{{hatnote|This page is about the album by Jo Dee Messina. For the Beth Hart song, which was also covered by Messina, see Delicious Surprise (song).}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Delicious Surprise | type = studio | artist = Jo Dee Messina | cover = Jo Dee Messina-Surprise.jpg | released = {{Start date|2005|04|26}} | recorded = 2001–2005<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4lIAAAAIBAJ&dq=Jo+Dee+Messina&pg=PA43&article_id=3615,1681682|title=This Time It's Personal: Jo Dee Messina's new record reflects on rocky times|magazine=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|page=W-27|date=April 15, 2005|access-date=June 13, 2024}}</ref> | studio = Starstruck Studios and Emerald Entertainment (Nashville, Tennessee) | genre = Country | length = 43:58 | label = Curb | producer = {{hlist|Mark Bright|Byron Gallimore|Tim McGraw|Jo Dee Messina}} | prev_title = Greatest Hits | prev_year = 2003 | next_title = Unmistakable: Love | next_year = 2010 | misc = {{Singles | name = Delicious Surprise | type = Studio | single1 = My Give a Damn's Busted | single1date = January 3, 2005 | single2 = Delicious Surprise (I Believe It) | single2date = June 20, 2005 | single3 = Not Going Down | single3date = December 5, 2005 | single4 = It's Too Late to Worry | single4date = July 10, 2006 }} }} {{Music ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r734954}}</ref> | rev2 = ''Rolling Stone'' | rev2Score = {{Rating|2.5|5}}<ref>[https://archive.today/20070518205122/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/jodeemessina/albums/album/7184834/review/7263947/delicious_surprise Rollingstone]</ref> }} '''''Delicious Surprise''''' is the fifth studio album by American country music artist Jo Dee Messina, released on April 26, 2005, via Curb Records. Her first non-Christmas album since ''Burn'' (2000), the album was recorded following the release of her first greatest hits collection in 2003. ''Delicious Surprise'' is Messina's first album in which she is credited as a producer. Messina also had a bigger hand in the writing of the album, co-writing three songs and solely writing another song.
The album became her third number one on the Top Country Albums chart and her first top ten album on the all-genre Billboard 200, peaking at number seven. The lead single, "My Give a Damn's Busted", became one of her most successful singles to date, topping the Hot Country Songs chart for two weeks. Follow-up singles "Delicious Surprise (I Believe It)", "Not Going Down", and "It's Too Late to Worry", although less successful, all peaked within the top-forty. The album has been certified Gold by the RIAA.
Following this album, Messina wouldn't release another commercially released album until 2014, with her sixth studio album ''Me''. The singer had attempted a follow up to ''Delicious Surprise'' titled ''Unmistakable''. Although a few singles were released from the recording sessions, Messina's label constantly delayed the album and it would end up being scrapped and divided into three EPs, with ''Unmistakable: Love'' charting on ''Billboard'' charts. This would be the last project Messina released for Curb Records before leaving the label in late 2012 to go independent.
==Commercial performance== ''Delicious Surprise'' debuted on the Top Country Albums on May 14, 2005, at number one, selling 99,000 copies in its first week.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=May 14, 2005 |title=Over the Counter |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2005/BB-2005-05-14.pdf |magazine=Billboard |page=49}}</ref> Coincidentally, ''Delicious Surprise'' went number one on the country charts the same week "My Give a Damn's Busted" rose to the top of the Hot Country Songs chart. The album gave Messina the best first-sales week of her career. The album also managed to debut at number seven on the ''Billboard'' 200, surpassing the number-14 peak set by her 2003 ''Greatest Hits'' collection to becoming her highest-charting album on that chart. However, the album quickly fell from its peak positions on both charts due to the poor success of the following singles. ''Delicious Surprise'' only spent 40 weeks on Top Country Albums and 16 weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200.
