{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Bittertown | type = studio | artist = Lori McKenna | cover = Bittertown.jpeg | alt = red-brown duotone photo of seated woman wearing boots and gloves | released = May 11, 2004 | recorded = | venue = | studio = Signature Sounds | genre = Folk{{bull}}Country | length = | label = Signature Sounds, Warner Bros. | producer = Lorne Entress<ref name="cd_booklet">{{Cite AV media notes |title=Bittertown |year=2005 |type=CD booklet |publisher=Warner Bros. Records |id=49869-2 |location=New York, Nashville }}</ref> | prev_title = The Kitchen Tapes | prev_year = 2003 | next_title = Unglamorous | next_year = 2007 }} {{Music ratings | rev1 = Allmusic | rev1Score ={{Rating|4|5}} [{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r688523|pure_url=yes}} link]|}}
'''''Bittertown''''' is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Lori McKenna. The album was first released May 11, 2004 by Signature Sounds, and re-released in 2005 on Warner Bros. Records following strong positive responses from musicians and critics. ''Bittertown'' propelled McKenna to music industry prominence as a singer and songwriter whose honest songs about parenting and marriage were acclaimed by country singer Faith Hill, and whose lyrics about working class town life drew comparisons to Bruce Springsteen.
==Recording== Preceding ''Bittertown'', the 2003 album ''The Kitchen Tapes'' was recorded by McKenna on a MiniDisc device while sitting at her kitchen table.<ref name="csm_cook">{{Cite web |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0816/p20s01-almp.html |website=Christian Science Monitor |title=Singer's studio is her kitchen table |author=Cook, Stephanie |access-date=24 September 2025 |date=August 16, 2002 }}</ref> McKenna later recalled her lack of recording experience, saying in 2007: "We went in to make ''Bittertown'' with Lorne (Entress), who produced it, and he played drums and a zillion other instruments, and Kevin Barry who played bass and guitar, and it was sort of just the three of us. It was sort of a long studio experience, but it was necessary for it to take that long because I was just learning."<ref name="nodepression">{{cite web |last1=Gleason |first1=Holly |title=Dreams of an Everyday Housewife |url=https://nodepression.org/lori-mckenna-dreams-of-an-everyday-housewife/ |website=No Depression |publisher=freshgrassfoundation.org |access-date=24 September 2025 |date=August 31, 2007}}</ref> The album was recorded at a small Northampton, Massachusetts studio, Signature Sounds Recordings. Signature co-founder Jim Olson was eager to record McKenna, who he recognized as a singular talent after listening to her first albums. Olson remarked about recording ''Bittertown'': {{blockquote|This was more hard-edged, more honest. She was almost the female Springsteen -- and it was very exciting to hear, because there she was sitting at her kitchen table with the songs just pouring out of her. This was something different....She was looking back at this full life from the perspective of a mature person. The songs were really, really good, and the demos were just as moving: just Lori and her guitar and that voice. You'd be an idiot not to hear it.<ref name="nodepression"/>}}
==Breakthrough== An initial review in the weekly ''Miami New Times'' found McKenna on ''Bittertown'' "using riveting melodies to etch an indelible impression" as writer Lee Zimmerman raved about the album: "Insightful and compelling, ''Bittertown'' is home to dashed fortunes and troubled memories. McKenna’s tangled tales provide a postcard from the edge."<ref name="miaminewtimes">{{cite web |last1=Zimmerman |first1=Lee |title=Lori McKenna |url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/lori-mckenna-6344881/ |website=Miami New Times |access-date=24 September 2025 |date=May 13, 2004}}</ref> Also impressed by her work, Boston folk music veteran Mary Gauthier began touting McKenna to music executives, eventually visiting the office of Melanie Howard, who had taken over the business of her husband Nashville songwriter and publisher Harlan Howard after his death in 2002. After listening to a few tracks from ''Bittertown'' provided by Gauthier and speaking with McKenna on the phone, Howard passed the songs to music executive Missi Gallimore.