Days of Gold

Days of Gold is the fourth studio album by American country music artist Jake Owen. It was released on December 3, 2013 via RCA Records Nashville. The album's track listing was announced on October 9. The album got some positive reviews from Allmusic, Country Weekly, Got Country Online and USA Today. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave it a three-and-a-half out of five stars, and thought that the album had a less polished sound than its predecessor. He wrote that "There's no mistaking Days of Gold for anything earthy, but this sonic thawing winds up emphasizing Owen's inherent sweetness in an appealing fashion." At Country Weekly, Tammy Ragusa graded the album to be an A-, saying that Owen's voice was "[e]ffortless and easy", and that its themes seemed like an artistic evolution from the previous album. Donna Block of Got Country Online gave it a perfect five star rating, and called this album "precious", which fans and listeners alike should own this album. At USA Today, Brian Mansfield rated it a three out of four stars, and felt that after the first three songs that the album goes south somewhat, which he noted that the hits are likely to be the "party songs"; however, he affirmed that "the others separate him from the pack."
However, the album got some mixed to unfavorable reviews from Rolling Stone, Country Standard Time and Music Is My Oxygen Weekly. At Rolling Stone, Chuck Eddy rated the release three stars out of five, and noted that the listener should "drink up" to this good album. Jeffrey B. Remz of Country Standard Time was less favorable, saying that "Owen sings well enough, although not especially distinctive on materials that is not the most exciting. Parties, relationships and drinking…are part of the mix, but frankly we’ve heard it all before. And that’s the problem. Kenny Chesney has done these types of songs, only a lot better and with far more introspection and depth." At Music Is My Oxygen, Rob Burkhardt rated the album three out of five stars, noting the album has good material that touches on many topics which the likes of Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton and Florida Georgia Line do, and this causes it to get lost amongst the others; however, he wrote that "Days of Gold deserves to be heard, but Owen is going to have to dig a little deeper."