This month marks 20 years since the release of Little Things by Toby Lightman and she's celebrating with a special online performance on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at 8:00pm live on her Facebook and Instagram pages. She will perform the album from front to back and talk about the writing and recording process.
Toby Lightman was raised in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and began pursuing a career in music after graduating high school. Little Things, released on March 30, 2004 on Lava Records (a subsidiary of Atlantic Records), was her debut record. She was originally a violinist, starting out at age six and playing thoughout high school in her school's orchestra. The crowd's reaction to her singing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel inspired her to learn guitar and become a singer-songwriter.
On social media, Lightman posted, "Little Things represents so many life changing moments for me, while I was finding myself as a young adult, as a woman, as an impressionable singer - songwriter finding her way through the major label gauntlet. Writing and recording these songs helped me navigate my life at that time and beyond! It gave me my voice. It gave me a point of view. It gave me the guts to stand up for my feelings.. It showed me that the little things DO matter! But most of all, it gave me YOU!!"
"So many of you have told me countless stories of how you’ve connected with a song in such a meaningful way that it has made making writing and recording music integral to my life," continued Lightman. "I don’t know who I would be if I didn’t do this. I write songs from my heart and when you connect as deeply as me, well that is what this is all about right?? To write songs that are heard and felt. All of our feelings are valid. This album taught me that and I’ve carried it over to every album since!"
New Jersey music journalist Gary Wien had Little Things at #100 in his book Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. His favorites from the album included the songs "Devils and Angels", "Voices", and "Everyday".
