Nashville in the UK this October
October 2017 is looking like an amazing month for fans of country music as some of the biggest names in the genre will be playing shows in the UK. Little Big Town and Lady Antebellum have announced headline tours and the Little Big Town show at the Royal Albert Hall is part of Country Music Week which sees a host of established acts and newcomers performing around London including Drake White, Kip Moore, Jace Everett and Sarah Darling. Please read on for more about the acts and those tour dates:
LITTLE BIG TOWN
Grammy Award-winning country superstars, Little Big Town make a welcome return to the UK for tour dates in September and October as follows:
September 28th: Manchester Albert Hall
September 29th: Birmingham Institute
October 1st: Gateshead The Sage
October 2nd: Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
October 3rd: Bristol Colston Hall
October 5th: London Royal Albert Hall
with support from Seth Ennis.
A review of the Royal Albert Hall show is now online.
The Royal Albert Hall show is part of Country Music Week which features a host of artists including an artist previously featured at RGM Drake White
Their seventh studio album 'The Breaker', produced by Jay Joyce is out now on Capitol Records Nashville.
Little Big Town first entered the music scene more than 18 years ago, and have since seen massive success in the US with #1 singles 'Pontoon', 'Tornado', 'Day Drinking' and most recently the history-making, best-selling country single of 2015, 'Girl Crush'. They have earned multiple Grammy, CMA and ACM awards, and an Emmy award. At the 2016 Grammy Awards Little Big Town won 'Best Country Group/Duo Performance' and 'Girl Crush' received the honour for 'Best Country Song'. Two years ago the group fulfilled a career milestone and lifelong dream when they were inducted as members of the legendary Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
LADY ANTEBELLUM
After taking time to pursue solo projects last year, multi-Platinum, seven-time Grammy winning trio, Lady Antebellum - Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood - are back with their sixth studio record HEART BREAK (Decca & Capitol Nashville) and YOU LOOK GOOD WORLD TOUR, with more than 65 shows in six countries including UK dates in October:
Oct 4th: Manchester Arena
Oct 5th: Dublin 3Arena
Oct 7th: Glasgow Hydro Arena
Oct 9th: Birmingham Barclaycard Arena
Oct 10th: London O2 Arena
Special guests Kelsea Ballerini and Brett Young.
For HEART BREAK, Dave, Charles and Hillary had a new mission - setting aside time to put themselves in new surroundings, and concentrate on writing and exploring musical endeavours with no distractions. They rented a house in Florida, living and working under the same roof, and when the creative process proved successful, the trio set up a second retreat in southern California.
“When we started working on this record, the goal was to give ourselves some space from the day to day,” said Scott. “Surrounding ourselves in a new environment with sunny beaches and warm weather really helped free our minds to focus solely on our art. We took some of our favourite writers and other writers we hadn’t worked with before to a new inspiring backdrop, where we were able to just write and soak up the journey. And it was on our first trip in Florida when we wrote ‘Heart Break’ that we felt it all click.”
Alongside producer busbee, their desire to shake things up was made evident by first single “You Look Good,” complete with a funky horn arrangement. Elsewhere, HEART BREAK ranges from the sweet melancholy of “Somebody Else’s Heart” to the dramatic, surging ballad “Hurt,” which is a powerful vehicle for Scott’s voice as she soars over a spare rhythm section and classic string arrangement. With the clever extended metaphor of its lyrics and percolating groove, “Army” has a feel that’s a throwback to ‘70s pop, while the bright, breezy lift-off of “Think About You,” with an R&B-style guitar bouncing off of a banjo lick, is entirely of the moment.
“Being together every day, living in a house together, that was the special ingredient this time,” continued Haywood, “And then in the studio, busbee added a whole new layer. He’s such an integral part of this new chapter for us.”
The trio had a hand in writing eleven songs on HEART BREAK, resulting in their most intimate and heartfelt work to date.
“This record is really our story,” adds Kelley. “They have a universal feel to them, but there’s a lot of our personal stories here.”
Arguably the biggest name performing during Country Music Week is Little Big Town. The quartet bought their 'The Breaker' tour to the UK and included a stop at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall, which handily coincided with an already dream week for country fans. An unexpected last minute invite, and the cancellation of a planned tube strike, found your RGM scribe with a seat, a Loggia box seat no less, in a truly stunning building for which the term iconic was probably penned.