Life Is Messy is the seventh studio album by American country music artist Rodney Crowell, released in 1992 by Columbia Records. It peaked at number 30 on the Top Country Albums chart. The songs, "Lovin' All Night", "What Kind of Love", "It's Not for Me to Judge", and "Let's Make Trouble" were released as singles.

Content

The album's first two singles, "Lovin' All Night" and "What Kind of Love", were both released as singles. They respectively reached No.10 and No.11 on the Hot Country Songs charts in 1992.

"The Answer Is Yes" was covered by Michelle Wright on her 1996 album For Me It's You, while "Lovin' All Night" was covered by Patty Loveless on her 2003 album On Your Way Home.

Critical reception

William Ruhlmann of AllMusic concluded his review with, "Taken together, the songs on Life Is Messy made for a fascinating portrait of an artist at a personal and professional crossroad -- but it didn't have much to do with commercial country music circa 1992, which is what it was primarily marketed as." He compared the songs' sounds primarily to "a pastiche of late-'50s/early-'60s pop". A review by Jack Hurst in the Chicago Tribune rated the album 3.5 out of 4, saying that the album had "a throbbing sound that is out on the pop-ish progressive end of the country spectrum, it treats life in all its surreal hurtfulness without neglecting its epic joys." A less positive review came from Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly, who thought that the album showed emotional influence from Crowell's then-recent divorce from fellow musician Rosanne Cash, and highlighted the song "I Hardly Know How to Be Myself", which the two wrote, as the best song on the album. She also compared Crowell's voice favorably to Roy Orbison but added that "too many of his songs splinter into nebulousness with the occasional joltingly bad line".

Track listing

Personnel

From Life Is Messy liner notes.

Musicians

1. "It's Not for Me to Judge"

2. Marc Cohn - background vocals

3. Bobby Colomby - background vocals

4. John Leventhal - electric guitar, acoustic guitar

5. Jeff Porcaro - drums

6. Michael Rhodes - bass guitar

7. Steuart Smith - electric guitar, slide guitar

8. C. J. Vanston - keyboards

9. "What Kind of Love"

10. Mickey Curry - drums

11. Don Henley - background vocals

12. Booker T. Jones - organ

13. Larry Klein - bass guitar, keyboards

14. Linda Ronstadt - background vocals

15. Steuart Smith - guitars

16. "Lovin' All Night"

17. Eddie Bayers - drums

18. Barry Beckett - electric piano

19. Rodney Crowell - acoustic guitar, percussion

20. Jim Horn - saxophone

21. John Leventhal - guitars, percussion

22. Michael Rhodes - bass guitar

23. Vince Santoro - background vocals

24. Lari White - background vocals

25. "Life Is Messy"

26. Eddie Bayers - drums, percussion

27. Vicki Hampton - background vocals

28. John Leventhal - guitars

29. Jonell Mosser - background vocals

30. Michael Rhodes - bass guitar

31. C. J. Vanston - keyboards

32. Lari White - background vocals

33. Steve Winwood - background vocals

34. "I Hardly Know How to Be Myself"

35. Eddie Bayers - drums

36. Barry Beckett - organ

37. John Leventhal - piano, guitars

38. Leland Sklar - bass guitar

39. "It Don't Get Better than This"

40. Larry Byrom - background vocals

41. Jim Lauderdale - background vocals

42. Albert Lee - background vocals

43. John Leventhal - guitar, bass guitar, piano, background vocals

44. Larrie Londin - drums

45. "Alone but Not Alone"

46. Vinnie Colaiuta - percussion

47. Shawn Colvin - background vocals

48. Larry Klein - bass guitar, tremolo guitar, background vocals

49. Steuart Smith - guitars

50. "Let's Make Trouble"

51. Alex Acuña - drums, percussion

52. Larry Klein - bass guitar, keyboards

53. Reginal Sales - slack drum

54. Steuart Smith - guitars

55. Sam Phillips - background vocals

56. "The Answer Is Yes"

57. Eddie Bayers - drums

58. Barry Beckett - organ

59. Vicki Hampton - background vocals

60. John Leventhal - guitars

61. Vince Santoro - background vocals

62. Leland Sklar - bass guitar

63. Steve Winwood - background vocals

64. "Maybe Next Time"

65. Barry Beckett - organ

66. John Leventhal - keyboards, guitar, percussion

67. Larrie Londin - drums, percussion

68. Vince Santoro - background vocals

69. Lari White - background vocals

Technical

• Michael Brauer - mixing (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10)

• Bobby Colomby - production

• Rodney Crowell - production

• Jim Dineen - engineering (tracks 1, 6, 10)

• Larry Klein - production

• John Leventhal - production

• Dan Marnien - engineering and mixing (tracks 2, 7, 8)

• Roger Nichols - engineering (tracks 3, 4, 5, 9)

• C. J. Vanston - production

• Michael Verdick - engineering (track 1)

Chart performance

Album

Singles

Sources