Tom Higgenson of Plain White T's calls Nashville a 'second home' ahead of Music City show

Alternative pop-rock band the Plain White T's will be hitting the stage in Nashville on Sunday, and as it turns out, the "Hey There Delilah" band from Illinois has some surprising connections to Music City.

The band's lead singer, Tom Higgenson, is ready for a show in the city he calls his "second home," gearing up for a Sunday concert at Marathon Music Works alongside rock band The Used.

Ahead of the show, Higgenson chatted with The Tennessean about the band's tour and splitting his time between Illinois and Music City.

The 'most Plain White T's' album they've ever made

Higgenson and band members Tim Lopez, Mike Retondo and De'Mar Hamilton have released nine studio albums in their 27 years as a band. In November 2023, the Plain White T's dropped what fans are calling their "self-titled" album.

"I wouldn't call it self-titled — I would call it not titled, right?" Higgenson said.

"Because on the album cover, it's just this black and white photo of a plain white T-shirt. It's almost like the album didn't need a name, because it was just like, 'OK, let's just let this image represent the album.'"

The photo kind of spoke for the record, Higgenson said. The 13-track album straddles pop and rock, acoustic tracks and nostalgic pop-punk headbangers.

"There's definitely a sense of hope and a sense of freshness and energy there that we had with making this album and writing these songs and recording these songs," he said. "We purposely left the album a little bit — not rough around the edges — but just a little bit raw. It's not super polished. It's not super slick."

Higgenson and the band aimed for a "tangible" feel in the album. "You can really just kind of crawl into these songs and live there for a while," he said.

"We've never made an album that sounds like this, yet I feel like it sounds the most Plain White T's out of any album we've ever made."

Those familiar with Plain White T's will know the band's platinum and Grammy-nominated hit "Hey There Delilah," and other tunes like "Rhythm of Love" and "Our Time Now." And though the band may be best known for their thoughtful acoustic songs, they started out as a pop-punk group.

Their early influences included Jimmy Eat World, Fall Out Boy, Simple Plan and others in the Warped Tour scene.

"We were kind of lumped in with those bands," Higgenson said. "But then we'd always have an acoustic song or two on every album that we put out, and those seemed to be the songs that people really gravitated toward."

Now, Plain White T's are on tour with The Used, "The Taste of Ink" band that Higgenson says he's a major fan of. The band leans into that Warped Tour sound — the place where Plain White T's used to live.

"Their first album actually is like a desert island album for me; it's so good, one of my favorite albums ever," Higgenson said, gushing over the 2002 record "The Used."

"To be able to tour with them, I'm super excited," he said. "Just as a fan, I'm gonna love watching them every night."

Plain White T's singer Tom Higgenson talks Music City

"I try to be (in Nashville) as much as I possibly can," Higgenson said, saying he's been splitting his time between Chicago and Music City. "Anytime I can go, I'm in Nashville. I love it."

Higgenson has had a place in East Nashville for about a year and a half, gravitating to the city because of its songwriting culture.

"People are great everywhere, but there was just something a little bit more ... I use the word classic. For Plain White T's songs, we have that classic songwriting element to us," he said. "And I think that in Nashville, that's a little bit more reflected there."

Higgenson said getting a spot in Music City is an excuse to go back often and get creative. Last year, he spent most of his time in Nashville doing just that.

The band has collaborated with Nashville songwriter Chris Tompkins (Jimmy Buffett, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood), singer-songwriter and producer Marty Dodson (Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, George Strait) and producer and songwriter Brandon Day.

And while Higgenson isn't the biggest country music fan, he knows that there's more to Music City than just that one genre.

"When I'm out there in East Nashville, I don't think that I've ever heard country music playing anywhere ... It's not at all what you would think of when you think of Nashville. It's such a creative and diverse part of town."

While Chicago will always be home to Higgenson, he says Nashville feels like a second home, one where more inspiration, through collaboration, is sure to spark.

To learn more about Plain White T's, head to plainwhitets.com .

Audrey Gibbs is a music reporter for The Tennessean. You can reach her at agibbs@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Plain White T's to play Nashville's Marathon Music Works