The Hardest Part (Allison Moorer album)

The Hardest Part is the second album by singer/songwriter Allison Moorer. The album is a concept album about a doomed relationship produced and co-written by Moorer's then husband Doyle Lee Primm. The album is based on her parents' relationship which ended in the mid-1980s when Moorer's father murdered her mother before killing himself. She told No Depression magazine in 2000: "This record was inspired by the things I saw my mother go through. It’s not the true story, but it’s inspired by the true story."

Track listing

Personnel

• Allison Moorer – vocals, acoustic guitar (1, 3)
• Jay Bennett – acoustic piano (2, 4, 8, 9), acoustic guitar (2), Hammond B3 organ (3, 6), Mellotron (8)
• Kenny Greenberg – acoustic guitar (1, 3, 7–9), electric guitars (2–6, 8–10), acoustic 12-string guitar (4)
• Rick Plant – electric guitars (3, 9), acoustic guitar (10)
• Buddy Miller – acoustic guitar (4), electric guitars (6)
• Richard Bennett – acoustic guitar (7)
• Rick Plant – banjo (1)
• Marty Stuart – mandolin (1)
• Russ Pahl – pedal steel guitar (2–6, 8–10)
• Michael Rhodes – upright bass (1), bass (2–10)
• Chad Cromwell – drums
• Eric Darken – percussion (2, 5, 6, 9)
• Joe Spivey – fiddle (1, 6)
• Chris Carmichael – fiddle (10)
• Jim Hoke – harmonica (2, 7)
• The Nashville String Machine – strings (3, 8, 9)
• The Love Sponge Strings – string quartet (4)
• Kristin Wilkinson – string arrangements and conductor (3, 4, 8, 9)
• Louise Red – harmony vocals (1–4, 6, 8, 9)
• Harry Stinson – harmony vocals (1), backing vocals (5)
• Louis Nunley – backing vocals (3)
• Dennis Wilson – backing vocals (3)
• Rick Schell – backing vocals (5), harmony vocals (6)
• Lonesome Bob – vocals (9)

Production

• Tony Brown – executive producer
• Kenny Greenberg – producer
• Allison Moorer – co-producer
• Doyle Primm – co-producer
• Don Smith – engineer (1–6, 8–10)
• Peter Coleman – overdub recording, string recording (3, 4, 8, 9), engineer (7)
• James Bauer – assistant engineer
• Nathan Mann – assistant engineer
• Greg Parker – assistant engineer
• John Saylor – assistant engineer
• Justin Niebank – mixing at Masterfonics (Nashville, Tennessee)
• Ken Love – mastering at MasterMix (Nashville, Tennessee)
• Kate Garner – photography
• Beth Middleworth – design
• T.K. Kimbrell for Two Artist Management – management

Chart performance

References