so prevalent at the moment." Matt Bjorke of Roughstock felt that "We Are Tonight mixes traditional country elements with soul elements and contemporary elements and turns it into a sound that is uniquely and unquestionably Billy Currington." Tara Toro at Got Country Online wrote that the album "will hook ya." Rob Burkhardt of Music Is My Oxygen affirmed that "We Are Tonight is a focused and well-produced record that plays to Billy Currington’s strengths and puts him in the running to be an A-list performer", and that "Time alone will tell whether enough fans will catch on to Currington’s unique style, but this is definitely a record worthy of the attention." Chuck Yarborough of The Plain Dealer stated that the album was "so disappointing. It’s not that it’s all that up-tempo – although most of it is – it’s just that none of it FEELS like it’s coming from a country guy pretending to be a pop guy pretending to be a country guy."

Track listing

Personnel Adapted from liner notes

Tracks 3, 4, 6–9 Shy Carter – background vocals & rap on "Banana Pancakes" J.T. Corenflos – electric guitar Billy Currington – lead vocals Paul Franklin – steel guitar Wes Hightower – background vocals Paul Leim – drums Brent Mason – electric guitar Gary Prim – Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, piano Karyn Rochelle – background vocals Chris Rodriguez – background vocals W. David Smith – bass guitar Biff Watson – acoustic guitar

Tracks 1, 2, 5 Tom Bukovac – electric guitar Billy Currington – lead vocals Paul Franklin – steel guitar Steve Herrman – trumpet John Hinchey – trombone Jim Hoke – baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone Dann Huff – electric guitar Charlie Judge – Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards Chris McHugh – drums Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar Russell Terrell – background vocals Ilya Toshinsky – acoustic guitar Jonathan Yudkin – fiddle

Track 10 Joe Ayoub – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, snaps Shy Carter – beat box, bells, harmonium, mandolin, percussion, background vocals Billy Currington – lead vocals L.J. Holifield – drums Ahmed Oliver – tenor guitar, organ, MPC, sugar shaker, percussion Andy Rose – clavinet, Fender Rhodes, piano, synthesizer Marcus Thomas – background vocals Brad Warren – acoustic guitar Brett Warren – acoustic guitar

Chart performance The album debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number 10, and at number five on the Top Country Albums chart, selling 26,000 copies in its first week in the US. It sold 41,000 copies in three weeks.

Weekly charts Chart (2013) Peakposition

Year-end charts Chart (2013) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard) 68

Singles Year Single Peak chart positions US Country US Country Airplay US CAN Country CAN 2013 "Hey Girl" 5 1 39 18 58 "We Are Tonight" 12 1 60 17 87

References