A big time at The Rialto with Little Big Town

No one is really sure who originally said, “Live like it's heaven on earth.” And it probably doesn’t matter. But after listening to the harmonies from the celestial country choir masquerading as Little Big Town the other evening at The Rialto Theatre, the crowd was sure of one thing – they must be living right.

The potent pair of pairs, Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman and Phillip Sweet, brought their matchless melodies and fantastic blend of country, rock and soul to Arizona’s biggest, little town as part of their current tour.

View slideshow: Little Big Town

Country music’s fantastic four were on a real hot streak even before they hit Arizona, burning up the airwaves with 12 charting singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and selling a couple of million albums in the process.

Their most recent scorcher, 2010’s The Reason Why, earned them a well deserved Grammy nomination for Album of The Year. Peaking at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Album chart and No. 5 on the Billboard 200, the band’s fantastic fourth studio album is their highest charting album to date, threatening to repave The Road To Here, their platinum-selling second album.

The heavenly hosts fittingly led off the service – uh, concert – with the leadoff single from the album, the group's fastest-rising single ever, “Little White Church.” The band quickly converted the handful of country music non-believers in the house with the song’s contagious energy.

Rolling into “Runaway Train,” the band effectively ended the debate on intelligent design with the best harmonies this side of Crosby, Stills & Nash. It’s simply implausible that random happenstance could create and bring together four voices that mesh so flawlessly.

And by no means was that the end of the melodic mélange. “A Little More You,” “You’re Gonna Love Me,” “Why, Oh Why” – it’d just be easier to pick a song where the intertwined intonations weren’t exceptional. And uh, best of luck on that one.

How good were the vocals? A couple of fans on the front row drove all the way from Phoenix for the show.

The best of the best was the menacing “Bones,” a lyrical wake-up call about inevitable comeuppance. And listening to the band ominously sing, “You got bones in your closet / You got ghosts in your town / Ain't no doubt, yeah their gonna come out / They're waiting for the sun to go down,” the fans were undeniably haunted by the ghosts of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain.”

While LBT’s intricate harmonies and band makeup have occasionally drawn comparisons to the pop rockers, the similarities definitely don’t extend to the private lives of the country artists. Little Big Town has somehow managed to harmonize off the stage as well.

Westbrook talked about the inevitable similarities to the Mac – and one big difference – in a recent interview with Examiner.

“I really think it’s natural, man. Talkin’ about the Fleetwood Mac thing. That’s kinda funny, because obviously we embraced some of that when we did a Crossroads with Lindsey Buckingham.”

“We did a Crossroads on CMT where they pair a country artist with a rock artist. And we did a whole thing with Lindsey and sang a lot of Fleetwood Mac songs, and he sang our songs and it was really cool.”

“But that was one thing he gave us advice on, like ‘You’ve got one marriage in the band (Westbrook and Fairchild). Stop! Don’t go any further!’ Which we all got a big laugh out of.”

While Little Big Town may be an example of the melodious whole being greater than the sum of the musical parts, the scintillating solo work sure showed that each of the band members can hold their own.

Sweet’s soulful vocals and acoustic intro on the bluesy “Bring It On Home” really hit home. His mournful guitar was the perfect complement to Fairchild’s somber vocals on “Shut Up Train.”

And as Fairchild and Westbrook looked into each other’s eyes and sang, “You’re the reason why / Baby you’re the only reason why / Don’t wanna say goodnight / Keep kissing me don’t wanna say goodnight,” the fans knew that they meant every word.

LBT was at their best by taking a couple of good tunes and making them better. With a compelling cover of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” the country crooners displayed their versatility – and they persuaded the crowd that the chart topper actually sounds better fully clothed. And with a potent version of the Eagles’ “Heartache Tonight,” Little Big Town proved that they can rock to their heart’s content.

As the band closed with “Boondocks,” the band offered the crowd a chance to get personal with the personable performers.

Schlapman confided, “It’s the only thing we ever wanted to do. Thanks for lettin’ us do this for a living.”

You’re very welcome Kimberly, Karen, Jimi and Phillip. Believe me, it’s our pleasure…

Here’s the complete setlist:

Little White Church

Runaway Train

Looking For A Reason

A Little More You

Bones

Why, Oh Why

Bring It On Home

The Reason Why