The roots of Little Large City‘s signature soaring harmonies run decades deep – more decades, in fact, than encompass the band’s a few years recording on Music Row. Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman first met in 1987, when the Georgia natives had been each attending Samford College in Alabama. Each individually moved to Nashville and reconnected in Music Metropolis virtually a decade later, the place they determined that they needed to search out some males to sing with to flesh out these harmonies.
The harmonies have remained fixed since earlier than the discharge of their self-titled debut in 2002. “Our label was like, you have to pick a lead singer, and we were pretty strong about, ‘No, we don’t. That’s not what we’re going to do,’” Schlapman advised Rolling Stone in 2020, explaining a few of the stops and begins they skilled over the following decade. Their dedication to singing collectively began to repay in earnest as soon as they joined forces with producer Jay Joyce for his or her 2012 album Twister and had the main hits they’d lengthy since been angling for, translating Fleetwood Mac superfandom and backcountry bonafides into one thing Music Row hadn’t ever seen earlier than.
Combining radio sensitivity with a decidedly unNashvillian proclivity for risk-taking, an ear for custom with tight ties to a few of fashionable nation’s greatest and most prolific songwriters, Little Large City has made their very own method in a format that prizes conformity. Listed here are 20 of their greatest songs, starting from feel-good ingesting songs to broken-hearted ballads and all the pieces in between.
Life In A Northern City – Reside (2008)
This one-off dwell collaboration with Sugarland and Jake Owen was an unlikely success, reaching No. 28 on Billboard’s nation chart off of unsolicited airplay and getting nominated for a bevy of awards. Initially successful by the British band The Dream Academy, “Life In A Northern Town” was composed as an elegy for Nick Drake – maybe a barely unlikely marriage with the Music Row-bred trio of collaborators, however one which clearly labored as evidenced by the epic-scaled observe.
Hell Yeah (2022)
One other entry in Little Large City’s catalog of sunshine-y, feel-good songs, this observe has that brilliant vibe with a twist: The narrator (on this one, Philip Candy) remains to be unhappy about misplaced love, however he’s placing on a courageous face for the sake of the celebration. There’s whistling, there are harmonies, there are grooves – and simply sufficient pathos to make it nation.
Dusk (2020)
Disco nation – and Kacey Musgraves – followers would do properly to hearken to this frivolously groovy observe, co-produced by Danial Tashian and Ian Fitchuk of Musgraves and Golden Hour fame in addition to the quartet themselves. Nestled within the understated album observe is a completely radio-ready hook: “You and I fall, baby, when the night falls.” Extra a characteristic for Karen Fairchild than the ensemble, it’s nonetheless a lesser-known gem of their catalog.
Sober (2012)
The Love Junkies – Liz Rose, Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsey – went deep on their favourite matter on this observe, which options Kimberly Schlapman singing lead. It might not have been a radio hit, however the upbeat track exhibits Little Large City at their sweetest, supported by a lush, understated association (the Hammond B-3 is a pleasant contact). Love is the one drug they’re all in favour of!
When Somebody Stops Loving You (2017)
Jimi Westbrook takes the lead on this heart-wrenching ballad, which particulars all of the mundane ways in which life goes on even when it looks as if it received’t. It might not have caught on at nation radio, however the light waltz, co-written by Hillary Lindsey and Lori McKenna, exhibits the quartet’s hovering vocals to nice impact. The Breaker was their return to straight nation after collaborating with pop hitmaker Pharrell, and that’s evident few locations greater than this plainspoken break-up tune.
Shut Up Prepare (2010)
Buried in The Motive Why is that this Hillary Lindsey, Chris Tompkins (“Before He Cheats”) and Luke Laird-penned gem. The track is an intimate one, that includes moments of Karen Fairchild singing alone over acoustic guitar about her damaged coronary heart (it’s a nation track, in any case). The stripped-down association is a perfect showcase for the quartet’s simple precision, and the track is acquainted whereas nonetheless being totally different sufficient to carry your consideration.
Why Oh, Why (2010)
There’s a bit little bit of Sheryl Crow-style ’90s rock to this one, which the group co-wrote with Jonathan Singleton and a pre-megafame Chris Stapleton. Regardless of being an album reduce, it has the pomp and heft of a radio-ready single, full with catchy hook, hovering harmonies and guitar solos. It’s a change of tempo from a few of the extra bluegrass-inflected sounds of their early albums, and one which anticipates the radio hits to come back.
Twister (2012)
The second Little Large City single produced by Jay Joyce, “Tornado” – like “Pontoon” – confirmed a glossier, extra pop-crossover-ready aspect of the quartet. There’s synth results and drum machines right here, however the comparatively minimal association retains the harmonies entrance and heart. Karen Fairchild does the heavy lifting on this stormy tune, placing a brand new spin on “hell hath no fury” whereas by no means dropping the track’s radio-ready groove.
Give up Breaking Up With Me (2014)
This dry, twangy tune allowed the ladies of Little Large City to take heart stage, dressing down some n’er-do-well with greater than a bit little bit of humor and exaggeration. An album reduce, it nonetheless has an all-star forged of songwriters, together with Natalie Hemby, Shane McAnally and the late busbee. Just a little extra rough-and-tumble than most Little Large City songs, its 90s pop grit fits Fairchild and Schlapman to a T.
