Pain Killer (Little Big Town album)

Pain Killer is the sixth studio album by American country music group Little Big Town. It was released on October 21, 2014, through Capitol Nashville.[1] Little Big Town co-wrote eight of the album's thirteen tracks.[2][3] Pain Killer was produced by Jay Joyce.[4]

Pain Killer
Studio album by Little Big Town
Released	October 21, 2014 (2014-10-21)
Genre	Country
Length	46:19
Label	Capitol Nashville
Producer	Jay Joyce
Little Big Town chronology
Tornado (2012) Pain Killer (2014) Wanderlust (2016)
Singles from Pain Killer
"Day Drinking" Released: June 9, 2014 "Girl Crush" Released: December 15, 2014 "Pain Killer" Released: August 24, 2015

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	83/100[5]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic[6]
Billboard[7]
Country Weekly[8]	B+
Los Angeles Times[9]

Rating Pain Killer a "B+", Bob Paxman of Country Weekly praised the group's vocal harmonies and the songwriting, particularly the songs written by Lori McKenna, but criticized the "overly cluttered" production on some tracks.[8] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called the album as "the rarest thing in contemporary country, a record with an expansive world-view delivered with a kinetic kick and infallible melodies, a record that gives no indication of where it's going upon first listen but remains compelling upon further spins".[6] The album has a score of 83 on Metacritic indicating “universal acclaim.”[10]

Accolades

Year	Association	Category	Result
2015	Academy of Country Music	Album of the Year	Nominated
2015	Country Music Association	Album of the Year	Nominated
2016	Grammy Awards	Best Country Album	Nominated

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number seven on Billboard 200 and number three on Top Country Albums chart, selling 42,000 copies in its first week.[11] As of January 2017, the album has sold 511,300 copies in the United States.[12] The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over a million units.

Track listing

The album's track listing was announced on July 14.[13][14]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Quit Breaking Up with Me"	busbee Natalie Hemby Shane McAnally	Fairchild Schlapman	3:24
2.	"Day Drinking"	Karen Fairchild Jimi Westbrook Phillip Sweet Troy Verges Barry Dean	Fairchild	2:58
3.	"Tumble and Fall"	Fairchild Kimberly Schlapman Lori McKenna Liz Rose Hillary Lindsey	Westbrook	4:41
4.	"Pain Killer"	Fairchild Westbrook Blair Daly Lindsey	Fairchild	3:11
5.	"Girl Crush"	McKenna Rose Lindsey	Fairchild	3:13
6.	"Faster Gun"	Jeremy Spillman Ryan Tyndell Westbrook Sweet	Sweet Westbrook	4:10
7.	"Good People"	Jay Joyce Hemby Spillman	Schlapman	3:41
8.	"Stay All Night"	Westbrook Sweet Brent Cobb Jason Saenz	Sweet Westbrook	2:45
9.	"Save Your Sin"	McKenna Rose Lindsey	Schlapman	2:46
10.	"Live Forever"	Fairchild Westbrook Sweet Schlapman Spillman Tyndell	Sweet	4:14
11.	"Things You Don't Think About"	Hemby McAnally Ross Copperman	Fairchild	3:36
12.	"Turn the Lights On"	Fairchild Westbrook Sweet Schlapman Hemby Joyce Spillman	Fairchild	4:08
13.	"Silver and Gold"	Jedd Hughes Joyce Schlapman Fairchild	Westbrook	3:33

Personnel

Adapted from Allmusic and Pain Killer liner notes.[6][15]

Little Big Town

• Karen Fairchild — vocals
• Kimberly Schlapman — vocals
• Philip Sweet — vocals, drums, acoustic guitar
• Jimi Westbrook — vocals, acoustic guitar

Musicians Johnny Duke — acoustic guitar, electric guitar, pedal steel guitar Jedd Hughes — acoustic guitar, electric guitar, ganjo, tiple Jay Joyce — electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, ganjo, mandolin, synthesizer, bass guitar, bells, pump organ Seth Rausch — drums Giles Reaves — keyboards, percussion, vocoder, synthesizer horns, vibraphone, vocal pads John Thomasson — bass guitar Ryan Tyndell — acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar

Production Richard Dodd — mastering Jason Hall — engineering, mixing Jedd Hughes — engineering Scott Johnson — production assistant Jay Joyce — engineering, mixing, production Reid Scelza — assistant Matthew Wheeler — assistant

Visual and imagery Karen Fairchild — art direction Kelly Jerrell — art direction Meritocracy — art direction Matthew Welch — photography

Charts

Chart positions Chart (2014–16) Peak position Canadian Albums (Billboard)[16] 49 UK Albums (OCC)[17] 143 UK Country Albums (OCC)[18] 2 US Billboard 200[19] 7 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[20] 3 Year-end charts Chart (2014) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[21] 54 Chart (2015) Position US Billboard 200[22] 38 US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[23] 10 Chart (2016) Position US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[24] 30

Singles Year Single Peak chart positions US Country US Country Airplay US US AC US Adult CAN Country CAN 2014 "Day Drinking" 4 2 40 — — 1 50 "Girl Crush" 1 3 18 29 23 11 29 2015 "Pain Killer" 49 38 — — — 35 — "—" denotes releases that did not chart

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[25]	Platinum	1,000,000
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. Horton, Carrie (July 16, 2014). "Little Big Town Announce 'Pain Killer' Album, Reveal Track Listing". Taste of Country. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
2. Hicks, Gregory (July 20, 2014). "Little Big Town's 'Pain Killer' prescribed for October". The Tennessean. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
3. Wyland, Sarah (July 16, 2014). "Little Big Town to Release Pain Killer on October 21". Great American Country. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
4. Ragusa, Tammy (July 14, 2014). "Little Big Town to Release New Album, "Pain Killer," in October". Country Weekly. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
5. "Pain Killer Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-11-18.
6. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Pain Killer - Little Big Town". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
7. Newman, Melinda. "Little Big Town Finally Ready for the Big Time With Tour De Force 'Pain Killer'". Billboard.
8. Paxman, Bob (3 November 2014). "Pain Killer by Little Big Town". Country Weekly. 21 (44): 66. ISSN 1074-3235.
9. Wood, Mikael. "Little Big Town revisits the song doctor on 'Pain Killer'". Los Angeles Times.
10. Pain Killer by Little Big Town, retrieved 2020-04-19
11. Wade Jessen, Nashville (October 30, 2014). "Little Big Town Leaps Onto Top Country Albums". Billboard.
12. Bjorke, Matt (January 22, 2017). "Top 10 Country Albums Chart: January 23, 2017". Roughstock.
13. Betts, Stephen (July 14, 2014). "Little Big Town's 'Pain Killer' Fills October Prescription". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
14. Nicholson, Jessica (July 14, 2014). "Little Big Town's 'Pain Killer' To Release in October". MusicRow. Retrieved August 19, 2014.
15. Pain Killer (CD booklet). Little Big Town. Capitol Records Nashville. 2014. B0021360-02.CS1 maint: others (link)
16. "Little Big Town Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard.
17. "CHART: CLUK Update 19.03.2016 (wk11)". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
18. "Official Country Artists Albums Chart Top 20". Official Charts Company.
19. "Little Big Town Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
20. "Little Big Town Chart History (Top Country Albums)". Billboard.
21. "Top Country Albums: 2014 Year-End Charts". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved January 16, 2015.
22. "Billboard 200 Albums: 2015 Year-End top-selling albums across all genres". Billboard.
23. "Top Country Albums: 2015 Year-End Charts". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
24. "Top Country Albums – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
25. "American album certifications – Little Big Town – Pain Killer". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.