{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Life Is Messy | type = studio | artist = Rodney Crowell | cover = Life is Messy Alt..jpg | alt = | released = May 19, 1992<ref>[http://music.aol.com/album/life-is-messy/94497 AOL Music Profile] for "Life Is Messy"</ref> | recorded = | venue = | studio = | genre = Country pop<ref name="allmusic"/> | length = 42:27 | label = Columbia | producer = {{hlist|Bobby Colomby|Rodney Crowell|Larry Klein|John Leventhal|C. J. Vanston}} | prev_title = Keys to the Highway | prev_year = 1989 | next_title = Greatest Hits | next_year = 1993 | misc = {{Extra album cover | header = Alternative cover | type = studio | cover = Life is Messy.jpg | border = | alt = | caption = 2000 reissue cover }} }} '''''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.<ref name="whitburn">{{cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|title=Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2012|publisher=Record Research, Inc|date=2012|pages=88–89|isbn=978-0-89820-203-8}}</ref>
"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== {{Music ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/life-is-messy-mw0000073098|title=''Life Is Messy'' review|last=Ruhlmann|first=William|website=AllMusic |accessdate=7 March 2017}}</ref> | rev2 = ''Chicago Tribune'' | rev2Score = {{rating|3.5|4}}<ref name="tribune">{{cite news|url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-06-25/features/9202260029_1_star-diamonds-and-dirt-rodney-crowell|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928134011/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-06-25/features/9202260029_1_star-diamonds-and-dirt-rodney-crowell|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 28, 2012|title=''Life Is Messy'' review|last=Hurst|first=Jack|date=June 25, 1992|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|accessdate=7 March 2017}}</ref> | rev3 = ''Entertainment Weekly'' | rev3Score = C+<ref name="ew">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,310553,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016132752/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,310553,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 16, 2008|title=''Life Is Messy'' review|last=Nash|first=Alanna|date=May 22, 1992|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|accessdate=7 March 2017}}</ref> }} 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."<ref name="allmusic"/> He compared the songs' sounds primarily to "a pastiche of late-'50s/early-'60s pop".<ref name="allmusic"/> 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."<ref name="tribune"/> 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".<ref name="ew"/>
==Track listing== {{Track listing | extra_column = Producer(s)<ref name="liner">{{Cite AV media notes |title=Life Is Messy |others=Rodney Crowell |year=1992 |type=CD booklet |publisher=Columbia Records |id=CK 47985}}</ref> | total_length =
| all_writing = Rodney Crowell except where noted
| title1 = It's Not for Me to Judge | extra1 = {{hlist|Bobby Colomby|John Leventhal|Crowell}} | length1 = 4:01
| title2 = What Kind of Love | writer2 = {{hlist|Crowell|Will Jennings|Roy Orbison}} | extra2 = Larry Klein | length2 = 3:58
| title3 = Lovin' All Night | extra3 = {{hlist|Leventhal|Crowell}} | length3 = 3:50
| title4 = Life Is Messy | extra4 = {{hlist|Leventhal|C. J. Vanston}} | length4 = 4:34
| title5 = I Hardly Know How to Be Myself | writer5 = {{hlist|Crowell|Rosanne Cash}} | extra5 = {{hlist|Leventhal|Crowell}} | length5 = 4:45
| title6 = It Don't Get Better than This | writer6 = {{hlist|Crowell|Leventhal}} | extra6 = Leventhal | length6 = 2:44
| title7 = Alone but Not Alone | writer7 = {{hlist|Crowell|Klein}} | extra7 = Klein | length7 = 5:08
| title8 = Let's Make Trouble | extra8 = Klein | length8 = 4:27
