Nashville pop-country band Little Big Town marked 25 years as a group in 2024, and good for them. Pop country doesn’t come much lighter on its feet than Little Big Town’s music, and if you’re not a fan I couldn’t tell you where to start.
I’d suggest “Pontoon,” from their 2012 album Tornado, or you might go back further to “Evangeline,” a song from 2007’s A Place to Land. Like a lot of mainstream country artists, Little Big Town makes records that use the deep pool of pop-savvy songwriting and production talent Nashville is known for. This means you can scan the credits of their albums and see names like Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby and Daniel Tashian, all of whom have written for Little Big Town. In fact, Tashian helps turn the title track of 2022’s Mr. Sun into a piece of unclassifiable pop, and there’s a similar vibe to the tracks Tashian worked on for 2020’s Nightfall, including the gorgeous “Bluebird.” The group’s vocalists — Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook — achieve their own unique blend, and they also know how to write and pick good songs. Monday, they settle in for a four-night stand at the Ryman, and expect the shows to be a comprehensive tour of pop country.
Dec. 1-4 at the Ryman
116 Rep. John Lewis Way N.
