No Fences

No Fences is the second studio album by the American country music artist Garth Brooks. It was released on August 27, 1990, and reached #1 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart. The album also reached #3 on the Billboard 200. On the latter chart it stayed in the top 40 for 126 weeks, only one week less than Shania Twain's Come On Over, the Soundscan era's record holder. No Fences remains Brooks' best-selling studio album to date with 17 million copies shipped in the US, and is the album that made him an international star. It was his first album issued in Europe (the original European release contained the four singles from his U.S. debut as bonus tracks).
Some of Brooks' most famous songs appear on No Fences, including: "The Thunder Rolls" (CMA's 1991 Video of the Year), "Friends in Low Places" (Academy of Country Music's 1990 Single of the Year), "Unanswered Prayers" and "Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House". A cover version of The Fleetwoods' "Mr. Blue" appears on the album. The album itself was named Album of the Year by the ACM in 1990. It reached Number 1 on the British country music charts (earning Brooks his first gold album in that country) and remained charted for over five years.
The track "Victim of the Game" was later covered by Brooks's friend and future wife Trisha Yearwood for her 1991 eponymous debut album.
Brooks later re-recorded the track "Wild Horses", and released the new recording as a single in early 2001, reaching #7 on the country chart.
Background
Brooks commented on this album, saying:
"No Fences definitely, hands down would be the people's favorite album that we have done so far. It's by far our biggest selling album. With songs like Friends In Low Places, Two of a Kind, Unanswered Prayers, and especially The Thunder Rolls with all the attention it got with the video situation that it went through. It's probably not surprising that this is the biggest selling album of our collection. The number that we have sold surprises me to death, and this is a good time for me to say thanks to those people who have it. To those people who might be thinking about getting Fences, if you do, I hope that you don't feel like you've been let down. It's an album that I stand by, I'm very proud of. An album that I pull out from time to time and listen and hold my head up and say, yeah I'll still stand by it."
Track listing
"The Thunder Rolls" (Pat Alger, Garth Brooks) - 3:42
"New Way to Fly" (Kim Williams, Brooks) - 3:54
"Two of a Kind, Workin' on a Full House" (Bobby Boyd, Warren Haynes, Dennis Robbins) - 2:31
"Victim of the Game" (Mark D. Sanders, Brooks) - 3:06
"Friends in Low Places" (DeWayne Blackwell, Earl "Bud" Lee) - 4:18
"This Ain't Tennessee" (Jim Shaw, Larry Bastian) - 4:08A
"Wild Horses" (Bill Shore, David Wills) - 3:08
"Unanswered Prayers" (Alger, Larry Bastian, Brooks) - 3:23
"Same Old Story" (Tony Arata) - 2:52
"Mr. Blue" (Blackwell) - 3:16
"Wolves" (Stephanie Davis) - 4:08
AThis track was not on the original release of the album. It first appeared when the album was re-released as part of Brooks' first Limited Series box set collection, and remained part of subsequent releases of the album until 2014, when it was released digitally for the first time.
Chart performance
No Fences peaked at #3 on the U.S. Billboard 200, and peaked at #1 on the Top Country Albums selling 238,000 copies, his first #1 Country album.
Charts
Sales and certifications
End of decade charts
Singles
Chart successions
Personnel
Musicians
Garth Brooks - guitar, vocals
Pat Alger - guitar, backing vocals
Bruce Bouton - steel guitar, backing vocals
Mark Casstevens - guitar
Mike Chapman - acoustic bass, backing vocals
Johnny Christopher - guitar
Ty England - acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Dave Gant - keyboards, fiddle, backing vocals
James Garver - electric guitar, backing vocals
Rob Hajacos - fiddle, backing vocals
Chris Leuzinger - guitar
Nashville String Machine - strings
Edgar Meyer - acoustic bass
Steve McClure - electric and steel guitars
Mike Palmer - drums, percussion
Brian Petree - vocals, stage manager
Milton Sledge - drums, acoustic bass
Bobby Wood - piano, keyboards, backing vocals
Backing and harmony vocalists
Friends in Low Places
Pat Alger
Al "Shaggy" Barclay
Dewayne Blackwell
Bruce Bouton
Tim Bowers
Sandy Brooks
Stephanie C. Brown
Mike Chapman
Bob Doyle
The Englands (plus one)
Dave Gant
Rob Hajacos
Joe Harris
Dan Heins
Rusty "Race Horse" Jones
Steve King
Earl of Bud Lee
Pam "The Chick" Lewis
Buddy Mondlock
Steve Morley
Mike "Palmerman"
Brian Petree
Dale Pierce
Jim Rooney
Tami Rose
Lee Sartin
Charlie Stefl
Scott Stem
Bobby Wood
Unanswered Prayers
Wendy Johnson
Jennifer O'Brien
Hurshel Wiginton
Curtis Young
Wolves
Indian River
David McVay
Stephen Tolman
Neil Thrasher
Curry Worsham
Production
Virginia Team - Art Direction
Denny Purcell - Mastering
Mary Beth Felts - Make-Up
Beverly Parker - Photography
Jerry Joyner - Design
Mark Miller - Mixing, Engineer
Dan Heins - Vocals, Audio Engineer
Joe Loesch - Special Effects
References
1990 albums
Garth Brooks albums