Little Big Town released their much-anticipated album, Pain Killer, on Oct. 21.
The group has been paying their dues since 1998 and just recently became a household name with their first Top 10 song, “Little White Church,” in 2010. They didn’t earn the title of a No. 1 song until 2012 with the infamous “Pontoon.” The same four members who founded the group are the same four you see today, which adds to their authenticity.
While they’ve never won a Country Music Television (CMT) award, despite multiple nominations, the group has collected an array of awards from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association. They’ve managed to snag a Grammy and even an Emmy. Just two weeks before their latest album release, Little Big Town received the prestigious honor of joining the Grand Ole Opry. The group is one of the most underrated in country music.
The quartet joined their last album’s producer Jay Joyce, who has worked with Eric Church, Cage the Elephant, Emmylou Harris, and various others to create the album. With the assistance of someone so well-versed in music, Pain Killer is a beautifully assembled album that instills the group’s relevance among the top charts.
Following the same path as Eric Church, the group’s latest album strays more into the rock realm as opposed to the increasingly popular hip-hop tendencies present in the country genre. Much of the songwriting took place while the band was separated. The two men wrote together, and the two women of the group wrote together simultaneously, resulting in a slew of differentiating songs that contribute to the album’s uniqueness. The group itself co-wrote eight of the 13 tracks.
From the sounds of Pain Killer, it’s clear none of the songs, besides the single, “Day Drinking,” were written solely for radio purposes. In an interview with Rolling Stone, group member Karen Fairchild said, “It’s a lot more fun to be popular. But it’s super fun to be popular and respected. It’s fun to have voicemails on your phone from your peers in the business saying, ‘I can’t wait for this album to come out.’ Or, ‘that inspired me.’ So I want to believe that it can all happen.”
The first single, “Day Drinking,” from the album is the only semi-disappointing song. It was released to draw fans in and then expose them to the incredible depth of the other 12 songs on the album.
Fans have begun expressing their appreciation for the album, specifically for a song called “Girl Crush.” This song makes for some of the most intricate lyrics and truly takes the album to an entirely different level. Fairchild sings, “I want to taste her lips/’Cause they taste like you” and later, “I want her magic touch/Maybe then you’d want me just as much.” The second part of the group’s female vocals comes from Kimberley Schlapman, who shows her ferocious side on “Save Your Sin,” which we had yet to hear from her before.
The album holds an immense amount of creativity on everyone’s part, from the producing, songwriting, music composition, etc. Pain Killer is Little Big Town’s best album, and they can now say they’ve truly “made it.”
4/5