I’m With The Band (2007)
In Nashville, a city of solo artists, Little Large City will need to have felt compelled to stake their declare as an ensemble. Enter this slow-built, harmony-rich ode to the musician’s life, a modern-day “On The Road Again” sung by a quartet who had actually already spent their share of time shifting from gig to gig. The track’s growth is a satisfying one; by the point they attain the fireworks, listeners are primed for them.
Wine, Beer, Whiskey (2020)
How typically do you hear trumpet on a rustic album? Effectively, for all of the followers who pushed this Little Large City single to platinum certification twice over (with out a lot assist from nation radio), the reply might be fairly typically. But the nominally traditional ingesting track is one other unconventional alternative from a band who’s made a profession of them, with its virtually mariachi-esque trumpet traces and deep pop groove; their harmonies are pressed right into a rowdy sing-a-long somewhat than showcased, encouraging listeners to affix in.
Your Facet Of The Mattress (2012)
This one is all in regards to the vocals – when the harmonies explode within the refrain, listeners can get a full sense of simply what makes Little Large City so particular. Within the track’s extra intimate moments, although, which characteristic Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook, it’s arduous to keep in mind that you’re listening to a track that was launched as a single and finally went platinum as a result of they really feel a lot like acoustic one-offs. That big selection, inside the span of 1 evocative track, exhibits simply what the group is able to.
Good As Gone (2005)
The opening track on certainly one of their two information with Clint Black’s Fairness Music Group, “Good As Gone” finds the quartet working at their most conventional, with layers of acoustic devices supporting their tight harmonies. It is perhaps arduous to think about the quartet as hardscrabble upstarts, however right here their outsider standing is audible in a great way. A modest chart hit, on reflection the track exhibits simply how vast the group’s vary is.
Little White Church (2010)
Karen Fairchild exhibits off her sassier aspect on this boot-stomping anthem, singing to some hapless man who’s been refusing to make an trustworthy girl out of her. The bouncy observe reached No. 6 on Billboard’s nation chart, with handclaps and a rock edge balancing the track’s virtually Appalachian, traditional-sounding harmonies. Actually totally different than a lot of its friends on nation radio, the track, which the quartet wrote collectively, nonetheless proved to be their first hit for Capitol Nashville.
Day Consuming (2014)
Having discovered their summery candy spot with their first main hit “Pontoon,” Little Large City tapped the same properly (and related collaborators, in co-writer Barry Dean and producer Jay Joyce) with this lighthearted ode to imbibing whereas the solar’s nonetheless up. With its rockish edge and its drumline/whistled interludes, this isn’t your common tailgate playlist track – nevertheless it nonetheless match properly sufficient at nation radio to achieve No. 2 on Billboard’s Nation Airplay chart.
Subsequent To You (2020)
Not launched as a single, this romantic, cinematic duet nonetheless scraped the underside of the nation chart – displaying how Little Large City followers respect the band’s moodier aspect simply as a lot as their ingesting songs. Jimi Westbrook and Karen Fairchild narrate this love track, which is confessional, confrontational, and affectionate in turns, similar to real-life partnership. It begins informal and intimate earlier than constructing to an arena-ready conclusion (and highlight for the group’s harmonies).
Boondocks (2005)
Little Large City’s first top-ten hit on the nation charts, “Boondocks” introduced that that they had arrived with an abundance of bluegrass-tinged twang and, after all, crisp harmonies. The track, an ode to rural residing, was written by the quartet. The explanation it has remained one of many band’s favored closers, although, is due to the fiery vocal breakdown at its conclusion – displaying the technical mastery and deep nation feeling of this idiosyncratic group.
Higher Man (2016)
It’s not on a regular basis that Taylor Swift writes a track for someone who’s not Taylor Swift. So when Swift despatched Little Large City this castoff from Crimson with the suggestion that it will sound nice with their harmonies, they embraced it. A vocal showcase for Karen Fairchild as a lot as for the ensemble’s seamless collaboration, the facility ballad grew to become one of many largest hits of their profession, profitable each a Grammy and a CMA award whereas topping the nation charts. Swift finally launched the heartbreak tune herself on Crimson (Taylor’s Model), however not earlier than it grew to become a Little Large City signature.
Pontoon (2012)
A decade after Little Large City made it to Nashville, they lastly bought their first No. 1 track on the nation charts with this lazy summer time day anthem. The track, penned by Music Metropolis stalwarts Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird, and Barry Dean, blends a twangy mandolin riff, an unlikely supply of inspiration (“Pontoon” comes from somebody mishearing the title of “Fine Tune” by Miranda Lambert) and a wholesome dose of innuendo, “out here in the open.” The nice and cozy climate traditional earned the group each their first Grammy award, for Greatest Nation Duo/Group Efficiency, and their first CMA awards for Greatest Vocal Group and SIngle Of The 12 months.
Lady Crush (2014)
An outdoor-the-box thought from a few of the high songwriters in Nashville become a contemporary nation traditional within the fingers of Little Large City and particularly Karen Fairchild, who sings lead on this breathless tune. Lori McKenna, Liz Rose, and Hillary Lindsey penned this observe, during which obsessive jealousy makes a girl fixate on her competitors…however in a method that was extra attractive than offended, and definitely extra attractive than many of the songs on nation radio’s playlists. Good, surprising and decidedly catchy, “Girl Crush” helped Little Large City rack up {hardware}, going platinum six instances over and sweeping the CMAs and Grammys (whereas even incomes a nomination for Track of the 12 months). Extra importantly, although, it cemented their legacy as certainly one of fashionable music row’s most efficiently eclectic, risk-ready acts whereas paying off in a giant method.
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