The country vocal group legends are back with their 11th studio album (the Christmas one doesn’t count) and first since 2022’s Mr. Sun. The quartet have put out some of the biggest, most fantastic songs in the genre this millennium, and have had steady success throughout. I’ve been a fan of them for years at this point, and since the moment this was announced all of us here at Overtone have been excited! Without further ado, let’s dive in!

After a short vocal intro track, we launch right into their huge, Ashley Monroe featuring single, ‘Sucker for a Sad Song’. From the Western guitaring and vibes to the expectedly perfect harmonies, it had me in a chokehold right from the get-go. It’s a rather simple, stripped-back track throughout. Having said that, the chorus, while still a similar level as the rest, still sounds massive and catchy as anything with all the harmonies. The four work perfectly together, and have for decades at this point, and Ashley slots in amongst them amazingly. It’s a chilled out, Western-folky song that sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the album! And, at nearly six minutes in length, everything gets plenty of time to breathe, which is really awesome.

The chilled vibes continue through ‘The Door’, but it was cool changing things up with a male-lead, shorter song. It’s mainly just one guitar and vocals, with some added leads and strings to fill things out, but again the harmonies on the chorus are phenomenal, nearly taking my breath away. The lyrics are amazing too, emotional and heartfelt and devastatingly bittersweet. If you like slower, more traditional country stuff, this is absolutely the track for you, and is a massive early highlight!

‘Dying Art’ picks the pace and the rock a little bit, more of what I expected from the band heading into this. A simple, guitar lead verse builds perfectly into massive, arena-filled chorus. The harmonies are excellent again, but the instrumental fills out the sound perfectly. The dynamics for the song is great too, really making the chorus hit that much harder when everything around it is a little lower. And it’s catchy as anything, certainly one to be stuck in my head for days to come. The whole second half is amazing, too. From the male vocals to the women building in over the top to the awesome guitar solo, it’s all SO GOOD. And it slowly all dropping out at the end is perfection. I’m honestly shocked it wasn’t a pre-release single, it’s that good, but will probably do excellently still on the radio post-release! This is a song that easily makes our playlist!

Singles ‘Hey There Sunshine’ and ‘We Could Have it All’ are beautiful piano ballads, both handled in very different ways. The first is an emotion-filled, slower, simple song that is very much focused around the piano and female vocals, the odd guitar and string swell and harmonies adding even more depth to the sound and vibe. Meanwhile the latter has almost a Bowie or ELO with the multi-tracked vocals throughout. Instrumentally it’s got more to it too, with the drums and guitars and even some soloing coming in throughout. Both are great in their own right and were absolutely great choices for singles. ‘…Sunshine’ is definitely more of the country side of their sound, with the other leaning into rock power ballad status, so there is still variety through them. And, them being broken apart through the album was absolutely the right call!

Another single, ‘Over and Over’, brings back the acoustic guitar as the focus, and definitely has a classic country vibe to it. It’s maybe the most Fleetwood Mac-esque track on the album, but also has an air of late 90s/early 2000s folk pop, blending the two together seamlessly. And, having said that, it still feels so very Little Big Town. It’s catchy and so well put together and performed. And by the end it builds into a rather grandiose, rock opera sound and feel, which I really loved. It’s easily another big highlight of the album!

Tracks like ‘The Idea’, ‘It’s a Long Way to Your Heart’ and ‘Jet Plane’ are all more steady acoustic songs. Once again, all are great in their own right, but certainly have similarities in vibe. The former has some of the most heartbreakingly brilliant lyrics on the album, and is another firm highlight. The latter closes things in perfect fashion, just like the way the album opens. It’s country AF, and packed full of some truly excellent harmonies. Plus, the guitaring it in is awesome, almost Buffett-like at times. Meanwhile ‘Long Way’ is your typical Little Big Town ballad in all the best ways. As I said, all the songs are good and beautiful, but they definitely have a shared vibe through them.

‘Crickets’ has a fun bluesy/jazz feel and riff running through it. The vocals over the top definitely fit that feel to a T. It’s another excellent change of pace for the album, and certainly a welcome one after a few slower ones. Hell, it’s arguably the most different one o the release, and I really love it for that. However, it’s also a fantastic song in its own right, that’s for sure! It’s a lot of fun that still had plenty of hallmarks of a great LBT song to boot. It’s simple in its arrangement and very Louisiana blues in the best way. Another song that I’d highly recommend, and another firm album highlight!

The final single of the album, the Kelsea Ballerini featuring ‘Closing Time’, keeps the blues vibes going but slows them down into more of an easy-listening/Southern soul style. And, what would you know, it’s another excellent song! It’s a sort, simple song that gets straight to the point, and is a truly fantastic listen. And, just like Ashley, Kelsea slots in perfectly in with the band. The sheer levels of harmonies and vocal levels throughout are incredible, and the lyrics are great too. It kept me hooked though it’s two and a half minute runtime amazingly, and is another song I’ll be revisiting a lot. Amazing stuff!

The last song from the album, ‘It’s Coming Around’, is another Fleetwood-like song, it building very much like ‘The Chain’. That rocky folk/country sound is one that the band do so well, and this track is a real testament to that! It’s massive and packed full of huge, catchy vocal lines. Hell, we even get an organ solo which was a lot of fun, especially since it duels with the guitar! Once again, the last third of the song is incredible, and the band do such a good job of their stuff dropping gradually out to its base parts. It’s a song I would absolutely love to see live, so hopefully they’re back out here soon!

Overall: This is a damn good album! It’s actually been a couple of releases since I’ve checked out a full album from them, and what a way to jump back into them! The album as a whole was maybe a touch too slow at times, but when all the tracks are so damn good and pretty it’s hard for that to be too much of an issue! There are plenty of great songs throughout, and the band prove that somehow even nearly three decades into their career, they are still firing on all cylinders. If you like the band, or their lighter, folkier brand of country music in general, I would certainly recommend giving this a spin!

The Score: 8/10