Mountain High... Valley Low Explained

Mountain High... Valley Low is the sixth studio album by American singer Yolanda Adams. It was released by Elektra Records on September 21, 1999 in the United States. The album stands as Adams's best-selling to date, having sold more than 2,374,000 copies and being certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).^[1] The album won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album.

Several singles were released from Mountain High... Valley Low. The set leads with the Warryn Campbell-produced "Yeah", which was co-written by gospel duo Mary Mary who springboarded from the song to gain their own fame. The most notable single was the second release, "Open My Heart," which became a massive crossover fixture on R&B radio. Both of the singles had accompanying music videos. Remixers like Maurice Joshua, Digital Black-N-Groove, Pound Boys, and Junior Vasquez were brought in to turn both of these songs into dance club-friendly material. "The Things We Do" and "Fragile Heart" were also serviced to radio and fared well on adult contemporary stations.

Track listing

Credits taken from the album's liner notes.^[2] Notes

• denotes co-producer

Personnel

Unless otherwise noted, information for personnel is taken from Discogs.^[3]

"Time to Change"

• Produced by Warryn Campbell
• Lead & Background Vocals: Yolanda Adams
• Background Vocals: Mary Mary
• All (Instrumental) Music performed by Warryn Campbell

"Yeah"

• Produced by Warryn Campbell
• Lead Vocals: Yolanda Adams
• Background Vocals: Mary Mary
• Guitar: Dave Foreman
• All Other Music performed by Warryn Campbell

"Fragile Heart"

• Produced by Buster & Shavoni: Louis Brown & Scott "Shavoni" Parker
• Lead Vocals: Yolanda Adams
• Background Vocals: Vanessa Williams, Raymond Reeder & Victoria Purcell
• Piano Solo & All Pianos: Tim Carmon
• Additional String Overdubs: Rickey Grundy
• All Other Music performed by Buster & Shavoni

"That Name"

• Produced by Richard Smallwood
• Lead Vocals: Yolanda Adams
• Background Vocals: Richard Smallwood & Vision
• Music performed by Richard Smallwood, Bryant Pugh, Darin Atwater, Mark A. Walker & Roger Ryan

"In The Midst of It All"

• Produced by Kevin Bond
• Live Drums: Jeremy Haynes
• All Other Instruments played & arranged by Kevin Bond
• Originally performed by Walter Hawkins & The Hawkins Family^[4]

"The Things We Do"

• Produced by Keith Thomas
• Music & Strings arranged by Keith Thomas
• Strings arranged & conducted by Ronn Huff
• Strings performed by Nashville String Machine
• Acoustic Guitar: Bruce Gaitsch
• Keyboards, Bass & Drum Machine played by Keith Thomas
• Additional Drum Machine: Mark Hammond
• Additional Background Vocals: Debbie Winans
• Vocal Samples: "Inaugural Address" by John F. Kennedy^[5] & "I Have a Dream (Detroit)" by Martin Luther King Jr.^[6]

"Open My Heart"

• Produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis & James "Big Jim" Wright
• Percussion & Live Drums: Stokley Williams
• Guitar: Mike Scott
• Strings arranged by Lee Blaske & Big Jim Wright
• Violins: Brenda Mickens, Carolyn Daws, Elizabeth Sobieski, Michael Sobieski, Elsa Nilsson, Leslie Shank & Thomas Kornacker
• Violas: Alice Preves & Tamas Strasser
• All Other Instruments played by Big Jim Wright
• Background Vocals: Marva King & Yolanda Adams

"Wherever You Are"^[7]

• Produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis & James "Big Jim" Wright
• Background Vocals: Big Jim Wright & Yolanda Adams
• Keyboards: Big Jim Wright & Jimmy Jam
• Bass played by Jimmy Jam
• Percussion: Terry Lewis
• Guitar: Mike Scott
• All Other Instruments played by Big Jim Wright
• Re-Sung Lyrics from "I Wanna Be Where You Are" by Michael Jackson^[8]

"He'll Arrive (Coming Back)"

• Produced by Walter "Little Walt" Millsap III
• Lead & Background Vocals: Kelly Price & Yolanda Adams
• Background Vocals: Candice Nelson
• All Music performed by Walter "Lil Walt" Millsap III

"Continual Praise"

• Produced by Fred Hammond
• Keyboards & Drum Machine: Tommie Walker
• Lead Guitar & Live Bass played by Fred Hammond
• Vocals arranged by Fred Hammond
• Background Vocals performed by JoAnn Rosario, Bryan Pratt, David Ivey, Frederick J. Purifoy II, Kevin L. Wilson, Marsha Johns, Miatura Dias, Pam Kenyon M. Donald, Tamika Lucas & Yoshawndala Parker.

"Already Alright"

• Produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis & James "Big Jim" Wright
• Background Vocals: Big Jim Wright, Marva King & Yolanda Adams
• Drum Machine: Alex Richbourg
• Keyboards: Big Jim Wright
• All Other Instruments played by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis

Charts

Year-end charts

Notes and References

1. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2006-02-02/entertainment/0602010181_1_yolanda-adams-album-aglow
2. Mountain High… Valley Low . Yolanda Adams . liner notes . 1999 . Elektra.
3. Adams, Yolanda. "Mountain High...Valley Low (CD, Album)". Elektra. 1999. https://www.discogs.com/Yolanda-Adams-Mountain-HighValley-Low/release/710990
4. Yolanda Adams Cover of Walter Hawkins & The Hawkins Family's "In the Midst of It All". WhoSampled.com. http://www.whosampled.com/cover/95360/Yolanda-Adams-In-the-Midst-of-It-All-Walter-Hawkins-The-Hawkins-Family-In-the-Midst-of-It-All/
5. "The Things We Do" Sample of "Inaugural Address". WhoSampled.com. http://www.whosampled.com/sample/112103/Yolanda-Adams-The-Things-We-Do-John-F.-Kennedy-Inaugural-Address/
6. "The Things We Do" Sample of "I Have a Dream (Detroit)". WhoSampled.com. http://www.whosampled.com/sample/95354/Yolanda-Adams-The-Things-We-Do-Martin-Luther-King,-Jr.-I-Have-a-Dream-(Detroit)/
7. Adams, Yolanda. "Wherever You Are". AllMusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/song/wherever-you-are-mt0000435626
8. "Wherever You Are" Sample of "I Wanna Be Where You Are". WhoSampled.com. http://www.whosampled.com/sample/131289/Yolanda-Adams-Wherever-You-Are-Michael-Jackson-I-Wanna-Be-Where-You-Are/
9. Billboard 200 Albums: Year-End 2000. Billboard. July 11, 2020.
10. 2000 The Year in Music. Billboard. 112. 53. YE-52. December 30, 2000. August 8, 2021.