# 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. 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.

## 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 |
| Review scores ||
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Exclaim! | 9/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Spin | 8/10 |
| Uncut | 8/10 |
| Vice (Expert Witness) | A− |
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. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic states: "Songs rarely come much better than these." 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." Additionally, it was the Spin "album of the week" and called "fantastic; often a superb piece of recorded music" by reviewer Alfred Soto. 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."
Award nominations for Big Day in a Small Town :
| Year | Association | Category | Result |
| 2017 | Grammy Awards | Best Country Album | Nominated |
Accolades for Big Day in a Small Town :
| Publication | Rank | List |
| AllMusic | N/A | Best Albums of 2016 |
| American Songwriter | 21 | Top 50 Albums of 2016 |
| Entertainment Weekly | 8 | The Best Country Albums of 2016 |
| Rolling Stone | 6 | 40 Best Country Albums of 2016 |
| Rolling Stone | 27 | 50 Best Albums of 2016 |
| Stereogum | 4 | The 20 Best Country Albums of 2016 |
| Uproxx | 7 | The 20 Best Country Albums of 2016 |

## Track listing

Writing credits source: BMI
All tracks are written by Brandy Clark, with additional co-writers as noted

## Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.

## Commercial performance

Big Day in a Small Town debuted at number eighty-two on the US Billboard 200 chart 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. As of August 2016 the album has sold 15,500 copies in the US.

## Chart performance

Chart performance for Big Day in a Small Town :
| Chart (2016) | Peak position |
| UK Country Albums (OCC) | 3 |
| US Billboard 200 | 82 |
| US Top Country Albums (Billboard) | 8 |
| US Folk Albums (Billboard) | 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. |