Walking Away a Winner is the ninth studio album by American country music artist, Kathy Mattea.

Its title track was issued as the lead single and became her first top ten hit in several years on the American country chart.

This helped Mattea win several major industry accolades, including a Grammy Award and four number one singles.

[2] In 1992, Mattea released the album Lonesome Standard Time, which failed to yield the level of commercial success she previously achieved.

[3] In similar vein to Mary Chapin Carpenter and Bonnie Raitt, the album offered a pop rock musical style with various story-lines in the ten tracks.

Jurek found the album's sound to be a departure from her previous work by showing "a side her country audience hadn't yet seen, and one that the adult contemporary and emerging AAA formats could embrace."

[1] In describing the album, Sam McDonald of the Daily Press positively noted that, "It offered quality without pandering to current country music tastes.

[3][8] It became her sixth disc to sell over 500,000 copies in the United States, which prompted a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America.

[10] It also became Mattea's fourth disc to reach the Billboard 200, spending eight weeks in total and climbing to the number 87 position.

[12] It became Mattea's first top ten single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart since 1991, climbing to the number three position in June 1994.