<ref name="howard">{{cite web |last1=Smith-Howard |first1=Melanie |title=Lori McKenna |url=https://www.harlanhoward.com/post/lori-mckenna |website=Harlan Howard |access-date=24 September 2025}}</ref> Gallimore and husband producer Byron Gallimore had dinner with Tim McGraw and his wife Faith Hill that evening, and Hill was moved enough by the songs to immediately change plans for her upcoming album ''Fireflies'' so she could record some of the songs on ''Bittertown'' for her own album.<ref name="howard"/><ref name="oprah">{{cite web |title=Gotta Have Faith |url=https://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/gotta-have-faith/all |website=Oprah |publisher=Oprah Winfrey |access-date=24 September 2025 |date=October 3, 2005}}</ref>
For ''Fireflies'', Hill recorded the title song "Fireflies", found on McKenna's 2001 album ''Pieces of Me'', along with "Stealing Kisses", "If You Ask", and the digital bonus track "Lone Star", all from ''Bittertown''.<ref name="cu_digital">{{cite web |last1=Coyne |first1=Kevin John |title=Twenty Greatest Singles of the CU Era: Faith Hill, "Stealing Kisses" |url=https://www.countryuniverse.net/2024/12/04/twenty-greatest-singles-of-the-cu-era-faith-hill-stealing-kisses/ |website=Country Universe |access-date=24 September 2025 |date=December 4, 2024}}</ref><ref name="cu_fireflies">{{cite web |last1=Coyne |first1=Kevin John |title=100 Greatest Women, #91: Lori McKenna |url=https://www.countryuniverse.net/2018/03/21/100-greatest-women-91-lori-mckenna/ |website=Country Universe |access-date=24 September 2025 |date=March 21, 2018}}</ref> Hill wrote comments about each song on ''Fireflies'' on her website, saying about "If You Ask" {{blockquote|That’s the first one of Lori McKenna’s songs that I heard. I said, 'I’ve never heard writing like this.' It was like a dagger in my heart -- the pain and anguish and the power of her storytelling. That song hit me right in my soul. It was so honest. It’s a peek into a very serious subject matter and I’d never heard the subject of living with an alcoholic written about in that way.<ref name="ifyouask">{{cite web |last1=Hill |first1=Faith |title=If You Ask |url=http://www.faithhill.com/music/fireflies/lyrics/if_you_ask.htm |website=archive.org |publisher=faithhill.com |access-date=24 September 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051124021936/http://www.faithhill.com/music/fireflies/lyrics/if_you_ask.htm |archive-date=2005-11-24}}</ref>}} Hill further explained her reasons for recording four of McKenna's songs: "For a woman who never really left her hometown, McKenna's songwriting transcends regionalism. Her songs find the common ground in contemporary America's post-industrial landscape."<ref name="ifyouask"/> Hill took McKenna under her guidance, and invited her to a planned appearance on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' in October 2005, as well as having McKenna appear as opening act on the upcoming Soul2Soul II Tour with Tim McGraw, which eventually broke the record for highest grossing country tour.<ref name="gac_tour">{{cite news | url=http://www.gactv.com/gac/nw_headlines/article/0,3034,GAC_26063_5691184,00.html | title=Tim & Faith Break Country Tour Records | publisher=Great American Country | date=September 6, 2007 | accessdate=25 September 2025 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120731045436/http://www.gactv.com/gac/nw_headlines/article/0,3034,GAC_26063_5691184,00.html | archive-date=July 31, 2012 }}</ref><ref name="latimes_rodman">{{cite web |last1=Rodman |first1=Sarah |title=Lori McKenna stays 'Humble' about success, nominations |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-songwriter-lori-mckenna-on-new-album-and-hits-for-others-20161020-snap-story.html |publisher=Los Angeles Times |access-date=24 September 2025 |date=October 19, 2016}}</ref> After working with McGraw and Hill, Warner Bros. subsequently signed McKenna to a recording contract and reissued ''Bittertown'' on their major label, and McGraw was hired to produce McKenna's 2007 effort, ''Unglamorous''.
