Little Big Town, ‘Pontoon’ Gets Summer Started Early

The word "pontoon" is an unusual one to hear in a song, let alone as the title of a song. In fact, the song "Pontoon" -- penned by Natalie Hemby, Luke Laird and Barry Dean, is the just-released lead single from the hotly-anticipated new Little Big Town album. But it might never have been written had it not been for Natalie's publisher, who misheard the the title of another Natalie-Luke collaboration, "Fine Tune," (recently recorded by Miranda Lambert) as "Pontoon."

Little Big Town's Phillip Sweet says the quartet has a great connection with both Natalie and Luke, even writing a few songs on their new album with the pair. And he and his bandmates all share a love for the easy-going summer vibe the tune puts across.

"We just fell in love with it instantly," Phillip tells The Boot. "We could hear ourselves singing it and we could feel the fun energy behind it. It's fun and sexy and summertime; it just feels right for right now."

Phillip explains that their connection to the song is aided by the fact that each of the group's members had pontoon-boat experiences while growing up.

"We thought it was primarily a thing of growing up in the south but we found out that Michigan has the largest pontoon boat population." he notes. "In my little neck of the woods in northeast Arkansas, we had some lakes and everyone would go pontoon boating. That's what you did. You'd get your cooler full of beer and go out. It was very chill. You weren't going out to ski on a ski boat. You were intending to drive really slow and putz around and drink and have fun. Then, eventually you'd stop and jump off and swim. It's definitely a fond memory for us growing up."

While the tune certainly does conjure up the carefree days of summer, it's also free from many of the overworked cliches found in similar country songs that share the same outdoor setting.

"It's fun and it's cool, but it doesn't say all those 'beat-your-chest, I'm country, I'm this, I'm that.' It's just a party without beating you over the head. It was just infectious ... you want to be in that party. Our whole goal about this record was to capture those moments, the real energy, the live excitement. I really feel like we captured a moment in time with this album and I can't wait for people to hear it."

In spite of working with a new producer, the group managed to rehearse and record the bulk of the new album in about a week's time, with some of the vocal passes on the finished product coming from their three days of rehearsal. Now in the process of doing last-minute tweaking, Little Big Town (which also includes husband-and-wife Jimi Westbrook and Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman) should have the new album out in the fall. Phillip also revealed that the disc will feature a "heart-wrenching" duet called "Your Side of the Bed," written by Lori McKenna.

While they're not out on pontoon boats this summer, Little Big Town will be on the road sharing a stage with Rascal Flatts on the Changed tour. Other acts on the trek (which will include no solo artists) are the Eli Young Band and Edens Edge. Duo Thompson Square will replace EYB on a few of the stops.

"Pontoon" will be available at radio stations beginning Monday, April 30.