Big Day in a Small Town

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
Studio album by Brandy Clark
Released	June 10, 2016 (2016-06-10)
Genre	Country
Length	40:20
Label	Warner Bros. Nashville
Producer	Jay Joyce
Brandy Clark chronology
12 Stories (2013) Big Day in a Small Town (2016) Live from Los Angeles (2017)
Singles from Big Day in a Small Town
"Girl Next Door" Released: February 16, 2016 "Love Can Go to Hell" Released: September 12, 2016 "Three Kids No Husband" Released: April 2017

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

Professional ratings

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]

Award nominations for Big Day in a Small Town

Year	Association	Category	Result
2017	Grammy Awards[2]	Best Country Album	Nominated

Accolades for Big Day in a Small Town

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.

Big Day in a Small Town track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Soap Opera"	Bryan Simpson	3:25
2.	"Girl Next Door"	Jessie Jo Dillon Shane McAnally	4:33
3.	"Homecoming Queen"	Luke Laird McAnally	3:07
4.	"Broke"	McAnally Josh Osborne	3:39
5.	"You Can Come Over"	Dillon Mark Narmore	3:53
6.	"Love Can Go to Hell"	Scott Stepakoff	3:58
7.	"Big Day in a Small Town"	McAnally Mark D. Sanders	3:43
8.	"Three Kids No Husband"	Lori McKenna	3:14
9.	"Daughter"	Dillon Jeremy Spillman	3:19
10.	"Drinkin', Smokin', Cheatin'"		2:57
11.	"Since You've Gone to Heaven"	McAnally	4:32
Total length:			40:20

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.^[19]

Musicians Brandy Clark – acoustic guitar, lead vocals, background vocals John Deaderick – keyboards Fred Eltringham – drums Keith Gattis – guitar Jason Hall – background vocals Jay Joyce – banjo, guitar, organ, background vocals Shane McAnally – background vocals Pat McGrath – resonator guitar Rob McNelley – guitar Kacey Musgraves – background vocals Josh Osborne – background vocals Dave Roe – bass guitar Morgane Stapleton – background vocals Forest Glen Whitehead – guitar, background vocals

Technical personnel Paul Cossette – assistant engineer Jason Hall – engineer, mixing Chris Johnson – photography Jay Joyce – engineer, mixing, producer Pamela Littky – portrait photography Dan McCarroll – A&R Melissa Spillman – production assistant Caleb VanBuskirk – assistant engineer Stephen Walker – art direction, design, illustrations Cate Wright – A&R

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 performance for Big Day in a Small Town

Chart (2016)	Peak position
UK Country Albums (OCC)[23]	3
US Billboard 200[24]	82
US Top Country Albums (Billboard)[25]	8
US Americana/Folk Albums (Billboard)[26]	5

Release history

Release history of Big Day in a Small Town

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label
United States	June 10, 2016	CD digital download vinyl	Warner Bros.