Chasin' Wild Trains
Chasin' Wild Trains is the thirteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Kim Carnes. It was her first full-length album since "Checkin' Out the Ghosts" (1991) and her first internationally-released studio album since "View from the House" (1988). Carnes self-released the album in the United States through Sparky Dawg in 2004, before it received an international release through the Dutch label CoraZong on September 16, 2005. Carnes produced ten of the twelve tracks, with Angelo Petraglia and Chuck Prophet co-producing "Lucid Dreams" and Matraca Berg co-producing "If I Was an Angel". "One  Beat at a Time" and "Just to See You Smile" were both released as singles. Writing and production. Carnes decided to record "Chasin' Wild Trains" after writing "One Beat At a Time" with Marc Jordan. "I went in the studio and cut it with my guys," Carnes told "PopMatters". "The minute I did it, I thought [it was] time to make an album. This is going to be cut one. Everything has to measure up to this." Carnes described "Chasin' Wild Trains" as a "rootsy songwriter album" written with her friends and musical collaborators. Carnes originally co-wrote "If I  Was An Angel" with Matraca Berg for her album "Sunday Morning to Saturday Night" (1997). Berg co-produced and sang backing vocals on Carnes' new version for "Chasin' Wild Trains". "Goodnight Angel" was originally written for an unreleased companion album of songs inspired by the 2002 film "We Were Soldiers". "You Made My Skin Burn" featured in the soundtrack to the 2006 film "The Moguls". Release and promotion. Carnes self-released "Chasin' Wild Trains" in 2004 through Sparky Dawg and sold the album to fans at her concerts. On September 16, 2005, the album was released internationally through the Dutch  label CoraZong. In the following year, it was released again as a Limited Edition with live acoustic versions of "Bette Davis Eyes" and "Just to See You Smile" as bonus tracks recorded during Carnes' appearance on American Connection, a show broadcast by KRO Radio 2 in 2005. "One Beat At a Time" was released as a single on September 5, 2005, with "Just to See You Smile" following in 2006. The cover art for "Chasin' Wild Trains" features an image of Carnes taken at age 3 sitting on a toy 'honeymoon' car. She had been playing 'wedding' with her next  door neighbor, David Lindley. Critical reception. "Chasin' Wild Trains" received overall positive reviews from music critics. Joe Viglione of AllMusic opined that Carnes sounds like "the Eagles going acoustic", echoing the songwriting of Stevie Nicks with songs on the subject of time, dreams and angels. In "The Tennessean", Peter Cooper described the songs on "Chasin' Wild Trains" as "rich, with memorable melodies" and noted "If I Was an Angel" as the album's highlight. Writing for the Dutch online magazine "Kinda Muzik", Jelle Schuilenburg described "Chasin' Wild Trains" as "simply a beautiful album", featuring songs with "a nice mix of  Americana, singer-songwriter and country rock". She compared Carnes' vocals to contemporaries like Lucinda Williams and Melissa Etheridge. In "Country Music Today" magazine, Stephen L. Betts opined that "Chasin' Wild Trains" is "one of 2004's best albums in any genre". Personnel. Credits adapted from liner notes.