Nightfall (Little Big Town album)

Nightfall
Studio album by
Little Big Town
ReleasedJanuary 17, 2020 (2020-01-17)
Studios
GenreCountry
Length46:13
LabelCapitol Nashville
Producers
Little Big Town chronology
The Breaker
(2017)		 Nightfall
(2020)		 Mr. Sun
(2022)
Singles from Nightfall
  1. "The Daughters"
    Released: April 5, 2019
  2. "Over Drinking"
    Released: September 16, 2019
  3. "Wine, Beer, Whiskey"
    Released: June 1, 2020

Nightfall is the ninth studio album by American country music group Little Big Town. It was released on January 17, 2020, by Capitol Nashville, and was self produced by Little Big Town with major production assistance from Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk. It includes the singles "Over Drinking", "The Daughters", and "Wine, Beer, Whiskey". It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Country Album and both "The Daughters" and "Sugar Coat" were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic74/100
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStar
Entertainment WeeklyB+
No Ripcord6/10

Nightfall received positive reviews from music critics, respectively. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 74 based on 4 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The album placed fourth on the Billboard list of Top Country Albums of 2020. Billboard editors described the band as reaching "substantive emotional richness that few groups can touch" on the album.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic wrote that "The labor is evident, particularly in the careful construction of the compositions and the subtle shading on individual tracks" and "it's music for meditative mornings or for afternoons in need of a dose of consolation and comfort." He also compared the band's sound favorably to Fleetwood Mac.

Commercial performance

Nightfall debuted at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart with 31,000 equivalent album units, 26,000 in of which are in traditional album sales. As of March 2020, it has sold 43,800 copies in the United States.

Track listing

All tracks are produced by Little Big Town, except where noted.

Nightfall track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocalsLength
1."Next to You"
  • Michael Jade
  • Trevor Jarvis
  • Hillary Reynolds
4:06
2."Nightfall" (prod.: Little Big Town, Ian Fitchuk, Daniel Tashian)
  • Karen Fairchild
  • Fancy Hagood
  • Daniel Tashian
Fairchild3:21
3."Forever and a Night"
Phillip Sweet4:26
4."Throw Your Love Away"
Kimberly Schlapman3:44
5."Over Drinking"
Fairchild3:10
6."Wine, Beer, Whiskey"
Westbrook3:16
7."Questions" (prod.: Little Big Town, Jon Green)
  • Fairchild
  • Jon Green
  • Sara Haze
Fairchild3:04
8."The Daughters"
  • Ashley Ray
  • Fairchild
  • McConnell
Fairchild3:32
9."River of Stars" (prod.: Little Big Town, Fitchuk, Tashian)
  • Fairchild
  • Fitchuk
  • Tashian
  • Fairchild
  • Westbrook
3:37
10."Sugar Coat" (prod.: Little Big Town, Tofer Brown)
  • Josh Kerr
  • McKenna
  • Jordyn Shellhart
Fairchild3:40
11."Problem Child" (prod.: Little Big Town, Brown)
  • Brown
  • Fairchild
  • McConnell
  • Schlapman
  • Sweet
  • Westbrook
Westbrook3:35
12."Bluebird" (prod.: Little Big Town, Fitchuk, Tashian)
  • Fairchild
  • Fitchuk
  • Tashian
Fairchild3:11
13."Trouble with Forever"
Fairchild3:31
Total length:46:13

