Little Big Town Embody New Sound on ‘Summer Fever’

Little Big Town embraces a groovy-California vibe with their Karen Fairchild-penned feel-good single, "Summer Fever."

Little Big Town Embody New Sound on ‘Summer Fever’
Little Big Town; Photo Courtesy of Instagram

There’s an irresistible groove weaved into Little Big Town’s latest single “Summer Fever” that not only defines the song, but encapsulates the spirit of summer. When Karen Fairchild stepped into the room with co-writers Jesse Frasure, Cary Barlowe and Sam Romans, Frasure presented her with the groove that launched a discussion of capturing the essence of summertime nostalgia.

“We were talking about fever and summer fever, then we thought ‘we should just go all the way and describe what it’s like if you go to Panama City on spring break or on vacation,'” Fairchild explains to Sounds Like Nashville and other media about the writing process.

The effect of a good groove isn’t lost on the group, who relied on inspiration from the sound of the 70s when building the track. It seems that 70s fever has been making its presence known in the country genre as of late, as the group pulled influence from disco group the Bee Gees when recording the track. Recent touring partner Kacey Musgraves also shared that the Bee Gees’ sound also made its way into her disco-centric “High Horse” off Golden Hour. The country quartet performed in a special Grammys tribute concert to the disco group in 2017, which permeated into the summery song.

“We’ve always loved the 70s,” Jimi Westbrook, who was taken by the “breezy feel” of the track, details. “You can go back to all of our records and there’s those sunny California harmonies that we’ve always been attracted to. I think our vocal blend lends itself to those kinds of things, so it was fun to go there.”

In its 20-year history, the group has continuously found methods of defying the norm, whether demonstrating their sharp harmonies on the swampy “Boondocks” to stretching their artistic vision on the Pharrell collaborative project Wanderlust, where this 70s vibe also lives on songs like “Miracle” and “One of Those Days.” “Summer Fever” follows suit, with Phillip Sweet noting the song is complimentary to their career-defining “Pontoon.” While the groove of “Summer Fever” reflects the foursome’s desire to evolve in the studio, it’s still authentic to their roots.

“There’s something about a great groove and an infectious melody that’s very easy to sing,” Fairchild says, admiring the way a certain groove can connect with an audience. “We don’t what to repeat ourselves. When you write a melody or a song and you’ve got a groove that is the foundation of it, you can’t try to make it something that it’s not. You have to let it be what it is,” she says of the track. “But it still tells that southern story.” “And it’s still us,” adds Westbrook. “It’s what we’ve always loved.”

“Summer Fever” follows LBT’s previous single “When Someone Stops Loving You” off The Breaker, which scored the CMT Award for Group Video of the Year in 2018. They’re currently spending the summer traveling on the co-headlining Bandwagon Tour with Miranda Lambert that takes them across the country for six months until the tour’s conclusion on Dec. 14.