Little Big Town, the newest members of the Grand Ole Opry, stay true to the organic sound they’ve become known for on their much-anticipated new album, Pain Killer. Each song is a definite standout, and as a whole, Pain Killer is LBT’s best album to date.
According to Rolling Stone, Little Big Town‘s sixth studio album offers an alternative to the “younger is better” mindset in today’s pop-country music. Over 13 tracks, the Grammy-winning quartet deliver proof that country music can still be a mature affair. Not boring, mind you — mature. And while songs like Pain Killer‘s debut single “Day Drinking” may subscribe to some of those lyrical pursuits, they do so without any too-young-for-your-years slang or embarrassing clichés. In short, the members of Little Big Town — all of them in their forties — are not rollin’ up, slidin’ in or leanin’ back.
“Artists like Eric Church give us courage. Miranda Lambert gives us courage. There are lots of people that inspire me that commercial popular music can mean more and not feel so trite,” says Karen Fairchild, who with husband Jimi Westbrook, Phillip Sweet and Kimberly Schlapman formed Little Big Town in 1998.
Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town says of the album “It’s not what you would think, it’s not about a painkiller, like a drug,” she says. “It is about the love of your life killing your pain, and being your pain killer.”
Making this album had a much different feel from their previous releases. Kimberly says Pain Killer “took us a few months to make.” She reveals that their previous albums “used to take us years!”
Kimberly spills that her favorite track off of Pain Killer is “Live Forever.”
“That song is extra special to me because I love the sentiment of it, it’s about real good, strong love, and I have that in my husband,” she says. “Also, with my little girl, right after we finished writing that song, I started singing it to her at bed time. The first time I sang it, she said, ‘Again and again.’ Now, she sings it, and she knew every word before we even finished the record.”
