American Middle Class (album)

American Middle Class is the debut solo album by Angaleena Presley, released on October 14, 2014, through Slate Creek Records.

Critical reception
American Middle Class received highly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 84 out of 100, which indicates "universal acclaim" based on nine reviews.

In a four out of five star review Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic writes that the album "will linger for some time to come." In the three and a half out of five star review from Rolling Stone's Jonathan Bernstein, he remarks how it is an "impressive solo debut". There was a four star rating granted to the album from Neil Spencer of The Observer, where he revealed he felt "Presley's vocal and lyrical touch are exceptional on an impressive state-of-the-nation album." At The Daily Telegraph, Martin Chilton believes "the musicianship is top notch." The four star review delivered from Billboard's Elias Leight is for "a focused collection of songs." The Uncut magazine rated the album an eight out of ten because "Presley has a wry, modern take on country music." In Cuepoint, Robert Christgau called it a "moderately astonishing bunch of songs" on which "she sings pretty as you please." The eight out of ten rating bestowed on the release from Anthony Easton at PopMatters is in response to "the corruption and failure of the market rotting from the bottom and squeezing from the top, is profoundly realized here." Stuart Henderson rates the album a nine out of ten for Exclaim! because "this debut is about as accomplished as one could reasonably expect." The Tampa Bay Times grants the release an A, and Sean Daly sees how "she has a persistent knack for showmanship, small scenes but grand gestures." Nate Chinen of The New York Times declares "American Middle Class, (Presley's) debut album, comes fully formed, clear about its purpose."

The album was nominated for "International Album of the Year" by the UK Americana Music Association.

Personnel
Credits adapted from AllMusic.

Musicians
 * Kelly Archer – background vocals
 * Aden Bubeck – bass guitar, upright bass
 * Fred Eltringham – bottle, castanets, drums, pans, shaker
 * Audley Freed – Dobro, 12-string electric guitar, electric guitar, mandolin
 * Kevin Gates – banjo, bouzouki, dobro, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, background vocals
 * Josh Grange – steel guitar
 * David Henry – cello, violin


 * Patty Loveless – background vocals (track 4)
 * Gayle Mayes – background vocals
 * Angaleena Presley – lead vocals
 * Angela Primm – background vocals
 * Emily Saliers – background vocals
 * Sarah Siskind – background vocals
 * Chris Stapleton – background vocals (track 6)
 * John Henry Trinko – Hammond B-3 organ, keyboards, Wurlitzer
 * Glenn Worf – bass guitar, upright bass

Technical personnel
 * Sarah Barlow – photography
 * Charlie Brocco – engineer, mixing
 * Brad Henderson – art direction
 * Kam Luchterhand – assistant engineer, mixing assistant
 * Taylor Pollert – engineer
 * Jordan Powell – producer
 * Angaleena Presley – producer
 * Stephen Schofield – photography