Play On

Personnel: Carrie Underwood (background vocals); Tom Bukovac (guitar, electric guitar, piano); Jon Graboff (guitar, steel guitar); Shellback (guitar); Ilya Toshinsky (acoustic guitar, banjo, bouzouki, mandolin); Ashley Clark (acoustic guitar); Jerry McPherson, Kenny Greenberg (electric guitar); Mike Johnson (steel guitar); Austin Clark (lap steel guitar); Jonathan Yudkin (mandolin, violin, viola, cello, strings); Adam Clark, Aubrey Haynie (mandolin); Connie Ellisor, Karen Winkelmann, Dave Angell, Stefan Petrescu, Janet Darnall, Mary Kathryn Van Osdale, Bruce Wethey, Carl Gorodetzky, Pamela Sixfin, David Davidson , Alan Umstead, Catherine Umstead (violin); Bruce Christensen, Betsy Lamb, Kristin Wilkinson, Jim Grosjean, Monisa Angell (viola); Julie Tanner, Anthony LaMarchina, Carole Rabinowitz-Neuen (cello); The Nashville String Machine (strings); Samuel B. Levine, Samuel B. Levine (flute); Lee Levine (clarinet); Beth Beeson, Jennifer Kummer (French horn); Chris Stevens, Chris Stevens (keyboards, programming); Max Martin , Jimmy Nichols, Charles Judge (keyboards); Chris McHugh, Shannon Forrest (drums); Eric Darken (percussion); Chris Ashburn, Aaron Kasdorf, Kirsten Wines , Tristan Brock-Jones, Kerri P. Edwards, Nathan Dickinson, Kelly King, Josh Fulmer, Karrie Hardwick, Tim Hunze, Shawn Daughtry, Hillary Lindsey, Lisa Cochran, Vince Gill, Wes Hightower, Perry Coleman, Brett James (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Derek Bason.
Liner Note Authors: Judy Forde-Blair; Judy Forde Blair.
Recording information: Fab Music; Germano Studios, New York, NY; Maratone Studios, Stockholm, Sweden; Starstruck Studios, Nashville, TN; Starstruck, Nashville, TN.
Photographer: Matthew Rolston.
Daisy in her hair aside, Carrie Underwood looks flat-out glamorous on the cover of PLAY ON, which is a pretty fair indication of what awaits listeners on her third album. Carrie is still nominally a country artist and sometimes will sing supported by fiddles and steel guitar, but this is crossover pop pure and simple, whether it's the thundering rhythms on the Shania-styled strut "Cowboy Casanova" or the succession of maudlin melodies on the preponderance of power ballads. Carrie takes a much stronger presence as a writer here, co-authoring seven of the 13 songs, and she's attracted to hookless showstoppers designed to showcase her powerful voice. When she sticks to tunes written solely by the professionals, PLAY ON does have some slick pleasures, particularly on the breezy "Quitter" and "This Time," songs built on solid melodies and delivered without flash, relying on craft and Carrie's considerable small-town charm.