Life at Best

Life at Best is the third studio album by American country music group Eli Young Band. It was released on August 16, 2011 via Republic Nashville. The album includes the number one singles "Crazy Girl" and "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" as well as "Say Goodnight", which peaked at number 22 on the Country Airplay Chart. According to HITS Daily Double, the album sold 348,000 copies as of February 2014.

Life at Best
Studio album by Eli Young Band
Released	August 16, 2011 (2011-08-16)
Studio	Dark Horse Recording (Franklin, TN) Wrucke's House (Nashville, TN)
Genre	Country
Length	50:19
Label	Republic Nashville
Producer	Frank Liddell Mike Wrucke
Eli Young Band chronology
Jet Black & Jealous (2008) Life at Best (2011) 10,000 Towns (2014)
Singles from Life at Best
"Crazy Girl" Released: March 7, 2011 "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" Released: January 23, 2012 "Say Goodnight" Released: August 27, 2012[1]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Country Weekly	[3]

Reception

Critical

Giving it four stars out of five, Steve Morley of Country Weekly said that the album "rings with roots-rock guitars and meaty, often melancholy themes".^[3] A less favorable review came from Andrew Leahey of AllMusic, who thought that it was a "step backwards" because he did not consider its songs as memorable as those on Jet Black & Jealous.^[2]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Even If It Breaks Your Heart"	Will Hoge Eric Paslay	3:40
2.	"Crazy Girl"	Lee Brice Liz Rose	3:20
3.	"Every Other Memory"	Chris DeStefano Catt Gravitt Josh Kear	4:44
4.	"On My Way"	Scooter Carusoe Jon Jones James Young	3:26
5.	"Skeletons"	Mike Eli Sean McConnell Young	3:21
6.	"I Love You"	Brice Kyle Jacobs Jones Chris Thompson	3:20
7.	"The Fight"	Natalie Hemby Tim Putnam	4:25
8.	"My Old Man's Son"	Lance W. Adkins Eli Blu Sanders	3:42
9.	"Recover"	Eli Young Jacobs	2:58
10.	"The Falling"	Eli Ryan James	3:38
11.	"War on a Desperate Man"	Eli Sanders	4:06
12.	"Say Goodnight"	Katrina Elam Melissa Peirce John Paul White	3:08
13.	"How Quickly You Forget"	Eli Hemby Daniel Tashian	3:40
14.	"Life at Best"	Eli Young	2:51
Total length:			50:19

Personnel

Adapted from the Life at Best liner notes.^[4]

Eli Young Band

• Mike Eli – guitar, lead vocals
• Jon Jones – bass guitar, background vocals
• Chris Thompson – drums, percussion
• James Young – lead guitar, harmonica, background vocals

Production

• Eric Tonkin – assistant engineer
• Nick Kallstrom – assistant engineer
• Mark Dobson – digital editing
• Mike Wrucke – mixing
• Richard Dodd – mastering

Additional musicians

• Eric Darken – percussion
• Fred Eltringham – percussion
• Kree Harrison – background vocals
• Natalie Hemby – background vocals
• Greg Leisz – steel guitar
• Tony Obrohta – guitar
• Russ Pahl – steel guitar
• Oran Thornton – guitar
• Michael Webb – Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards
• Mike Wrucke – guitar, steel guitar, harmonica, mandolin, background vocals

Chart performance

Weekly charts Chart (2011–12) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[5] 75 US Billboard 200[6] 6 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[7] 3

Year-end charts Chart (2011) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[8] 55 Chart (2012) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[9] 33

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions				Certifications (sales threshold)
		US Country [10]	US Country Airplay [11]	US [12]	CAN [13]
2011	"Crazy Girl"	1	—	30	66	CAN: Gold[14] US: 5× Platinum[15]
2012	"Even If It Breaks Your Heart"	1	—	29	56	US: 3× Platinum[16]
	"Say Goodnight"	31	22	110	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[17]	Platinum	1,000,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Wyland, Sarah (August 4, 2012). "Eli Young Band's Crowds Get Loud". Great American Country. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
2. Leahey, Andrew. "Life at Best review". AllMusic. Retrieved August 19, 2011.
3. Morley, Steve (August 10, 2011). "Life at Best review". Country Weekly. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
4. Life at Best (booklet). Eli Young Band. Republic Nashville. 2011. B001585602.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
5. "Australiancharts.com – Eli Young Band – Life at Best". Hung Medien.
6. "Eli Young Band Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
7. "Eli Young Band Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
8. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2011". Billboard. Archived from the original on March 1, 2021. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
9. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2012". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved April 7, 2021.
10. "Eli Young Band Album & Song Chart History - Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
11. "Eli Young Band Album & Song Chart History - Country Airplay". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
12. "Eli Young Band Album & Song Chart History - Hot 100". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
13. "Eli Young Band Album & Song Chart History - Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived from the original on October 2, 2011. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
14. "Canadian digital certifications – Eli Young Band – Crazy Girl". Music Canada.
15. "American single certifications – Eli Young Band – Crazy Girl". Recording Industry Association of America.
16. "American single certifications – Eli Young Band – Even If It Breaks Your Heart". Recording Industry Association of America.
17. "American album certifications – Eli Young Band – Life at Best". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved June 14, 2024.