Swimming in Champagne is the debut studio album by American singer Eric Heatherly, released in 2000.

The album contains a cover of "Flowers on the Wall", originally recorded by the Statler Brothers in 1965. Heatherly's cover was released as the album's lead-off single, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs) chart and number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second and third singles were the title track and "Wrong Five O'Clock", which respectively reached numbers 46 and 32 on the country chart. The album peaked at number 157 on the Billboard 200.

Swimming in Champagne

Production

The album was produced by Keith Stegall. Heatherly cowrote every song aside from the Statler Brothers cover.

Swimming in Champagne

Critical reception

Country Standard Time wrote that "the barroom anthems are tempered by the beautiful title ballad and the first single, a reworking of the Statler Brothers classic, 'Flowers On The Wall', that is different enough to succeed in the face of the original." The Morning Call thought that "trafficking in typical rock-country hybrids, this freshly minted singer-songwriter pens tunes that tell a story, not unlike, say, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty or Johnny Cash."

Swimming in Champagne

Track listing

Eric Heatherly's band

Richard E. Carpenter – drums

Jonathan Hamby – keyboards

Eric Heatherly – lead vocals, electric guitar

Jim Roller – bass guitar

Additional musicians

Randy McCormick – keyboards

Gary Prim – piano

John Wesley Ryles – background vocals

John Willis – acoustic guitar

Glenn Worf – bass guitar

Chart performance

References

2000 debut albums

Albums produced by Keith Stegall

Eric Heatherly albums

Mercury Nashville albums