Ryman Auditorium Plans Six-Show Residency With Little Big Town

The Ryman Auditorium will host its first residency in 2017, with Little Big Town slated for a six-show series beginning Feb. 24, the same day their seventh studio album, The Breaker, will release. Additional shows will be held on Feb. 25, May 19-20, and Sept. 15-16.

Little Big Town’s members Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook made the announcement during a press conference at the Ryman Auditorium, with Nashville Mayor Megan Barry and Ryman Auditorium general manager Sally Williams.

“To launch our 125th-anniversary celebration we wanted to do something new – a Ryman residency,” said Williams. “Little Big Town consistently bring to the table fresh, exciting creations. ‘Little Big Town at the Mother Church’ will be no exception. We’re honored to celebrate this major milestone with them and to cement their place in Ryman history moving forward.”

Pictured (L-R): Jimi Westbrook, Nashville mayor Megan Barry, Karen Fairchild, Ryman Auditorium GM Sally Williams, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Sandbox Management’s Jason Owen.

Fairchild said that the residency’s first shows will center around new album The Breaker, and hinted that the residency could include performances from legendary performers who have never played the Ryman stage, with the group providing harmonies.

The Breaker includes the group’s current single, “Better Man,” which was a solo write penned by Taylor Swift. The group said the song was the first time Swift had ever pitched a song.

“We said, ‘We are not just going to blab that you wrote this immediately,'” Fairchild recalled of their conversation with Swift. “She said, ‘That’s the greatest honor as a songwriter that you could ever give me is that you don’t want anyone to know I wrote it.’ We knew we would tell eventually and it was a hard question to dodge for a while and the only reason we didn’t say is because we wanted for you to hear it for what it’s worth and it’s a beautiful song. At her heart, she is the biggest pop star in the world, but she’s a songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee, and she likes to tell a story and we didn’t want you to have any subtext there other than to hear the song, and we did that. It had the biggest add day in our history with our guys at Universal that we’ve ever had.”

Tickets for the Ryman Auditorium residency will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.

Author
Recent Posts

Jessica Nicholson

Jessica Nicholson serves as the Managing Editor for MusicRow magazine. Her previous music journalism experience includes work with Country Weekly magazine and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) magazine. She holds a BBA degree in Music Business and Marketing from Belmont University. She welcomes your feedback at jnicholson@musicrow.com.

Latest posts by Jessica Nicholson (see all)