Little Big TownLittle Big Town are anxiously awaiting the release of their fourth studio album, 'The Reason Why,' on Aug. 24. The group recorded the new tunes at the same place they've made their previous two albums, but made some changes to mix things up a bit.

"We've made the last three records with our producer, Wayne Kirkpatrick," Little Big Town's Kimberly Schlapman tells The Boot. "We absolutely love [his studio]. It's like our home. It's out in the woods, it's cozy and warm. We felt so comfortable there. We wanted to change the configuration of the studio and how it was all set up to refresh it a little bit. We rearranged all the furniture and the soundboard, just to open it up and make it feel a little bit different. It made such a huge difference for us. It was like a fresh shot in the arm."

Kimberly says the changes in the studio are not the only ways they made. "We wanted to change things up and make sure it was fresh ... make sure we weren't staying the same. We wanted to push the envelope and push ourselves. We worked harder and were harder on ourselves than ever before with this record -- with writing the songs and choosing the outside cuts. We pushed ourselves harder than we ever have, to do things a little bit differently but to keep the Little Big Town sound that all the fans are familiar with. We didn't want to change that, but we also didn't want to stay the same."

Of the album's 12 tracks, the band co-wrote eight and have four outside cuts. "We wrote a lot of songs that we ended up wanting to push ourselves farther ahead because we wanted to make sure that we had the very best songs. Of course, we love to write our own songs but we always listen to other people's songs because we just want the best song to win out. We decided to write in some different configurations. We split off and paired off differently. We wrote with some outside writers like Jonathan Singleton and several other people."

Little Big Town's first single from 'The Reason Why' is 'Little White Church,' a Top 15 hit which the four members co-wrote with producer Wayne Kirkpatrick.



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