Zac Brown wrote or co-wrote all songs on the album. The tracks "Let It Go," "Who Knows," "Whiskey's Gone," "Colder Weather," and "Make This Day" were previously live versions on their album . The live versions of "Let It Go" and "Martin" were previously bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of their album The Foundation. The live version of "Whiskey's Gone" also appeared on the soundtrack to True Blood, in 2008. "As She's Walking Away" and "Knee Deep" contain guest vocals from Alan Jackson and Jimmy Buffett respectively.
Singles
"As She's Walking Away," a duet with Alan Jackson was released as the first single on August 23, 2010. It debuted at #32 on the US BillboardHot Country Songs charts for the week of August 28, 2010. "Colder Weather" the album's second single on released to country radio on December 20, 2010. It charted as number-one on country radio on April 16, 2011 and stayed at the top for 2 weeks. It has since sold 1 million copies in digital sales. "Knee Deep" was released as the third single from the album. It charted as number-one on country radio on August 13, 2011, taking 16 weeks to reach top. "Keep Me In Mind" was released as a digital single on September 13, 2010, a week prior to the album's release, and was later released as the 4th single from the album to country radio in August 2011.
Critical reception
Upon its release, You Get What You Give received generally positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 80, based on 6 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Samantha Stepp with The Badger Herald gave it a perfect rating, calling it a "masterpiece", and saying that album "offers a soulful voice, pleasant melodies, honest lyrics and that classic fiddle-and-steel guitar combo that has come to define pure country." Steve Leggett with Allmusic called it "better and more consistent album" in comparison to The Foundation. Jessica Phillips with Country Weekly gave it a near perfect rating, complimenting their capability to "routinely and capably flits between genres, often in the same song." Eric R. Danton with The Hartford Courant called it "a solid, strong outing" and commented saying "The circuitous path to success has done the band good: it's given Brown and company time enough to develop a winsome country-rock style without undue meddling from the major-label mediocracy, and it shows on You Get What You Give". Ron Harris with The Associated Press referred to it as "one of the best country albums of the year" and called it "country-plus". Jonathan Keefe with Slant Magazine gave it four out of five stars, and called it "one of the year's strongest country records", and referred to the band as "easily the most accomplished band in contemporary country since the Dixie Chicks still counted." Whitney Pastorek with Entertainment Weekly gave it a 'B' rating, and criticized the album's lyrics, saying they "too often pander to a certain good-time demographic." Steve Morse with The Boston Globe gave a mixed review, saying many of the songs on the album "fall into the sugary commercial country column". Gregory Robson with AbsolutePunk gave it a '79%' rating, saying it was "comfortable and corny; that's not to say that the album is weak, in fact it's rather strong, but the saccharine nature of the lyrics and the tepid arrangements do leave a bit to be desired."
Commercial performance
It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, as well as the U.S. BillboardTop Country Albums, selling 153,000 copies, replacing Linkin Park’s A Thousand Suns as the number one album and beat out Maroon 5's Hands All Over, which sold 142,000 copies. In its second week of release, it fell to number three on the Billboard 200, selling 70,000 copies. In its third week of release, it fell to number five on the Billboard 200, selling 43,000 copies. In its fourth week of release, it fell to number eight on the Billboard 200, selling 34,000 copies. In its fifth week of release, the album dropped to number fourteen on the Billboard 200 selling 25,873 copies. As of September 2015, the album has sold 1.9 million copies in the United States.
