Big Day in a Small Town
2016 studio album by Brandy Clark
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Big Day in a Small Town is the second studio album by American country music artist Brandy Clark. It was released on June 10, 2016, through Warner Bros. Records.[1] The album was nominated for Best Country Album and the album's second single, "Love Can Go To Hell", was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.[2]
| Big Day in a Small Town | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 10, 2016 | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 40:20 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. Nashville | |||
| Producer | Jay Joyce | |||
| Brandy Clark chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Big Day in a Small Town | ||||
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Background
Two of the album's tracks were previously recorded by other artists: "Homecoming Queen" previously appeared on Feels Like Home, the 2013 studio album by Sheryl Crow, and "Three Kids No Husband" previously appeared on the 2014 album Numbered Doors, by its co-writer Lori McKenna.
The track "Daughter" features Clark's close friend and collaborator Kacey Musgraves on harmony vocals.
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 84/100[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Exclaim! | 9/10[5] |
| Rolling Stone |  [6] |
| Spin | 8/10[7] |
| Uncut | 8/10[8] |
| Vice (Expert Witness) | A−[9] |
Big Day in a Small Town received highly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 84 out of 100, which indicates "universal acclaim" based on 5 reviews.[3] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic states: "Songs rarely come much better than these."[4] Rolling Stone's Will Hermes calls it "music tooled alternately for stadiums and songwriting circles, commercial and public radio, line-dance bars and coffee shops."[6] Additionally, it was the Spin "album of the week" and called "fantastic; often a superb piece of recorded music" by reviewer Alfred Soto.[7] The Boston Globe's Stuart Munro wrote: "If you're looking for alternatives to mainstream country, Clark is still providing one... you just have to keep listening beyond the first two tracks to find it."[10]
| Year | Association | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Grammy Awards[2] | Best Country Album | Nominated |
| Publication | Rank | List |
|---|---|---|
| AllMusic | N/A | Best Albums of 2016[11] |
| American Songwriter | 21 | Top 50 Albums of 2016[12] |
| Entertainment Weekly | 8 | The Best Country Albums of 2016[13] |
| Rolling Stone | 6 | 40 Best Country Albums of 2016[14] |
| 27 | 50 Best Albums of 2016[15] | |
| Stereogum | 4 | The 20 Best Country Albums of 2016[16] |
| Uproxx | 7 | The 20 Best Country Albums of 2016[17] |
Track listing
Writing credits source: BMI[18]
All tracks are written by Brandy Clark, with additional co-writers as noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Soap Opera" | 3:25 | |
| 2. | "Girl Next Door" | 4:33 | |
| 3. | "Homecoming Queen" |
| 3:07 |
| 4. | "Broke" |
| 3:39 |
| 5. | "You Can Come Over" |
| 3:53 |
| 6. | "Love Can Go to Hell" |
| 3:58 |
| 7. | "Big Day in a Small Town" |
| 3:43 |
| 8. | "Three Kids No Husband" | 3:14 | |
| 9. | "Daughter" |
| 3:19 |
| 10. | "Drinkin', Smokin', Cheatin'" | 2:57 | |
| 11. | "Since You've Gone to Heaven" |
| 4:32 |
| Total length: | 40:20 | ||
Personnel
Credits adapted from AllMusic.[19]
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Musicians
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Technical personnel
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Commercial performance
Big Day in a Small Town debuted at number eighty-two on the US Billboard 200 chart[20] with 8,100 equivalent album units; it sold 7,400 copies in its first week, with the remainder of its unit total reflecting the album's streaming activity and track sales.[21] As of August 2016 the album has sold 15,500 copies in the US.[22]
Chart performance
| Chart (2016) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Country Albums (Official Charts)[23] | 3 |
| US Billboard 200[24] | 82 |
| US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[25] | 8 |
| US Americana/Folk Albums (Billboard)[26] | 5 |
Release history
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | June 10, 2016 | Warner Bros. |