Country stars Little Big Town are in the midst of a tour of historic theaters. The Grammy-winning vocal quartet began the tour on Jan. 16 — the day before the release of their new album, Nightfall, which debuted at No. 1 on the Country album chart — at Carnegie Hall, which, according to a press release, is the first time a "mainstream Country" act has played the venue since Alan Jackson performed there in 2013.
Among the other notable theaters — The Apollo in New York, The Chicago Theatre, Seattle's Paramount Theatre — is Cincinnati’s own Taft Theatre, where the group will play a two-night stand just in time for Valentine’s Day. The shows are very close to being sold out (they may well be by the time you read this), so if your betrothed is an LBT fan and you thought you had the ideal gift for Valentine's Day, you might want to get tickets immediately.
Nightfall, LBT’s ninth album, has been well received by critics, including the vintage Country Rock vibe of the title track and the LP’s first single, “The Daughters,” a song that examines gender inequality and earned the group a 2020 Grammy nomination. While many use “Pop” in a dismissive way when referring to a Country act, Little Big Town embraces the bridge their music creates for mainstream Pop audiences.
“A lot of people tell us we’re kind of like a gateway drug to Country music,” LBT’s Phillip Sweet recently told the New York Post’s Chuck Arnold in an interview. “If you’ve never heard Country before, they’re like, ‘Oh, listen to Little Big Town! They’ll introduce you to Country.’ We take that as a badge of honor.”
8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14 and Saturday, Feb. 15. $29-$109. Taft Theatre, 317 E. Fifth St., Downtown, tafttheatre.org.
