"The Little Girl" is a song written by

Harley Allen Harley Lee Allen (January 23, 1956March 30, 2011) was an American bluegrass and country singer and songwriter. Early life Allen was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of bluegrass performer Red Allen. Discography Studio albums Singles Musi ...

and recorded by American country music artist John Michael Montgomery. The song features harmony vocals by bluegrass musicians Alison Krauss and

Dan Tyminski Daniel John Tyminski (born June 20, 1967) is an American bluegrass composer, vocalist, and instrumentalist. He is a member of Alison Krauss's band Union Station, and has released three solo albums, ''Carry Me Across the Mountain'' (2000), on ...

, both members of

Alison Krauss and Union Station Alison Krauss & Union Station is an American bluegrass and country band associated with singer Alison Krauss. It was initially composed of Krauss, Jeff White, Mike Harman and John Pennell. Later additions included Tim Stafford, Ron Block, Ada ...

. It was released in August 2000 as the lead single from the album '' Brand New Me''. The song became Montgomery's seventh and last No. 1 hit to date on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart, and his first chart-topper since 1995's " Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)". The song also reached No. 35 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Critical reception

Chuck Taylor, of ''

'' magazine reviewed the song favorably saying that "every element flows seamlessly together, from the understated production and the tendered melody to Montgomery's carefully measured performance."

Chart positions

"The Little Girl" reached number one on the ''

'' country chart in late 2000, holding the position for three weeks. It was Montgomery's seventh number-one hit and first since " Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)" in 1995. The song also reached number one on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' country singles chart in Canada, and was that publication's last country number-one hit as ''RPM'' closed in November 2000.

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Girl 2000 singles 2000 songs John Michael Montgomery songs Songs written by Harley Allen Song recordings produced by Buddy Cannon Song recordings produced by Norro Wilson Songs about child abuse Atlantic Records singles Songs about Jesus