Little Big Town is currently on tour throughout the U.S. featuring songs from their latest album, The Reason Why, and the tour recently made two stops in the greater Mid-Atlantic area: Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore, MD on November 3; and Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe, PA on November 4. I got a chance to catch up with the tour at Penn’s Peak this past Thursday, and we’re featuring 30 concert images from the evening on our blog in the following Lightbox Gallery:
In an era where overnight success stories are sometimes made to appear all-too-easily-achieved by today’s media-driven music machine, it’s great to see a talented quartet (Phillip Sweet, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, and Jimi Westbrook in the gallery cover image above) finally achieve their well-deserved accolades after several years of great music and song-writing. This year Little Big Town has been nominated for 2 American Country Awards: Single of the Year by a Duo or Group, and Music Video of the Year by a Duo or Group. Both award nominations are for the band’s single, Little White Church (recently peaking at #6 on Country charts), released earlier this year before The Reason Why album debuted in August. The LP’s second single, Kiss Goodbye, is now available for radio requests, and its music video is due out in mid-November.
Little Big Town vocals and musicians were in top form throughout the entire concert, which included a great blend of notable LBT songs dating back to 2002. I personally enjoyed listening to the “concert versions” of the group’s newest material from The Reason Why album. Whether you prefer the hard-driving, blues influence in tunes like “Runaway Train” or slower-paced ballads like “Kiss Goodbye”, The Reason Why contains a broad range of songs featuring top-notch LBT harmonies that have become a trademark of the group. Admittedly, the band seemed equally at home Thursday night alternating lead vocal performances among LBT classics such as “Fine Line”, “Little More You”, “Good As Gone”, and “I’m With the Band”. Overall, a very fine evening spent with a band whose music continues to get better and better as their songs tackle a myriad of issues encountered along life’s journey.
Thursday’s on-stage set list (see below) contains the complete list of songs featured at the Penn’s Peak / Jim Thorpe, PA show — including an encore performance of “Lean Into It”, another terrific track (from The Reason Why album) reminding us that life’s unexpected challenges are often best handled by traveling through them rather than around them. Ironically, it’s a perspective you’d expect from a band that’s navigated their share of bumps and turns in the road for over 10 years together and still going strong.
[caption id="attachment_3133" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="LBT's set list for concert at Penn's Peak (Jim Thorpe, PA) on Nov 4, 2010"]
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Not exactly an overnight success story by modern-media standards… but time is definitely making the LBT story an even better — dare we say more real — one in its own right nonetheless. LBT certainly appears to have hit their stride nowadays. And based on the appreciative response of an estimated 1,200+ fans at Penn’s Peak Thursday night, it’s very much apparent that a return trip by Little Big Town to the greater Philadelphia area would be a welcomed event in the not-too-distant future.
After the Jim Thorpe show, LBT takes a short concert break for the weekend and an appearance at the November 10th CMA Awards in Nashville, before heading out to the Pacific Northwest and Rockies for the last leg of the tour in 2010. For more information about Little Big Town and their music, visit the group’s website located at www.littlebigtown.com.