==Track listing== {{track listing | title1 = Not Going Down | writer1 = {{hlist|Kevin Savigar|Shaunn Bolton}} | length1 = 3:16 | title2 = Someone Else's Life | writer2 = {{hlist|Danny Wells|John Bettis|Chris Farren}} | length2 = 3:27 | title3 = Delicious Surprise (I Believe It) | writer3 = {{hlist|Beth Hart|Glen Burtnik}} | length3 = 3:48 | title4 = It Gets Better | writer4 = Jo Dee Messina | length4 = 4:32 | title5 = Who's Crying Now | writer5 = {{hlist|Patrick Jason Matthews|George Teren}} | length5 = 3:29 | title6 = My Give a Damn's Busted | writer6 = {{hlist|Joe Diffie|Tom Shapiro|Tony Martin}} | length6 = 3:18 | title7 = It's Too Late to Worry | writer7 = {{hlist|Wells|Ron Harbin|Anthony L. Smith}} | length7 = 3:55 | title8 = Life Is Good | writer8 = {{hlist|Messina|Mark Selby}} | length8 = 3:12 | title9 = Love Is Not Enough | writer9 = {{hlist|Messina|Mike Reid}} | length9 = 3:55 | title10 = Where Were You | writer10 = {{hlist|Messina|John Bettis|Wayne Kirkpatrick}} | length10 = 3:31 | title11 = I Wear My Life | writer11 = {{hlist|Shaye Smith|Katrina Elam|Christi Dannemiller}} | length11 = 4:08 | title12 = You Were Just Here | writer12 = {{hlist|Brett James|Troy Verges|Hillary Lindsey}} | length12 = 3:27 | total_length = 43:58 }}
==Personnel== Compiled from liner notes.<ref>{{cite AV media notes |title=Delicious Surprise |others=Jo Dee Messina |year=2005|type=CD liner notes |publisher=Curb Records |id=78770}}</ref>
===Musicians=== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * Jo Dee Messina – lead vocals * Steve Nathan – acoustic piano (1, 9), synthesizers (1, 9), Wurlitzer electric piano (3), organ (9) * Jimmy Nichols – keyboards (2, 7, 10, 12), organ (4–6, 8, 11), acoustic piano (5), accordion (12) * Pat Buchanan – electric guitar (1) * Michael Landau – electric guitar (1, 3, 9) * B. James Lowry – acoustic guitar (1, 3) * Brent Mason – electric guitar (1, 3, 9), acoustic guitar (9) * Larry Beaird – acoustic guitar (2) * Troy Lancaster – electric guitar (2, 7, 10, 12) * Russ Pahl – electric guitar (3), banjo (3), dobro (3), steel guitar (3) * Tom Bukovac – electric guitar (4–8, 11, 12) * Bryan Sutton – acoustic guitar (4–8, 10–12) * Kenny Greenberg – electric guitar (9) * Paul Franklin –dobro (1, 4, 6, 8, 11), slide guitar (1, 6, 8), steel guitar (4, 5, 7–9, 11, 12) * Dan Dugmore – steel guitar (2, 10) * Aubrey Haynie – mandolin (1, 3, 10), fiddle (9) * Stuart Duncan – mandolin (3, 4, 11), fiddle (3, 4, 6) * Larry Franklin – mandolin (5, 7) * Glenn Worf – bass (1) * Kevin "Swine" Grantt – bass (2, 10) * Mike Brignardello – bass (3–9, 11, 12) * Shannon Forrest – drums (1, 4–6, 8, 10, 11) * Mark Beckett – drums (2) * Lonnie Wilson – drums (3, 7, 9, 12) * Bekka Bramlett – tambourine (1), backing vocals (3) * Javier Solis – tambourine (9) * Jonathan Yudkin – fiddle * Lisa Cochran – backing vocals (1, 2, 4–6, 8–11) * Gene Miller – backing vocals (1, 3, 9) * Russell Terrell – backing vocals (2, 7, 10, 12) * Wes Hightower – backing vocals (4–6, 8, 11) * Kim Parent – backing vocals (7, 12) {{div col end}}
=== Production === * Byron Gallimore – producer (1, 3–6, 8, 9, 11), mixing (5, 6, 8, 9) * Tim McGraw – producer (1, 3, 9) * Mark Bright – producer (2, 7, 10, 12) * Jo Dee Messina – producer (2, 4–8, 10–12) * Derek Bason – recording, mixing (2, 10, 12) * Chris Lord-Alge – mixing (1, 3, 4, 7, 11) * Scott Kidd – recording assistant * JR Rodriguez – recording assistant, mix assistant * Ken Love – mastering at MasterMix (Nashville, Tennessee) * Mike "Frog" Griffith – production coordinator * Glenn Sweitzer – art direction, design, photography * John Scarpati – photography * Randee St. Nicholas – photography * John Murphy – wardrobe * Mark Townsend – hair stylist * Rachel Dwyer – make-up * Dreamcatcher Artist Management – management
==Chart performance== {{col-begin}} {{col-2}}
===Weekly charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable" ! Chart (2005) ! Peak<br />position |- {{album chart|Billboard200|7|artist=Jo Dee Messina|accessdate=August 24, 2020}} |- {{album chart|BillboardCountry|1|artist=Jo Dee Messina|accessdate=August 24, 2020}} |} {{col-2}}
===Year-end charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable" ! Chart (2005) ! Position |- | US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2005/top-billboard-200-albums|title=Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2005|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=August 24, 2020}}</ref> | align="center"| 198 |- | US Top Country Albums (''Billboard'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2005/top-country-albums|title=Top Country Albums – Year-End 2005|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=August 24, 2020}}</ref> | align="center"| 31 |} {{col-end}}
===Singles=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" ! rowspan="2"| Year ! rowspan="2"| Single ! colspan="3"| Peak chart positions |- style="font-size:smaller;" ! width="45"| US Country ! width="45"| US ! width="45"| CAN Country |- | rowspan="3"| 2005 | align="left"| "My Give a Damn's Busted" | 1 | 63 | 1 |- | align="left"| "Delicious Surprise (I Believe It)" | 23 | – | 24 |- | align="left"| "Not Going Down" | 28 | – | – |- | rowspan="2"| 2006 | align="left"| "It's Too Late to Worry" | 34 | – | – |}
==Certifications== {{Certification Table Top}} {{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|artist=Jo Dee Messina|title=Delicious Surprise|award=Gold|type=album|relyear=2005|certyear=2005|accessdate=March 29, 2026}} {{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}
==References== <references />
{{Jo Dee Messina}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:2005 albums Category:Albums produced by Byron Gallimore Category:Curb Records albums Category:Jo Dee Messina albums Category:Albums produced by Mark Bright (record producer)