Little Big Town's 'Nightfall Tour' stops at Benedum Center

If January is any indication, 2020 is going to be a very good year for Little Big Town.

It didn’t take long for the four-member country group featuring Karen Fairchild, her husband Jimi Westbrook, Kimberly Schlapman and Phillip Sweet to get attention in a big way for their ninth studio album, “Nightfall,” which was released on Jan. 17.

The night before its release, they played to a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall in New York City to officially kick off their “The Nightfall Tour,” which comes to Pittsburgh for one performance Feb. 1 at Benedum Center.

A highlight of their appearances this summer will be a concert date with headliner George Strait and Chris Stapleton on Aug. 22 at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minn.

2020 Grammy nomination

The group’s latest accomplishment was scoring a 2020 Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their song “The Daughters.”

The song, which preceded the album and had its TV world premiere at the 54th annual Academy of Country Music Awards last spring, has earned praise for its message aimed at empowering women. Rolling Stone called “The Daughters” “an inequality anthem that tugs at the heartstrings, challenges the gender imbalance so prevalent in country music and, in Little Big Town’s boldest move since “Girl Crush,” dares radio DJs to leave it off their playlists.”

Sweet labeled the recognition that the song written by Fairchild, Ashley Ray and Sean McConnell is receiving, including the Grammy nomination, “a sweet victory.”

“It’s such a beautiful message about those double standards we still seem to be putting on the daughters, and hopefully this message just keeps reminding us that we need to shake that off, and for the next generation they won’t have to have this tired conversation anymore,” he said.

More than two decades of hits

Little Big Town has been a growing force in country music for more than 20 years, with hit songs including “Boondocks,” “Bring It On Home,” “Good As Gone” and the Grammy-nominated “Little White Church.” Other hit singles have included “Pontoon,” “Better Man” and “When Someone Stops Loving You” and their best-selling country single of the year, “Girl Crush,” in 2015.

They have earned multiple awards, were inducted into The Country Music Hall of Fame in 2014 and received their star on the Nashville Walk of Fame in 2017.

The group’s self-produced “Nightfall” studio album follows the 2017 release of “The Breaker.”

Little Big Town launched its first non-musical venture as a band with their 4 Cellars wines project in collaboration with Brown Family Vineyards in Washington in 2017, and the “Day Drinking” fruity wine spritzer was introduced last summer.

Seems like a good time for a toast to the New Year.