Personnel

Little Big Town

Additional musicians

  • Avery Bright – viola (10, 11)
  • Tofer Brown – electric guitar (1, 10), programming (6, 10); background vocals, guitar, percussion (6); piano (10, 11); acoustic guitar, baritone guitar, bass guitar, celesta, organ (10); synthesizer (11)
  • Jacob Bryant – trumpet (6)
  • Zach Casebolt – violin (10, 11)
  • Matt Combs – violin (10, 11)
  • Spencer Cullum Jr. – pedal steel guitar (4)
  • Ian Fitchuk – drums (2, 9, 12); bass guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, percussion (9, 12)
  • Cara Fox – cello (10, 11)
  • Jesse Frasure – programming (5)
  • Tim Galloway – guitar (3), acoustic guitar (4)
  • Dan Grech-Marguerat – additional programming (1, 7, 8, 10, 11)
  • Jon Green – guitar (7)
  • Jedd Hughes – guitar (6, 13), background vocals (6), electric guitar (8)
  • Claire Indie – cello (10, 11)
  • Katelyn Kelly – violin (10, 11)
  • Hillary Lindsey – acoustic guitar (5)
  • Todd Lombardo – acoustic guitar (2, 9, 12)
  • Sean McConnell – background vocals (6); acoustic guitar, programming (8)
  • Hubert Payne – drums (1, 3–8, 10, 11, 13), percussion (6)
  • K.S. Rhoads – conductor (10, 11)
  • Daniel Tashian – electric guitar, programming (2, 9, 12); bass guitar (2); baritone guitar, lap steel guitar, mandolin (9, 12)
  • John Thomasson – bass guitar (1, 3–8, 13)
  • Akil Thompson – keyboards (1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13), guitar (1, 6), Hammond B-3 organ (3)
  • Foy Vance – piano (3)
  • Evan Weatherford – guitar (1, 3–5, 7, 13), slide guitar (8)
  • Kristin Weber – violin (10, 11)
  • Kris Wilkinson – viola (10, 11)

Technical

  • Emily Lazar – mastering
  • Dan Grech-Marguerat – mixing (1, 7, 8, 10, 11)
  • Ryan Hewitt – mixing (2–4, 6, 9, 12, 13), vocal recording (2, 12)
  • Manny Marroquin – mixing (5)
  • Jason Hall – recording (1)
  • Craig Alvin – recording (2, 9, 12)
  • Josh Reynolds – recording (3, 5–8, 10, 11, 13), vocal recording (6, 8)
  • Justin Francis – recording (9, 12)
  • Tofer Brown – recording (10, 11)
  • Chris Galland – mix engineering (5)
  • Scott Johnson – production assistance
  • Chris Allgood – mastering assistance
  • Joel Davies – mixing assistance (1, 7, 8, 10, 11)
  • Charles Haydon Hicks – mixing assistance (1, 7, 8, 10, 11)
  • Robin Florent – mixing assistance (5)
  • Scott Desmarais – mixing assistance (5)
  • Zaq Reynolds – recording assistance (1, 3, 5–8, 10, 11), vocal recording assistance (2, 12)
  • Zack Pancoast – recording assistance (1, 9, 12)
  • Gavin Mellberg – recording assistance (5)
  • Dan Davis – recording assistance (9, 12)
  • Rachael Moore – recording assistance (10, 11)

Visuals

Charts

Notes

  1. ↑ Lombardo is erroneously credited as "Tom Lombardo" on tracks 2 and 12.

References

  1. 1 2 Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Nightfall review". AllMusic. Retrieved January 20, 2020.
  2. ↑ Bonaguro 9/9/2019, Alison. "Little Big Town Fans Wake Up to Nightfall". CMT News. Archived from the original on September 24, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ↑ "Nightfall by Little Big Town". Metacritic.
  4. ↑ "Nighfall - Little Big Town". AllMusic. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  5. ↑ Johnston, Maura (July 31, 2020). "Little Big Town's The Nightfall: EW Review". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  6. ↑ Gordon, Ethan. "Little Big Town: Nightfall Review". Retrieved July 31, 2020.
  7. ↑ Asker, Jim (January 28, 2020). "Little Big Town Earns Fourth Top Country Albums No. 1 With 'Nightfall,' Dustin Lynch's 'Tullahoma' Starts in Top Five". Billboard.
  8. ↑ Bjorke, Matt (March 10, 2020). "Top 10 Country Albums Pure Sales Chart: March 9, 2020". RoughStock. Archived from the original on March 19, 2020. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  9. ↑ Nightfall (CD liner notes). Little Big Town. Capitol Nashville. 2020. pp. 1, 9. 00602508278785.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  10. ↑ "ARIA Chart Watch #561". auspOp. January 25, 2020. Archived from the original on January 30, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  11. ↑ "Little Big Town Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart on 24/1/2020 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Official Album Downloads Chart on 24/1/2020 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Official Physical Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Official Country Artists Albums Chart on 24/1/2020 – Top 20". Official Charts Company. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Little Big Town Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  17. ↑ "Little Big Town Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  18. ↑ "Top Current Albums – Year-End 2020". Billboard. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2020". Billboard. Retrieved December 7, 2020.