Little Big Town – Greatest Hits

Capitol Records Nashville

Release Date: August 9th 2024

Reviewed by: Joshua Andre

Little Big Town– Greatest Hits (Amazon mp3/iTunes)

Track Listing:

  1. Boondocks
  2. I’m With the Band
  3. Little White Church (feat. Miranda Lambert)
  4. Better Man
  5. Pontoon
  6. Bring It On Home
  7. Shut Up Train (feat. Kelsea Ballerini)
  8. Sober
  9. Tornado
  10. Wine, Beer, Whiskey
  11. Girl Crush
  12. Take Me Home (feat. Sugarland)

Country quartet Little Big Town have been in and around the business for close to 20 years. They’ve been so popular in and amidst the industry, that my brother Jon wrote a blog about them in 2020 about their influence and impact upon modern music history, and how songs like “Girl Crush”, “Better Man”, “Little White Church”, “Boondocks” and “Tornado”, to name a few, are just some of the many tracks that have stood out not just for fans of country music, but have stood out across all musical genres of the last few years. In 2020, the group unveiled Nightfalls (which Jon reviewed!), and while we never voiced our opinions unfortunately on 2022’s Mr Sun; here we are with their greatest hits album, aptly titled Greatest Hits. It’s an album that spans 22 years… with only 12 songs?

Best-of albums are tricky to review. Because you’re not really reviewing the songs. They probably would’ve been reviewed in reviews of previous albums by said artist. You’re actually reviewing the selection of the songs, the order of the songs, and whether the album as a whole would be good to purchase if you didn’t know anything about the band in question. So, to ‘review’ best-of albums isn’t really doing anything new. And sadly, this best of album, doesn’t compare to say, Between Us by Little Mix (which in my opinion is probably one of the best ‘best-of’ albums I’ve heard in recent memory). Greatest Hits by Little Big Town isn’t bad. All of these 12 songs (yes, even “Take Me Home” with Sugarland) deserve to be present. But with the track list only being 12 tracks? Songs like “Life In A Northern Town” (with Jake Owen and Sugarland), “Deep River Woman” (with Lionel Richie), “Rocket Man”, “Hell Yeah”, “All Summer”, “The Daughters”, “Fine Line”, “Happy People”, “Day Drinking”, “Your Side Of The Bed”, “When Someone Stops Loving You”, “Problem Child”, “Beat Up Bible”, “Over Drinking”, “Why Oh Why”, “We Went Down To The Beach”… all of them would have been present on a 30 or 40 song track list; and quite frankly to reduce the quartet’s career to 12 songs (11 songs and a new one in fact!) is quite frankly probably insulting to the group.

Little Big Town have managed to traverse the years with songs and albums that have spoken and ministered to people, even if they didn’t know these songs were instrumental in people’s lives as much as they have been. The band have reminded me why the country music genre is still so much relatable and necessary, and together with artists like Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Lady A, Faith Hill and Shania Twain; have shaped modern country music to what it is today. While I am not as connected to the country of now as opposed to the country of years ago, even a decade ago; the genre still is going strong, and if Little Big Town and the presence continues to be a driving force in country music both now and into the future, than that in and of itself is a very good thing, as we respect these women and men, who don’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, even though they are well into the realms of the 50+ age bracket, a time in anyone’s life where they can consider their life and their current vocation, and whether retirement or a shift in work field may be imminent. Little Big Town seem to be doing none of that, and if songs all of these songs are any indication, then maybe, just maybe, their best albums can still be in front of them! Yes, this greatest hits album isn’t perfect. No, it’s not a one stop shop for all of the hits, nor the only album a casual fan ought to buy. But it does contain some inspiring melodies, and for that alone, this project is solid. Well done Karen, Kimberly, Phillip and Jimi for this new greatest hits album, an album of richness and maturity, solidifying inspirational country-pop over the last year or so.

3 songs to listen to: Boondocks, Better Man, Take Me Home

Score: 3/5

RIYL: Point of Grace, ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, Lady A

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