| title9 = The Answer Is Yes | extra9 = {{hlist|Leventhal|Crowell}} | length9 = 4:19
| title10 = Maybe Next Time | writer10 = {{hlist|Crowell|Leventhal}} | extra10 = {{hlist|Leventhal|Crowell}} | length10 = 4:58 }}
==Personnel== From ''Life Is Messy'' liner notes.<ref name="liner"/>
'''Musicians''' {{colbegin|colwidth=22em|small=yes}} ;"It's Not for Me to Judge" *Marc Cohn - background vocals *Bobby Colomby - background vocals *John Leventhal - electric guitar, acoustic guitar *Jeff Porcaro - drums *Michael Rhodes - bass guitar *Steuart Smith - electric guitar, slide guitar *C. J. Vanston - keyboards
;"What Kind of Love" *Mickey Curry - drums *Don Henley - background vocals *Booker T. Jones - organ *Larry Klein - bass guitar, keyboards *Linda Ronstadt - background vocals *Steuart Smith - guitars
;"Lovin' All Night" * Eddie Bayers - drums * Barry Beckett - electric piano * Rodney Crowell - acoustic guitar, percussion * Jim Horn - saxophone * John Leventhal - guitars, percussion * Michael Rhodes - bass guitar * Vince Santoro - background vocals * Lari White - background vocals
;"Life Is Messy" * Eddie Bayers - drums, percussion * Vicki Hampton - background vocals * John Leventhal - guitars * Jonell Mosser - background vocals * Michael Rhodes - bass guitar * C. J. Vanston - keyboards * Lari White - background vocals * Steve Winwood - background vocals
;"I Hardly Know How to Be Myself" * Eddie Bayers - drums * Barry Beckett - organ * John Leventhal - piano, guitars * Leland Sklar - bass guitar
;"It Don't Get Better than This" * Larry Byrom - background vocals * Jim Lauderdale - background vocals * Albert Lee - background vocals * John Leventhal - guitar, bass guitar, piano, background vocals *Larrie Londin - drums
;"Alone but Not Alone" *Vinnie Colaiuta - percussion *Shawn Colvin - background vocals *Larry Klein - bass guitar, tremolo guitar, background vocals *Steuart Smith - guitars
;"Let's Make Trouble" *Alex Acuña - drums, percussion *Larry Klein - bass guitar, keyboards *Reginal Sales - slack drum *Steuart Smith - guitars *Sam Phillips - background vocals
;"The Answer Is Yes" * Eddie Bayers - drums * Barry Beckett - organ * Vicki Hampton - background vocals * John Leventhal - guitars * Vince Santoro - background vocals * Leland Sklar - bass guitar * Steve Winwood - background vocals
;"Maybe Next Time" * Barry Beckett - organ * John Leventhal - keyboards, guitar, percussion * Larrie Londin - drums, percussion * Vince Santoro - background vocals * Lari White - background vocals {{colend}}
'''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=== {| class="wikitable" ! Chart (1992) ! Peak<br />position |- | U.S. ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums | align="center"| 30 |- | U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 | align="center"| 155 |- | Canadian ''RPM'' Country Albums | align="center"| 9 |}
===Singles=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" ! rowspan="2"| Year ! rowspan="2"| Single ! colspan="5"| Peak chart positions |- style="font-size:smaller;" ! width="40"| US Country ! width="40"| US AC ! width="40"| CAN Country ! width="40"| CAN ! width="40"| CAN AC |- | rowspan="4"| 1992 | align="left"| "Lovin' All Night" | 10 | — | 9 | — | — |- | align="left"| "What Kind of Love" | 11 | 9 | 2 | 47 | 5 |- | align="left"| "It's Not for Me to Judge" | — | — | — | — | — |- | align="left"| "Let's Make Trouble" | — | — | 78 | — | — |}
==Sources== {{reflist}}
{{Rodney Crowell}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1992 albums Category:Rodney Crowell albums Category:Albums produced by Bobby Colomby Category:Albums produced by Rodney Crowell Category:Albums produced by Larry Klein Category:Albums produced by John Leventhal Category:Columbia Records albums