[8] Recorded with a studio band featuring drummer Pete Thomas of Elvis Costello's Attractions and Chuck Leavell of Allman Brothers and The Rolling Stones on keyboards,[8][9] the album was produced by Chris Kimsey.

[1] The Washington Times stated of the album's sound that "What hasn't changed" from previous released "is the Reids' rare gift for rousing choruses pushed along by ringing guitar riffs".

[5] In 2001, Bill Holdship of Rolling Stone stated that "the new album is quite good, combining folk, soul, country and pop with the Fifties-styled melodic sensibilities of the brothers Reid", observing that the song "One Too Many" would "make The Eagles green with envy".

[15] In Riverfront Times, Steve Pick was praising of the record, commenting that the band "have equaled the musical triumphs of Sunshine on Leith" and deliver "a series of snapshots that reveal the actual experience of life during middle age, when love is more complicated than it seems".

Entailing "Everybody's A Victim" and "Scotland's Story" to be "excellent songs" and "How Many Times" to be a "little pop gem", reviewer Peter Widmer opined that Persevere was "a fine album" which "should be heard".

[6] Entertainment.ie wrote: "In the age of blowdried boybands there's something heartening about the sight of two bespectacled, denim-clad, nerdy-looking Scottish twins taking on the charts with nothing except a couple of guitars and a set of rousing folk songs.