This year marks 20 years since Little Big Town released its debut album. On the eve of the Friday’s release of 10th studio album, Mr. Sun, the foursome remains appreciative of all that has happened since the 2002 self-titled set—including four Billboard Top Country Albums No. 1s — but their eyes are looking forward.
“We’ve had such an epic time of creating over the last 20 years, and [we’ve had] the opportunity to do so many things that I don’t think we would have ever been able to dream up,” says Karen Fairchild, who’s joined in the band by her husband Jimi Westbrook, as wel as Kimberly Schlapman and Phillip Sweet. “And yet every year, I wonder, ‘Is there something that we haven’t done?’ And I know there are things that are around the corner, so I think we’re always looking ahead.”
Though, like with most Little Big Town albums, Mr. Sun’s 16 songs address a wide range of emotional topics, the themes of resilience, acceptance and the hope for better days ahead shine through. As the world continues to come to terms with the nearly unrelenting trauma and stress of the last few years, in some ways the best approach to Mr. Sun is to begin at the end: Closing track “Friends of Mine” serves as a benediction to finding the collective strength to persevere through tough times. Significantly, the mid-tempo swelling ballad is one of only two songs on the 16-track album co-written by all four band members (with assistance from Foy Vance).
“It was our plan to write a song to thank the fans and lift everybody up,” Schlapman tells Billboard over Zoom. “And our plan now is to just end every show with that song as we send each other off for the night, until the next time we meet again.”
Going into the writing process for the band’s follow-up to 2020’s Nightfall, the mission was to “stay open to what the next steps are going to be,” Westbrook says. That meant embracing familiar collaborators, but also working with new ones, including Tyler Hubbard and Corey Crowder. In all, at least one of the band members appears as co-writer on 13 of the 16 tracks and 33 songwriters are credited from three different countries in total.
“Writing with new people always takes you on a different journey,” Westbrook says. “There’s a different energy and the main thing is seeing where it’s going to go and following it. It’s fun to push yourself and collaborating with new people keeps you on your toes. It’s an adventure.”
“The story starts to tell itself at some point,” Sweet says. You can’t know everything in advance. You just go in with a clear mind and let the story tell you a bit.”
The open process also allowed for no collaborators at all. With current track “Rich Man,” for the first time in the group’s career, a member of the band is the sole writer on a song. (It’s also only the second time Little Big Town has cut a song by a sole songwriter, following “Better Man,” which Taylor Swift wrote specifically for the band). Although Westbrook had worked on the song — about appreciating the gifts that no amount of money can buy — for more than a decade, it was still a last-minute addition.
“I’ve been hearing it in the dressing room for years,” Sweet recalls. “He was playing it for some friends of ours at the very end of this [recording] process and it resonated so deeply. We were like, ‘It fits here.’”
Westbrook admits its inclusion came as a big surprise to him since he had worked on it for so many years and the band had even tried cutting an earlier version in 2010. “I felt like last year I had gotten it to where I wanted it to be. I still didn’t think anybody would probably hear it. It was only for myself,” he says. “It connects so deeply to my heart and my growing up with my family and my dad, who passed away in 2002. That it made its way onto this record, it’s kind of wild.”
The stirring, nostalgic lyric video for “Rich Man” shows footage of the band members with their children through the years. Westbrook and Fairchild’s son, Sweet’s daughter and Schlapman’s two daughters now span ages five to 15, and the demands of parenting are constantly changing.
“Our older kids, they have more of a social life now and so there’s a lot of things they don’t want to miss out on and a lot of things we don’t also want to miss out on with them, but sometimes we’re forced to miss out on a dance or a ballgame,” Schlapman says, “What I’m grateful for is they’ll sit on the side of the stage and watch the show and still appreciate what we do. I mean, we’re not a very big deal to them, but they will. Wanting to be in the moment of being all mom and not lose an opportunity business wise is a juggling game.”
Two other emotional tracks address how addicting love can be even after one’s heart has been shattered. “Three Whiskeys and the Truth” and “Something Strong” reunite the band with top Nashville songwriters Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose, collectively known at The Love Junkies, and the trio behind both Little Big Town’s 2013 hit, “Sober,” and the 2014 Grammy-winner “Girl Crush.”
This time, Fairchild and Schlapman contributed to the pair of tracks co-written with the threesome on Mr. Sun. “When you sit down with them, we always start with coffee and chicken salad and end up with wine glasses in our hands,” Schlapman says.
“Those women don’t know how to sugarcoat anything, which is the beauty of what they do,” adds Fairchild. “Those sessions with the Love Junkies, it’s like therapy. There’s really so much freedom in being in a room with people that you could say anything.”
The members of Little Big Town have long tackled any subject in their songs, but it took a while to get to where lots of people were listening. The quartet was 10 years into its career before they landed their first No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart with 2012’s “Pontoon.” Chart-toppers like “Girl Crush” and “Better Man” have followed — but the band hasn’t experienced a steady stream of Top 10 hits despite putting out some of the most compelling, and often thoughtful, music of any country act. “Hell Yeah,” the first single from Mr. Sun, peaked at No. 37 on Country Airplay.
Little Big Town, “Mr. Sun”
“We’re very grateful for the longtime supporters at radio,” says Fairchild, picking her words carefully. “They’ve been really good to us and, yet I see the format continuing to narrow a little bit. We still need more women on radio, and it can still be more diverse, and I know everybody’s working towards that goal. Would we love to be on radio every time and do we think we have records full of things that should be on radio? Yeah. Is it disappointing? Sure. Does it change anything for us? No, because we’re still going to tour. You know, [2020’s] ‘Wine, Beer, Whiskey’ didn’t even break the top 30 at radio, but it’s at 360 million streams. The fans are the ones that tell us that that’s a hit.”
Those fans have resoundingly turned up on the road for the band for years. Earlier this year, Little Big Town and Miranda Lambert co-headlined the second iteration of their Bandwagon tour, and the band will play two dates with Wynonna Judd in October on what was originally supposed to be Wynonna’s last tour with her mother before Naomi Judd died unexpectedly in April. “It’s hard to speak about,” says Sweet of being one of several handpicked acts — all of whom are female or female-inclusive — to open a gig. “[Wynonna’s] so beautiful and straight to the heart. And this music [means so much] to us, and that we get to be a part of it and honor that legacy.”
Playing live still provides a thrill, especially after not being able to tour during the pandemic. “It is so much fun. I am so satisfied to be standing up there and turning around and seeing my bandmates, seeing the guys that play with us and connecting with them,” Westbrook says. “In that moment on the stage I feel absolutely like a kid on the playground. I’m so grateful to do it.”
Through the years, the members have expanded to pursue other passions, such as Fairchild co-writing Kelsea Ballerini’s current hit “Heartfirst,” or Schlapman hosting her own cooking show and publishing cookbooks. Much of that comes with the quiet confidence that time and success has brought and the understanding that outside endeavors are no threat to the sanctity of the group.
“I think the only way to keep creative people together is to give them some freedom. I listen to Jimi and he’s back there writing what he thinks is going to be a screenplay. Philip is always writing with other people,” Fairchild says. “You just have to let everyone fly.”
“We’re very comfortable with each other,” Schlapman says. “And we’re very comfortable being individuals and understand that, at this point in life, let’s just all do what makes us happy. And yes, we will always come back to home base– no matter what.”