In addition to the songs from ''Bittertown'' recorded by Faith Hill, "Bible Song" was covered by country singer Sara Evans for her album ''Real Fine Place''.<ref name="lowell">{{cite web |last1=Pierce |first1=Kathleen |title=Folk singer Lori McKenna hits the big time |url=https://www.lowellsun.com/2008/02/29/folk-singer-lori-mckenna-hits-the-big-time/ |publisher=The Lowell Sun |access-date=24 September 2025 |date=February 29, 2008}}</ref> Writing prior to a charity concert for an adoption agency in 2013 which McKenna headlined on Martha's Vineyard, critic Holly Gleason said ''Bittertown'' "put the lower middle-class housewife in the company of the nation’s best songwriters as she drew comparisons to Springsteen for her close-to-the-bone narratives, all small details and broken hearts."<ref name="vineyard">{{cite web |last1=Gleason |first1=Holly |title=Singing Through the Darkness and Light |url=https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2013/07/24/singing-through-darkness-and-light |publisher=The Vineyard Gazette |access-date=24 September 2025 |date=July 24, 2013}}</ref>
==<span class="anchor" id="Return to Bittertown"></span>''Return to Bittertown''== In July 2019, McKenna released a 7-inch single album named ''Return to Bittertown'', consisting of “Stealing Kisses” and “Bible Song” which she had re-recorded to commemorate the 15th Anniversary of the release of ''Bittertown''. McKenna also embarked on a tour (Return to Bittertown Tour) to promote this album. In a press release issued prior to the tour, McKenna defined ''Bittertown'' as the album release that “changed my life”.<ref name="stjean">{{cite web |last1=St. Jean |first1=Shawn |title=Lori Mckenna's Return to Bittertown Tour Stops in New York City |url=https://thecountryscene.com/lori-mckenna-return-to-bittertown-new-york/ |website=The Country Scene |access-date=24 September 2025 |date=July 30, 2019}}</ref><ref name="discogsreturn">{{cite web |title=Return to Bittertown |url=https://www.discogs.com/release/14468733-Lori-McKenna-Return-To-Bittertown-15th-Anniversary-Edition |website=Discogs |access-date=24 September 2025}}</ref>
==Track listing == ''All songs written by Lori McKenna'' {{Track listing |total_length = 53:43 |title1 = Bible Song |length1 = 3:48 |title2 = Mr. Sunshine |length2 = 4:03 |title3 = One Man |length3 = 4:17 |title4 = Pour |length4 = 3:50 |title5 = Lone Star |length5 = 4:10 |title6 = Stealing Kisses |length6 = 4:24 |title7 = If You Ask |length7 = 4:29 |title8 = Monday Afternoon |length8 = 3:04 |title9 = The Ledge |length9 = 3:40 |title10 = My Sweetheart |length10 = 4:05 |title11 = Cowardly Lion |length11 = 3:34 |title12 = Silver Bus |length12 = 4:00 |title13 = One Kiss Goodnight |length13 = 4:19 }}
== Personnel == As listed in the CD booklet:<ref name="cd_booklet"/>
'''Musicians''' * Lori McKenna{{dash}}vocals, acoustic guitar (all tracks except 6, 10), resonator guitar (10) * Kevin Barry{{dash}}bass (1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11–13), lap steel (1, 4, 8, 10, 13), mandoguitar (1, 8), mandolin (1), 6 and 12 string electric guitars (2), resonator guitar (7), electric guitar(s) (8, 9, 11–13), piano (10), slide guitar (12) * Lorne Entress{{dash}}drums (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11–13), high strung guitar (1, 3, 10), synth bass (2), vocals (2, 7), percussion (2, 4, 8, 10, 13), reed organ (3, 7, 10), celestaphone (3, 12), wurlitzer piano (4), keys (5), acoustic guitar (5, 6), bass drum (10), orchestra bells (10) * Dave Limina{{dash}}hammond organ (1, 2, 5, 9) * Duke Levine{{dash}}electric guitar (1) * Buddy Miller{{dash}}vocals (1) * Meghan Toohey{{dash}}electric guitar(s) (2, 5), acoustic guitar (5) * Brian McKenna{{dash}}electric guitar (2) * Mark Erelli{{dash}}acoustic slide guitar (3), vocals (8) * Chris Trapper{{dash}}vocals (3) * Shane Koss{{dash}}rhythm programming (4, 13) * Joe Barbato{{dash}}wurlitzer piano (5, 11, 12) * Chris Haynes{{dash}}piano (6)
'''Production''' * Lorne Entress{{dash}}producer * Huck Bennert{{dash}}engineer, mixing * Mark Donahue{{dash}}mastering * Chris Rival{{dash}}additional recording * Mark Thayer{{dash}}additional recording * Duke Levine{{dash}}additional recording * Meghan Dewar{{dash}}art direction (with Gabriel Unger), design
== References == {{reflist}} ==External links== *{{Discogs master}} *{{MBrgID}} {{Lori McKenna}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:2004 albums Category:Lori McKenna albums Category:Signature Sounds Recordings albums