My Best Days

Personnel: Ilya Toshinsky (acoustic guitar, mandolin); Tom Bukovac (electric guitar); Mike Johnson (steel guitar); Aubrey Haynie, Jonathan Yudkin (fiddle); Charles Judge (strings, keyboards, synthesizer); Gordon Mote (piano, keyboards, synthesizer); Chris McHugh (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Lisa Cochran (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Derek Bason.
Liner Note Author: Judy Forde-Blair.
Recording information: Jane's Place; Starstruck Studios.
Photographer: Andrew Southam.
Like many an American Idol finalist before him, Danny Gokey reached the top three on the strength of his persona as much as his voice and, when faced with marketing him as a recording artist, the powers that be decided to position Gokey as a country singer under the assumption that his everyman charm would translate best in a down-home setting. Of course, Gokey isn't really put in a down-home setting on My Best Days -- there might be an echo of a fiddle or a steel guitar here and there, but this is pristine adult contemporary pop, all soft and glittering. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine