Sometimes we stumble across things we end up liking in the most bizarre ways. You come across a new type of food you hadn’t tried before because the waiter got your order wrong. Or you find a wonderful new pub because you took a wrong turn down an unknown street on a night out. Or you discover a fantastic band you’ve never heard of before because…you were trying to improve your personal best in your next 10k race…

That, dear friends, is how I found Little Big Town.

In a desperate attempt to improve my running pace from “slow jogger” to “slightly faster but still relatively slow jogger” I turned to a website I had read about in a fitness magazine. Jog.fm is designed to help you find music to listen to whilst you work out. It has a very specific feature that suggests songs based on how fast you want to run. You can pick a genre you like and choose your speed in terms minutes per kilometres (you have to figure this out for it to work. Sadly you can’t just type “faster than a slow hippo”. I tried…) It then suggests songs for you based on Beats Per Minute. It’s genius really.

One of the songs that cropped up the first time I used it was Vapour by Little Big Town (5.50 kilometres per hour or 156 beats per minute in case you were wondering). I admit that the band had come up on my country radar previously but I had never actually listened to any of their songs. Vapour is a great song (and surprisingly good to run to) so I listened to some more of their albums and before I knew it I was hooked. These guys know how to belt out a great country tune.

In February Little Big Town played at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire as part of their Painkiller tour and yours truly was there to see them. And boy, were they awesome…

They rocked Turn The Lights On, Day Drinking and (one of my favourites) Quit Breaking Up With Me (listen for the “censorship”…it’s hilarious). And of course, their most recent hit Girl Crush, which, when sung live, is truly unbelievable. At one point an over-excited fan screamed out “WE LOVE YOU!!!!” prompting one of the band members to liken them to an angry Mary Poppins. You’ve got to love a band that can banter with their audience. It was a crowd packed, foot stomping, singing along at the top of your lungs kind of night. Amazing.

So thank you jog.fm for introducing me to the greatness that is Little Big Town. I may not be able to run a five-minute mile but at least I have some cool tunes to listen to when I try…