Rating:
Genre:
Country
Release Date: 11/06/2007
Little Big Town scored big with 2005's
The Road to Here, their second album -- even if it took until late 2006 for that to finally happen. The quartet that includes
Karen Fairchild,
Kimberly Roads Schlapman,
Jimi Westbrook, and
Phillip Sweet had been out there like road dogs for years and saw their initial self-titled recording gain some critical notice but not much in terms of sales. The band's seamless melding of contemporary rootsy country and the vocal harmonies of
Fleetwood Mac set it apart from the new-crop masses. Through endless touring, regular rotation on
CMT and
GAC, and the grudging eventual recognition given by the accountants who serve as programmers at country radio,
Little Big Town broke through to contemporary country fans (and if there is a more devoted, less finicky brand of music fan out there, good luck finding them) and scored a win as Best New Group or Duo at the 2007
CMAs.
A Place to Land, despite being a third album, is the place to show that
The Road to Here was no fluke. It wasn't. Musically, lyrically, and production-wise,
A Place to Land is superior to its predecessor. Perhaps the real secret to the success of this singing and songwriting quartet is its secret weapon in behind-the-boards fifth member
Wayne Kirkpatrick.
Kirkpatrick is the band's producer and songwriting partner. While
LBT co-produced the set with him, they co-wrote ten of the 12 tunes on the set with him as well. He's chief guitar picker, and plays just about anything with strings as well as the clavinet and B-3. If the sound on
The Road to Here was reminiscent of
Fleetwood Mac's glory years in the 1970s -- particularly due to the songwriting of
Lindsey Buckingham --
A Place to Land drinks deeply from the well of the entire Southern California scene in the mid- to late '70s. It's not like they simply regurgitate or imitate it, either.
Little Big Town's sound is rooted deeply in traditional, organic country music. They haven't tried to become Southern rock lite imitators, as have so many of their peers.
Kirkpatrick gets this and brings to the table a seamless, very natural production style instead of the sterile compression that saturates so much of what is contemporary country and makes it sound like sterile stadium rock. Here,
Little Big Town's songs meld seamlessly with the vocal harmonies of not only
Fleetwood Mac, but also the
Crosby, Stills & Nash of
"Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and the earliest records of
the Eagles.
While the album's opener,
"Fine Line," literally rings with
Buckingham's chord progressions, choruses, and arranged vocal harmonies and nuances from
"Go Your Own Way," it's open rock & roll territory with one exception: the verse structure has enough hard country in it -- with that blend of four voices and killer lyrics -- that it's undoubtedly
LBT. They can trademark their own brand of the "Southern" in the Cali folk, pop, and rock brew from decades past. They distinguish themselves a bit more on the album's first single,
"I'm with the Band," which has enough road weariness in it to match the
CSN travelogue, but the beautiful pace -- with a bluegrass line drop here, a Gretsch guitar lick there, and the loping chorus phrasing -- makes it one of the great road songs of the decade thus far. When the B-3, electric guitars, and big cracking drums come flowing in, the Dobro, banjos, and mandolin are woven right into the fabric. It feels natural and airy, and it packs a wallop.
The Eagles get sound-checked in
"That's Where I'll Be"'s chord structure (which was based on their own take on country music anyway), but the harmonies here could only be better if
Bernie Leadon and
Timothy B. Schmit joined them for six-part instead of four-part harmony.
;)
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Number of reviews: 1
