{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Sounds So Good | type = Studio | artist = Ashton Shepherd | cover = ashtonsounds.jpg | alt = The cover features Ashton Shepherd sitting on the edge of a pool table in a lounge. Both the artist's name and album title appear below her, "Ashton" colored in white and both "Shepherd" and "Sounds So Good" colored in orange. | released = {{start date|2008|3|4}} | recorded = | studio = | genre = Country | length = 40:43 | label = MCA Nashville | producer = Buddy Cannon<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ashton-shepherd-to-release-sounds-so-good-march-4-57015642.html|title=Ashton Shepherd To Release 'Sounds So Good' March 4|work=PR Newswire|date=February 24, 2008|access-date=March 21, 2026|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605194612/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ashton-shepherd-to-release-sounds-so-good-march-4-57015642.html|archive-date=June 5, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = Where Country Grows | next_year = 2011 | misc = {{Singles | name = Sounds So Good | type = Studio | single1 = Takin' Off This Pain | single1date = September 17, 2007 | single2 = Sounds So Good | single2date = May 19, 2008 }} }} '''''Sounds So Good''''' is the debut studio album by American country music artist Ashton Shepherd. The album was released on March 4, 2008, via MCA Nashville Records. The album has produced two singles: "Takin' Off This Pain", which reached number 20 on ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs, and the title track, which reached number 21. Shepherd wrote or co-wrote all but one of the tracks.
==Critical reception== {{Music ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="AM">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/sounds-so-good-mw0000751607|title=''Sounds So Good'' - Ashton Shepherd|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=March 21, 2026|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722011717/https://www.allmusic.com/album/sounds-so-good-mw0000751607|archive-date=July 22, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> | rev2 = ''Engine 145'' | rev2Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Engine145">{{cite web|url=http://www.engine145.com/album-review-ashton-shepherd-sounds-so-good/|title=Album Review: Ashton Shepherd – ''Sounds So Good''|author=Matt C|work=Engine 145|access-date=July 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218075909/http://www.engine145.com/album-review-ashton-shepherd-sounds-so-good/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=December 18, 2014}}</ref> | rev3 = ''Entertainment Weekly'' | rev3Score = B+<ref name="EW">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20182582,00.html|title=Sounds So Good|last=Willman|first=Chris|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=March 7, 2008|access-date=July 7, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090421212718/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20182582,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 21, 2009}}</ref> | rev4 = ''Slant Magazine'' | rev4Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="Slant">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/ashton-shepherd-sounds-so-good/|title=Review: Ashton Shepherd, ''Sounds So Good''|last=Keefe|first=Jonathan|magazine=Slant Magazine|date=March 16, 2008|access-date=March 21, 2026|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260321211938/https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/ashton-shepherd-sounds-so-good/|archive-date=March 21, 2026|url-status=live}}</ref> }} AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave note of the album's "crawling midtempo numbers" giving "a slight meditative quality" to the overall record, concluding that: "As good as these lighter numbers are, Shepherd's gifts are her intimacy as a writer and how her powerful voice lends depth to her songs. Both qualities shine brightly on this compelling debut."<ref name="AM"/> Matt C of ''Engine 145'' praised Buddy Cannon's production for being "undeniably traditional yet surprisingly not far afield from pop-country radio polish" and Shepherd's songwriting and vocals elevating even the album's lesser tracks ("Lost in You", "How Big Are Angel Wings"), concluding that: "It's not a statement for traditional country music, and it's not devoid of Nashville tricks and polish. Rather, it's an album by a woman who's from the country and is singing what she knows about, and it ''Sounds So Good''."