GULFPORT, MISSISSIPPI — Madison Hillman has released “Bigger Than It Ought to Be,” a warm, playful country blues single that follows the chart breakthrough of “The Courthouse Clock,” which debuted at No. 27 on the Top 40.

Where “The Courthouse Clock” looked at time, memory and the way a hometown landmark can quietly witness generations passing around it, Hillman’s new song approaches local attachment with a lighter touch.

Inspired by the friendly rivalry surrounding Gulfport’s Magnolia Sand Dollar and a competing larger monument, “Bigger Than It Ought to Be” is less interested in declaring a winner than in asking why communities become so attached to the odd little things they call their own.

Built around acoustic guitar, playful bottleneck slide and an easy groove, the song finds Hillman smiling at the spectacle without laughing at the people behind it. Water towers, painted walls, courthouse clocks and roadside monuments become examples of how ordinary objects gather meaning because people keep showing up, taking pictures and passing stories along.

“Sometimes something starts out as just concrete or paint or a funny thing beside the road, and then enough years pass and it belongs to everybody,” Hillman said. “I liked the idea that both towns could be proud and nobody had to lose.”

The release continues a run of songs rooted in Mississippi places and everyday lives. After the national response to “The Courthouse Clock,” Hillman said she has grown more confident that highly local stories do not need to be stripped of their specificity to travel.

“Bigger Than It Ought to Be” is available now on all streaming platforms.