Little Big Town played a free show at the Santa Barbara County Fair in Santa Maria, Calif. on July 16. If you haven’t seen LBT play a headlining show, I think it’s safe to say that you’re missing out – big time. I have seen them more times than I can count, but the majority have been shows where they were an opening act or playing a multi-artist festival. It’s rare for me to be able to make it to a headlining show, so I jumped at the chance when I saw that they were coming within a 3-hour radius.

The night began with a meet & greet with the band and, as always, they were as sweet as can be. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – no one is better to their fans than LBT. They always greet me with warm hugs (which I needed because it was cold!) and good conversation. I won’t get into all the details of the meet & greet, but it was great like always. They even signed the last Country Music Tattle Tale review I wrote about them from the Throwdown Tour. They had “re-tweeted” it to their followers and were very appreciative of the kind words.

Once my meet & greet was over, I headed back out to the concert area in hopes of getting back to my prime spot that I had staked out before the show. Luckily, I was able to get back into my place right in front of the barricade by the stage. I looked behind me before the show started and was blown away by the amount of people there. It was great to see such a great turnout.

They started the show with a new song called Why, Oh Why from their upcoming album, The Reason Why. Other new songs they performed included Runaway Train, All The Way Down, The Reason Why, Lean Into It, and, of course, Little White Church. If these songs are any indication of what the rest of the album is like, they’ve got a monster hit on their hands. August 24 needs to get here already, and I mean fast! Jimi and Karen were absolutely adorable while singing the lyrics to The Reason Why. Tim and Faith need to watch out – their title of “country music’s cutest couple” could very easily be swiped away from them. Runaway Train is a fun, upbeat tune that is sure to be a fan favorite and, in my opinion, a potential single. Lean Into It, a song about having hope when life gets tough, was the night’s encore song. I am looking forward to hearing that song on the record as I’m sure it will become one of my absolute favorite LBT songs.

The band gave the people what they wanted by performing hit singles such as Boondocks, Bring It On Home, Good As Gone, A Little More You, Fine Line, and I’m With The Band, but the highlight of the night for me was hearing all of the other album-cuts from The Road To Here and A Place to Land. It had been a while since I had heard some of those performed live. They flawlessly harmonized their way through Bones, Wounded, Looking for a Reason, Welcome to the Family, Stay, Firebird Fly, Novocaine, and You’re Gonna Love Me. Kimberly sang the living daylights out of Wounded and Stay, while Karen rocked faces off with Looking for a Reason and Good As Gone. Of course, the boys kept all of the ladies in the audience swooning with their gorgeous voices, too. Phillip’s vocal on Bring It On Home was nothing short of perfection, and Jimi had every girl drooling over him during You’re Gonna Love Me.

My fellow LBT fans will agree when I say that they are the most underrated act in country music today. For those that have not seen them live, you haven’t truly gotten the “LBT experience.” If someone wasn’t a fan going into Friday night’s show, they sure as hell became one before the night was over. The band looked truly humbled as they took their final bow onstage and said goodbye to the faithful California crowd.

The band already knows how I feel about them, but it can’t be said enough – I love me some LBT. It’s rare to find an artist or group that sounds just as good (if not better) in person than they do on record. I won’t name names, but there a lot of people in the business who couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. Thank you, LBT, for another great night of fun and live music.

Don’t forget: The Reason Why hits stores August 24. Pick up a copy or two…or ten.

~Kristi