Little Big Town isn't just releasing another country album. With It's a Dying Art, the Grammy-winning group is making a case for the things they believe in, music and life should never lose.
During their week co-hosting Backstage Country with John Shomby, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet opened up about the ideas behind their 12th studio album. The title track, in particular, became a statement about staying connected in an increasingly digital world.
An Album About Getting Back to the Basics
Fairchild explained that the band wanted It's a Dying Art to reflect what they feel is missing in today's world.
With artificial intelligence, social media and smartphones becoming increasingly central to everyday life, Little Big Town wanted to focus on something much more old-fashioned: genuine human connection.
“We feel the day and age that we're living in now with all the AI and how everyone is obsessed with social media and what's going on our phones, we love the idea of just getting back to the basics,” Schlapman explained.
She added, “What brought us here, the music, sitting down and looking each other in the eye and truly connecting with each other. That is a dying art these days.”
Little Big Town: “We've always Been A Band That Are Purists”
Little Big Town also revealed they’re “old school” and preferred capturing the energy of musicians playing together in a room rather than building songs entirely through isolated studio performances.
Sweet explained that the group values real emotion, including the imperfections that naturally come with live human performances. “I think we've always been a band that are purists in our form and interpretation of how we, you know, our filter of music is we love when it's real emotion.”
He added, “And you hear some of the frailty or some of the imperfections in. In music, I think those are the things that are very important and we can't get rid of those. And, you know, going back, listening to some other records, older records that we love, they're not
perfect. And that's a dying art in a long about way. Just the energy of that whole idea of just being together, looking each other in the eye, connecting and creating something all together, it's really a beautiful thing when it comes together like that.”
It’s A Dying Art is available now.