<ref name="Engine145"/> ''Entertainment Weekly'' writer Chris Willman called ''Sounds So Good'' "the best mainstream country debut" since Taylor Swift's debut in 2006, saying the tracks "nicely split the difference between radio-friendliness and pure country tradition."<ref name="EW"/> Jonathan Keefe of ''Slant Magazine'' felt it was "among the most significant debuts" to come out of Nashville, praising Shepherd's songwriting for carrying "a remarkably self-assured, unique point of view" in the various stories and Cannon's production for elevating the album's "handful of weaker cuts" with "a polished take on traditional country", concluding that: "Shepherd's is undoubtedly an important, vital new voice in country music because it is definitively, believably her own."<ref name="Slant"/> ''Country Standard Time'' critic Jessica Phillips praised Shepherd's straightforward lyricism and "beyond-her-years vocals" being similar to Jennifer Nettles and Loretta Lynn, concluding that: "While the record could benefit from more songs like "Pain," and "Pickin' Shed," for those looking for a true country sound, Shepherd's first effort sounds so good."<ref name="CST">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=3838|title=Ashton Shepherd - Sounds So Good|last=Philips|first=Jessica|magazine=Country Standard Time|access-date=March 21, 2026|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120527221929/https://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/cdreview.asp?xid=3838|archive-date=May 27, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Track listing== {{Track listing | all_writing = Ashton Shepherd, except where noted. | title1 = Takin' Off This Pain | length1 = 3:09 | title2 = I Ain't Dead Yet | length2 = 3:13 | title3 = Sounds So Good | length3 = 3:27 | title4 = Not Right Now | length4 = 3:37 | title5 = Lost in You | length5 = 4:13 | title6 = Old Memory | writer6 = {{hlist|Shepherd|Adam Cunningham}} | length6 = 4:20 | title7 = The Pickin' Shed | length7 = 3:42 | title8 = Regular Joe | length8 = 4:01 | title9 = How Big Are Angel Wings | writer9 = {{hlist|Shepherd|Cunningham}} | length9 = 4:05 | title10 = The Bigger the Heart | writer10 = {{hlist|Shepherd|Cunningham}} | length10 = 2:34 | title11 = Whiskey Won the Battle | writer11 = Cunningham | length11 = 4:20 }}
==Chart performance==
===Album=== The album debuted and peaked at number 16 on the Top Country Albums chart, and number 90 on the ''Billboard'' 200 selling less than 10,000 copies in the United States.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/alan-jackson-bests-janet-to-top-billboard-200-1046191/|title=Alan Jackson Bests Janet To Top Billboard 200|last=Hasty|first=Katie|magazine=Billboard|date=March 12, 2008|access-date=March 21, 2026|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211208100715/https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/alan-jackson-bests-janet-to-top-billboard-200-1046191/|archive-date=December 8, 2021|url-status=live}}</ref> {| class="wikitable" |- ! Chart (2008) ! Peak<br />position |- | U.S. ''Billboard'' Top Country Albums | align="center"| 16 |- | U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 | align="center"| 90 |- |}
===Singles=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |- ! rowspan="2"| Year ! rowspan="2"| Single ! colspan="2"| Peak chart<br />positions |- style="font-size:smaller;" ! width="45"| US Country ! width="45"| US<br /><ref name="whitburn2010">{{cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|title=Top Pop Singles 1955–2010|publisher=Record Research, Inc|year=2011|isbn=978-0-89820-188-8}}</ref> |- | 2007 | align="left"| "Takin' Off This Pain" | 20 | 116 |- | 2008 | align="left"| "Sounds So Good" | 21 | 116 |- |}
==Personnel== *Wyatt Beard – background vocals *Buddy Cannon – acoustic guitar, background vocals *Chad Cromwell – drums *Dan Dugmore – steel guitar *Kevin "Swine" Grantt – bass guitar *Kenny Greenberg – electric guitar *John Jorgenson – electric guitar *Shelby Kennedy – background vocals *B. James Lowry – acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar *Randy McCormick – piano, Hammond organ, Wurlitzer electric piano, synthesizer *Larry Paxton – bass guitar *Gary Prim – piano *John Wesley Ryles – background vocals *Scotty Sanders - steel guitar *Ashton Shepherd - lead vocals *Joe Spivey - fiddle, mandolin *Scott Vestal - banjo *Chip Young – acoustic guitar
==References== {{reflist|2}}
{{Ashton Shepherd}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:2008 debut albums Category:Ashton Shepherd albums Category:MCA Records albums Category:Albums produced by Buddy Cannon