Love Travels

Steve Huey of AllMusic described Kathy Mattea as "one of the most respected female country stars of her era" as well as "a commercially successful hitmaker". During the eighties and nineties, four of Mattea's singles topped the North American country charts: "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses", "Goin' Gone", "Burnin' Old Memories" and "Come from the Heart". Several more made the top ten and top 20 during those decades. By the mid nineties, Mattea had begun changing her artistic direction.[2] For her next album, Mattea explained that she wanted to "delver deeper" into what she was "feeling". "It's such a gift to be paid for being who you are as an artist. I'm so lucky to have a very loyal following of people who've stayed with me through all of my eclectic restlessness. They always want to see what I am going to do next," she explained in 1997.[3]

Love Travels was co-produced by Mattea, along with Ben Wisch and assistant production credits from Shane Tarleton. The album was recorded between June and December 1996 at Woodland Studios, located in Nashville, Tennessee.[4] It incorporated commercial country music with elements of country folk. Other genres explored in some selections included Celtic, Caribbean and New Orleans musical styles. Mattea told the Sun Sentinel that she wanted the songs to guide her musical direction for the album.[3]

Love Travels consisted of 11 tracks of material. One track featured writing credits from Mattea's husband (and songwriter), Jon Vezner. Titled "All Roads to the River" was composed with singer-songwriter, Janis Ian.[4] The fifth features vocals from country artist, Suzy Bogguss. Titled "Further and Further Away", the song discusses how parents age as their children develop into maturity. Mattea personally connected with the song as she was watching both her parents age at the time.[3] Other themes about romance are found on songs like "If That's What You Call Love". The sixth track, "455 Rocket", is a story song built around a man's love of an Oldsmobile 88 car. The final track, "Beautiful Fool", discusses how social leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to solve problems without using physical violence.[5]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment Weekly	B+

Love Travels received a mostly positive critical reception. In their review, Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+ rating.[6] Thom Owens of AllMusic rated the project three out of five stars. He found the album's production to evoke more polished sounds that her previous works, but nonetheless found it to be a strong collection of material. Owens further commented that it walks "the perfect middle-ground between country-folk and mainstream contemporary country."[1]

The Chicago Tribune gave the project three out of four stars, noting the blending the album's incorporation of various musical styles. "Mattea just keeps rolling along in her 11th studio album, another engaging effort highlighted by songs from Gillian Welch, Jim Lauderdale, Cheryl Wheeler and Janis Ian. Love and the human spirit reign triumphant in songs that urge listeners to find their muses and trust those pesky inner voices," the newspaper commented.[7] Robert Loy of Country Standard Time found the album to be more personal that previous works in his review: "For some time now, Kathy Mattea has managed to walk the line between commercialism and a more mature artistic vision. Her previous release Walking Away a Winner was radio friendly, but she's back on more personal, even spiritual ground on Love Travels.[5]

Love Travels was released on February 4, 1997, on Mercury Records Nashville. It was originally offered as both a compact disc and a cassette.[4] It was later released to digital sites for downloading and streaming purposes.[8] The album entered the American Billboard Top Country Albums chart on February 22, 1997, and spent 28 weeks there. On April 12, 1997, it peaked at number 15 on the chart.[9] It also made the Billboard 200 all-genre chart, reaching number 121 on April 12, 1997, after 14 weeks on the chart.[10] It also became her second album to make the United Kingdom's Official Charts Company all-genre chart, reaching number 65.[11]

Four singles were spawned from Love Travels. The first was "455 Rocket", which was issued on January 18, 1997.[12] On April 19, 1997, the song peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.[13] It also reached the top 20 of Canada's RPM country chart, peaking at number 16 around the same time.[14] The next single issued from the album was the track, "I'm on Your Side", which was issued to radio on May 19, 1997.[15] The single did not chart on Billboard's country survey.[13] It was followed by the title track, which was released in August 1997.[16] The song later peaked at number 39 on the Billboard country chart after 16 weeks there.[13] It also reached number 79 on the RPM country songs chart.[14] The final single issued from Love Travels was the track, "Patiently Waiting", which not chart on Billboard. It was released in 1998.[17][13]

All credits are adapted from the liner notes of Love Travels.[4]

Technical personnel

• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Matt Knobel – engineering
• Kathy Mattea – producer
• John McGriff – assistant technician
• Shane Tarleton – assistant producer
• Ben Wisch – producer, engineering, mixing