Bullets in the Gun

For the song, see Bullets in the Gun (song).

Bullets in the Gun is the fourteenth studio album by American country music artist Toby Keith. It was released on October 5, 2010 by Show Dog-Universal Music.^[1] The album produced three singles with "Trailerhood", the title track, and "Somewhere Else". "Trailerhood" peaked at number 19 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, while the title track and "Somewhere Else" both reached number 12. This was Keith's first studio album to not produce a single Top 10 hit on the US country charts.

Bullets in the Gun
Studio album by Toby Keith
Released	October 5, 2010 (2010-10-05)
Genre	Country
Length	36:10
Label	Show Dog-Universal Music
Producer	Toby Keith
Toby Keith chronology
American Ride (2009) Bullets in the Gun (2010) Clancy's Tavern (2011)
Singles from Bullets in the Gun
"Trailerhood" Released: June 28, 2010 "Bullets in the Gun" Released: September 27, 2010 "Somewhere Else" Released: February 28, 2011

Background

In an interview with Billboard, Keith talked about the recording for Bullets in the Gun, saying ""I'm in a great place right now, I probably wrote 40 or 50 songs in the last year and the songs are getting more and more happy. I did some movies, too, but now I'm just kicking back."^[2]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(76/100)[3]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[4]
Billboard	(positive)[5]
The Boston Globe	(positive)[6]
Country Weekly	[7]
Entertainment Weekly	B[8]
Los Angeles Times	[9]
The New York Times	(mixed)[10]
Roughstock	(favorable)[11]
The Washington Post	(positive)[12]

Upon its release, Bullets in the Gun received generally positive reviews from most music critics.^[3] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".^[3]

Bill Friskics-Warren of The Washington Post complimented the tracks on the release, saying "There isn't a weak track on the record, and most of the songs [...] are pretty terrific".^[12] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album 4½ out of 5 stars and called it "a lean, tight record", stating "Bullets in the Gun winds up being the Toby Keith album with the lightest touch since 2006’s White Trash with Money."^[4] Matt Bjorke with Roughstock commented on the album, saying "Bullets in the Gun is an interesting album and it feels like a joyful mixture of songs about different stages of relationships and life" and called it "Keith’s best album of at least the last five years".^[11] Gary Graff with Billboard Magazine gave a favorable review of the album, saying "It's full of shoot-from-the- hip cleverness".^[5]

Jessica Phillips with Country Weekly gave it three stars, commented saying that "the album [is packed] with songs meant to heal (or at least dull) a broken heart".^[7] Jon Caramanica with The New York Times referred to Bullets in the Gun as "[Keith's] most scattershot album to date; a jumble of attitudes and tactics" and said "[he] is singing without conviction on songs that are mere archetypes and lack any of his signature gestures".^[10]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one on both the US Billboard 200 chart and Top Country albums chart, selling 71,000 copies in its first week of release. It's the smallest debut at number one since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking the chart in May 1991.^[13] In its second week of release, the album dropped to number nine on the Billboard 200 selling 30,000 copies.^[14] In its third week of release, the album fell to number twenty one on the Billboard 200, selling 17,923 copies.^[15] As of the chart dated May 7, 2011, the album has sold 323,880 copies in the US.^[16]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Bullets in the Gun"	Toby Keith, Rivers Rutherford	4:16
2.	"Somewhere Else"	Keith, Bobby Pinson	3:06
3.	"Trailerhood"	Keith	2:53
4.	"In a Couple of Days"	Keith, Pinson	3:46
5.	"Think About You All of the Time"	Keith	3:44
6.	"Kissin' in the Rain"	Keith, Pinson	3:55
7.	"Drive it on Home"	Keith, Pinson	3:22
8.	"Ain't Breakin' Nothin'"	Keith, Pinson	3:58
9.	"Is That All You Got"	Keith, Scotty Emerick, Dean Dillon	3:35
10.	"Get Out of My Car"	Keith, Pinson	3:30
Total length:			36:05

Deluxe Edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"11 Months And 29 Days (live)"	Johnny Paycheck	4:44
12.	"I've Been a Long Time Leaving (But I'll Be a Long Time Gone) (live)"	Waylon Jennings, Roger Miller	6:08
13.	"Chug-a-Lug (live)"	Roger Miller	2:59
14.	"Sundown (live)"	Gordon Lightfoot	4:34

