Written by Susie Salva
North Carolina born Chris Daughtry and his rock band Daughtry’s sophomore release, “Leave This Town,” on 19 Entertainment /RCA Records is the phenomenal follow to their hugely popular self-titled debut release. This American Idol Season 5 finalist outsold Idol winner Taylor Hick’s debut album selling more than four million copies and was named number one selling album of 2007 by Billboard. With the release of “Leave This Town,” Chris Daughtry made American Idol history by becoming the first Idol to have two consecutive #1 albums.
After charting three #1 songs from its five-times platinum debut and more than two years on the road, Daughtry with their already platinum “Leave This Town,” entered at the top of the Billboard 200, making it the bands second #1 album. The album’s first single, “No Surprise,” extended the group’s extraordinary streak of #1 singles to four. The band’s third and current single, “September,” is following the same path.
The band recorded the album with veteran record producer Howard Benson (All American Rejects, My Chemical Romance) who produced Daughtry’s Grammy-nominated self-titled debut, which was the biggest selling rock release two years in a row and the fastest-selling rock debut in Soundscan history. Daughtry has made it clear that this new record is a very big rock album.
Daughtry’s characteristic sound is the combination of hard rock, straight-ahead rock, album-oriented rock, pop and country. “Leave This Town,” is the first album to feature Chris and bandmates together delivering a dozen inspired performances with anthemic hooks, impassioned vocals, and lyrics laced with wisdom earned on a life’s journey.
If you find yourself thinking the band sounds like Canadian hard rockers Nickelback that’s “No Surprise,” their lead singer Chad Kroeger collaborated on both “No Surprise,” and “Life After You.” Universal themes of breaking up, making up, and loss of a loved one and sorrow are ever present on this album.
Daughtry is comprised of Chris Daughtry vocals, guitar, Josh Steely, guitar, Brian Craddock, guitar, Josh Paul, bass, and Joey Barnes, drums.
The lead track, “You Don’t Belong,” is a hard rocker that is both dark and ominous featuring Daughtry’s guttural, raspy vocals and deals with a dishonest relationship.
“Leave This Town,” smoothly shifts gears from powerful rock (“No Surprise,” “Every Time You Turn Around,”) to hushed ballads (“September,”) and emotional mid-tempo rockers (“Life After You,” “Learned My Lesson.”) The album also includes the country influenced “Tennessee Line,” a track Chris wrote with Craddock that features vocal harmonies by country-music superstar Vince Gill complete with country fiddles. Rounding out the last track on the disc is “Call Your Name,” which starts off with both an acoustic guitar and piano and delves into a hard rock driven song complete with crunchy guitars. The new single, “September,” features the lyrics “Leave This Town,” speaking to promises vanishing, time flying and how things could have turned out differently.
The second-leg of Daughtry’s headline arena tour launched in March. To keep the shows fresh, Chris says the fans can expect a few surprises in the setlist. “We’ve written a couple of new songs that we’ll start working into the shows,” he adds, “It keeps us sharp and is a good way to give people an idea of where we are heading for the next album. “Leave This Town,” is the perfect follow-up to their debut release and doesn’t disappoint. This is the music you expect to hear from this extraordinary rock band. For all things Daughtry go to www.daughtryofficial.com
