Little Big Town Brings Fresh Energy to New Album, ‘It’s a Dying Art’: ‘There Is a New Excitement’

In 2024, Little Big Town celebrated its 25 th anniversary together.

And when it came time to return to the studio to make It’s a Dying Art , their first new album since hitting that milestone, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet , and Jimi Westbrook felt a renewed sense of purpose.

“We felt like we should turn the page a bit and see what the next chapter could become,” Fairchild says of recording the band’s 12 th studio album, out Friday (Aug.

28) on MCA Nashville.

“We don’t really have any boundaries on us at the moment from anybody saying, ‘You need to make this kind of music.’ We definitely just did whatever we wanted to do.” “There was a new excitement that we hadn’t felt in a while,” agrees Fairchild’s husband, Westbrook, during a Zoom interview from their Nashville home.

That excitement also came from shaking up the process a little.

For their first studio album since 2022’s Mr.

Sun, the quartet— who have scored such hits as “Pontoon,” “Girl Crush,” “Day Drinking” and “Better Man” — turned to Gena Johnson , who had worked with Jason Isbell and Dolly Parton , to produce the set with Fairchild.

Isbell also joined in, contributing guitar to “The Door,” while longtime friend Kelsea Ballerini sings on “Closing Time” and Ashley Monroe collaborates on “Sucker for a Sad Song.” While there are a few good-time songs on the set, like the fun, chipper “Crickets,” much of the album plumbs the depths of relationships and the highs and the lows.

Additionally, the first song released, “Hey There Sunshine,” addressed mental health.

After performing on Today Sept.

1 as part of Today ’s Citi Concert Series, the band starts the For the Art of It tour Sept.

24 in St.

Petersburg, Fla.