Little Big Town looks for repeat success with new album ‘Pain Killer’

Coming off of its million-selling, Grammy-winning 2012 album “Tornado,” Little Big Town faced the challenge that always comes with success – how to live up to the expectations that follow having a hit album.

One might think that Little Big Town, who will perform Friday at Hartman Arena, had an advantage in that “Tornado” wasn’t the group’s first hit album. Its 2005 sophomore album, “The Road to Here,” put Little Big Town on the country map in a big way.

That album by the foursome – made up of husband and wife Jimi Westbrook and Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman and Phillip Sweet – went platinum behind four hit singles, with “Bring It on Home” and “Boondocks” going top 10.

But facing up to – and trying to extend – the success of “Tornado” with the group’s newly released studio CD, “Pain Killer,” was not at all like the first time around, according to singer Westbrook.

“It’s just completely two different scenarios to when ‘The Road to Here’ had success,” he said in a late October phone interview. “We were on an independent label (Equity Music Group) at that time, and that was when independent labels weren’t really present in Nashville. There may have been a couple of others. But as far as having success, there weren’t many examples of that. And when you’re on a start-up label like that, you’re always scrapping for money just to be able to compete with everybody. So that was kind of the scenario coming out of the last time.”

If anything, “Tornado” made an even bigger splash. It gave the group its first No. 1 single in “Pontoon” as well as a top 10 hit with the title track. What’s more, “Pontoon” won a Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.

“Oh, man, winning a Grammy was absolutely thrilling,” Westbrook said. “It’s one of those things, you grow up and that’s the show where all the genres come together, and you always see these great collaborations. I just have such great memories of that whole awards show. To actually take one home was a dream come true.”

Despite those major achievements, Westbrook sees reasons why sustaining the popularity created by “Tornado” could be easier than it was after the breakthrough of “The Road to Here.”

For one thing, Little Big Town is now on major label Capitol Records, not an indie label. (Equity Music Group folded a few years after beating the odds with the success of “The Road to Here.” “Tornado” was also released by Capitol.)

“This time, being with Capitol and having that success, we knew that when we came back around this time that we were going to have the opportunity to at least go in and have the (financial) backing and the support of a (stable) label,” Westbrook said.

Another point in Little Big Town’s favor was that the group was able to reunite with “Tornado” producer Jay Joyce for the “Pain Killer” project.

“(Doing ‘Tornado’ was) such a great experience, I don’t know, there was a lot of confidence going into this one that I don’t think we’ve ever had before … and excitement,” Westbrook said. “We were very inspired and had been writing for this record and were feeling a lot of inspiration from a lot of different places. We just felt really good and confident.”

The confidence shows in the broader stylistic and instrumental reach of “Pain Killer.”

On Little Big Town’s early albums – a 2002 self-titled debut, “The Road to Here” and 2007’s “A Place to Land” (which failed to match the success of the preceding album) – its sound was usually built around acoustic instrumentation, which brought a pleasant, earthy quality to the group’s pop-inflected style of country.

On “Pain Killer,” that sound surfaces on a couple of tunes, such as “Tumble and Fall” and “Like Forever.” Otherwise, the range of textures and intensities has further widened. “Quit Breaking Up With Me” and “Good People” blend some pop sass with country and feature punchy beats and a good deal of electric guitar. The title track rides along to an easy-going reggae lilt. “Stay All Night” mixes some synthesizers into a decidedly poppy rocker. And “Save Your Sin,” “Things You Don’t Think About” and “Turn the Lights On” are full-on rockers.

Even a song with an acoustic foundation – the mandolin-led first single “Day Drinking” – adds some rhythmic thump and an electric guitar solo in evoking an earthier counterpart to the Sheryl Crow hit “All I Want to Do.”

“I feel like it just has been a steady evolution,” Westbrook said, looking at how Little Big Town’s sound has progressed over the course of its six albums. “I feel like we’ve always just tried to take strides forward and take steps in different directions. But it all feels cohesive to me.

“It’s become more raw and probably a little more aggressive, but I think it was a direction we’ve always kind of been pushing toward,” he said. “That’s why it feels so good to me, because it just feels right. I feel like we’re just coming into our own. It just makes me excited and want to explore more.”

This story was originally published November 20, 2014 at 10:35 AM with the headline "Little Big Town looks for repeat success with new album ‘Pain Killer’."