Walking Away a Winner is the ninth studio album by American country music artist, Kathy Mattea. It was released on May 17, 1994, via the Mercury/PolyGram labels and contained ten tracks of original material. The album's production featured a pop rock sound that was considered unique from Mattea's previous country-folk albums. Its title track was issued as the lead single and became her first top ten hit in several years on the American country chart. Three more singles were also commercially-successful and the album sold more than 500,000 copies in the United States. Walking Away a Winner received mostly positive reception from critics. It also charted on the American country albums and Billboard 200 charts.
Background
Kathy Mattea was among country music's most commercially-successful artists during the late eighties and nineties. She had an uninterrupted string of top ten and top 20 singles on the North American country charts that exemplified a country folk musical style. This helped Mattea win several major industry accolades, including a Grammy Award and four number one singles. In 1992, Mattea released the album Lonesome Standard Time, which failed to yield the level of commercial success she previously achieved. In addition, she had vocal chord surgery. The surgery and recovery period caused Mattea to slow down more than she had been used to. She changed musical directions and began working alongside a new producer for her next album, Walking Away a Winner.
Recording and content
Walking Away a Winner was recorded at Emerald Sound Studios, located in Nashville, Tennessee. The project was produced entirely by Josh Leo. A total of ten new songs comprised the album project. The album was a departure stylistically from Mattea's previous country-folk offerings. According to the Daily Presss Sam McDonald, the project "broke new ground" in its musical style. In similar vein to Mary Chapin Carpenter and Bonnie Raitt, the album offered a pop rock musical style with various story-lines in the ten tracks. In the title track, the main character walks away from a bad relationship. In the third selection, "Maybe She's Human", Mattea's character describes the challenges of being a wife and mother.
Critical reception
Walking Away a Winner received mostly positive responses from music critics and journalists. Thom Jurek of AllMusic rated the project four out of five stars. Jurek found the album's sound to be a departure from her previous work by showing "a side her country audience hadn't yet seen, and one that the adult contemporary and emerging AAA formats could embrace." Jurek also praised Mattea's vocal delivery and the way she can connect with lyrics in each song. He concluded by saying, "This is a winner indeed". In describing the album, Sam McDonald of the Daily Press positively noted that, "It offered quality without pandering to current country music tastes." Jack Hurst of the Chicago Tribune commented that it was "a meaty new album". Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+ rating in its 1994 review.
Release, chart performance and singles
Walking Away a Winner was released on May 17, 1994, on Mercury Records in conjunction with the PolyGram label. It was originally offered as both a compact disc and as a cassette. It was later re-issued digitally in the 2000s decade. The album was considered a "comeback" or "resurgence" for Mattea after her previous album was less successful. It became her sixth disc to sell over 500,000 copies in the United States, which prompted a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. The album debuted on the American Billboard Top Country Albums chart on June 4, 1994. One week later, the disc peaked at number 12 on the country albums chart and spent a total of 37 weeks there. It also became Mattea's fourth disc to reach the Billboard 200, spending eight weeks in total and climbing to the number 87 position.