Personnel

• Robert Ascroft – photography
• Susie Carlson – stylist
• Kim Debus – stylist
• P.J. Fenech – assistant
• Tom Freitag – assistant
• Jed Hackett – overdubs
• Mills Logan – engineer, mixing, overdub engineer
• Meredith Louie – creative director
• Ken Love – mastering
• Mike Paragone – assistant
• Lowell Reynolds – assistant
• Brien Sager – assistant
• Elaine Shock – creative director
• Andrew Southam – photography
• Todd Tidwell – assistant
• Ted Wheeler – assistant
• Pat Bergeson – acoustic guitar, harmonica, jew's harp
• Bruce Bouton – pedal steel guitar
• Tom Bukovac – electric guitar
• Perry Coleman – background vocals
• Chad Cromwell – drums
• Eric Darken – percussion, vibraphone
• Paul Franklin – dobro, pedal steel guitar
• Kevin "Swine" Grantt – bass guitar
• Kenny Greenberg – electric guitar
• Aubrey Haynie – fiddle
• John Hobbs – organ, piano
• Charlie Judge – synthesizer strings, synthesizer
• Toby Keith – lead vocals, background vocals
• Phil Madeira – accordion, organ, wurlitzer
• Chris McHugh – drums
• Steve Nathan – piano
• Michael Rhodes – bass guitar
• Randy Scruggs – banjo
• Steven Sheehan – acoustic guitar
• Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar
• Ilya Toshinsky – banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2010) Peak position Canadian Albums (Billboard)[17] 23 US Billboard 200[18] 1 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[19] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2010) Position US Billboard 200[20] 199 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[21] 41 Chart (2011) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[22] 35

References

1. "CMT : News : Toby Keith Releasing New Album, Bullets in the Gun, on Oct. 5". CMT. July 22, 2010. Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
2. "Toby Keith Kicks Back with 'Bullets in the Gun' | Billboard.com". Billboard. September 24, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
3. "Bullets in the Gun Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
4. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Bullets in the Gun – Toby Keith". Allmusic. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
5. Graff, Gary (October 8, 2010), Toby Keith, "Bullets In The Gun", Billboard, retrieved October 9, 2010
6. McLennan, Whitney (October 4, 2010). "Toby Keith, 'Bullets in the Gun' – The Boston Globe". The Boston Globe. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
7. Phillips, Jessica (September 24, 2010). "Bullets in the Gun : Toby Keith – Reviews – Country Weekly Magazine". Country Weekly. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
8. Pastorek, Whitney (September 29, 2010). "Bullets in the Gun Review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 9, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
9. Lewis, Randy (October 5, 2010). "Album review: Toby Keith's 'Bullets in the Gun'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
10. Caramanica, Jon (October 3, 2010). "Critics' Choice - New CDs from Toby Keith, Marnie Stern and King Sunny Adé - Review - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
11. Bjorke, Matt. "Toby Keith – Bullets in the Gun". Roughstock.com. Archived from the original on October 7, 2010. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
12. Friskics-Warren, Bill (October 5, 2010). "There isn't a weak track on Toby Keith's 'Bullets in the Gun'". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
13. Caulfield, Keith (October 13, 2010). "Toby Keith's 'Gun' Fires at No. 1 on Billboard 200 | Billboard.com". Billboard. Retrieved October 13, 2010.
14. Caulfield, Keith (October 20, 2010). "Lil Wayne's 'Human Being' Leaps 16–1 on Billboard 200 | Billboard.com". Billboard. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
15. Bjorke, Matt (October 27, 2010). "The Incredible Machine Tops The Albums Sales Charts This Week | New Country Music, Listen to Songs & Video | Roughstock.com". Roughstock. Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. Retrieved October 30, 2010.
16. "Album Sales Strong Thanks To Easter Week | Roughstock.com". Roughstock. April 27, 2011. Archived from the original on May 2, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
17. "Toby Keith Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
18. "Toby Keith Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
19. "Toby Keith Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
20. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2010". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
21. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2010". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
22. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2011". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2021.