Little Big Town Return with 'It's a Dying Art,' Their First Album in Four Years
Little Big Town released their 12th studio album, It's a Dying Art, on Friday, 28 August via MCA Nashville — their first studio record since 2022's Mr. Sun (Billboard).
The group — Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook — marked 25 years together in 2024. It's a Dying Art arrives as the next chapter for a band whose past hits include "Pontoon," "Girl Crush," "Day Drinking" and "Better Man."
The album runs 13 tracks and 49 minutes, according to its Apple Music listing. Production was handled by Gena Johnson — whose previous credits include work with Jason Isbell and Dolly Parton — alongside Fairchild herself. Several tracks bring in outside voices: Jason Isbell plays guitar on "The Door," Kelsea Ballerini sings on "Closing Time," and Ashley Monroe collaborates on "Sucker for a Sad Song." The tracklist opens with an "Intro" before moving into that Monroe collaboration.
The first song released from the album, "Hey There Sunshine," addresses mental health — a theme that sits alongside the record's broader title, which treats creative persistence as something worth naming.
Physical editions are available across multiple storefronts. The band's official store lists a signed CD at $18.99, a digital download, a signed "Sangria" coloured vinyl, and branded merchandise including a youth tee. The MCA Nashville/UMG Nashville store carries a signed "Sangria" vinyl at $37.99 and a "Turquoise" vinyl variant, as well as a signed CD edition (UMG Nashville store).
For listeners, the breadth of formats — two vinyl colourways, signed CDs, digital — reflects a release strategy aimed at collectors and streaming audiences alike. Streaming equivalent album units, the measure that converts plays into album sales, will determine the record's first-week chart position on the Billboard 200.
The band is taking the album on the road. The For the Art of It tour is scheduled to open 24 September in St. Petersburg, Florida, giving the new material a stage within weeks of release.
A quarter-century into a career that has spanned shifts from physical sales to streaming dominance, Little Big Town are still releasing new music on a major label and booking tours. It's a Dying Art adds 13 more songs to that catalogue — and a title that invites readers to decide whether the art in question is really fading at all.
