Little Big Town
Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1998, the group has had the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook. Fairchild and Westbrook have been married to each other since 2006. Little Big Town's musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all four members alternating as lead vocalists.
After a recording deal with the Mercury Nashville Records label which produced no singles or albums, Little Big Town released its debut album Little Big Town on Monument Records in 2002. It produced two minor country chart singles before the group left the label. In 2005, the group signed to Equity Music Group, an independent record label owned by Clint Black. Their second album, The Road to Here, was released that year, and received a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America and spawned their breakout single, "Boondocks." A Place to Land, their third album, was released via Equity, then re-released via Capitol Nashville after Equity closed in 2008. Seven more albums followed for Capitol: The Reason Why, Tornado, Pain Killer, The Breaker, Nightfall, Mr. Sun and The Christmas Record, four of which have reached number one on the Top Country Albums chart.
Their albums accounted for 24 singles on Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay, including the No. 1 singles "Pontoon", and "Better Man" along with the top 10 hits "Boondocks", "Bring It On Home", "Little White Church", "Tornado", "Day Drinking", and "Girl Crush".
Early years
Fairchild and Schlapman met at Samford University in 1987, where they both sang in the school's vocal ensembles. In the mid-1990s, Fairchild sang with the Christian vocal group Truth and was featured as a lead singer in a few of their songs. She formed a duo called KarenLeigh with Leigh Cappillino, a member of Truth who joined the group Point of Grace. KarenLeigh produced the singles, "Save It for a Rainy Day" and "This Love Has". Fairchild and Schlapman both later moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue solo singing careers, where they reunited and decided to form a vocal group. Westbrook joined Schlapman and Fairchild in 1998, followed by Sweet.Career
1998–2005: ''Little Big Town''
Little Big Town's first record deal was with Mercury Nashville Records. The band was dropped from the label's roster without releasing a single or album. In 2001, they sang backing vocals on Collin Raye's album Can't Back Down, while Sweet and Roads co-wrote the song "Back Where I Belong" on Sherrié Austin's 2001 album Followin' a Feelin'.In 2002, the band signed with Monument Records Nashville. The band released its first album, Little Big Town, in 2002. The album produced the singles "Don't Waste My Time" and "Everything Changes", which peaked at 33 and 42, respectively, on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Little Big Town was left without a label when Monument Records dissolved its Nashville branch. After Westbrook's father died, and Fairchild and Sweet got divorces, the band members got outside jobs while they continued to tour.
2005-2009: ''The Road to Here'' and ''A Place to Land''
In 2005, Little Big Town was signed to Equity Music Group, a label started and partially owned by country music singer Clint Black. Their third single, "Boondocks", was released in June, peaking at No. 9 on the country charts in January 2006. It served as the first of four singles from the group's second album, The Road to Here, which was released on October 4, 2005. "Bring It On Home", the second single from the album, became Little Big Town's first top 5 hit on Hot Country Songs. It was followed by "Good as Gone" and "A Little More You", both of which were top 20 hits. By the end of 2006, The Road to Here had been certified Platinum in the United States. Unlike their first album, the group's members co-wrote the majority of the songs on The Road to Here along with Wayne Kirkpatrick, who also produced it. In 2007, the group sang backing vocals on John Mellencamp's Freedom's Road album.Little Big Town released A Place to Land, their third studio album and second with Equity, on November 6, 2007. Its lead-off single, "I'm with the Band", peaked at number 32 on the country chart. On April 23, 2008, Little Big Town announced it was leaving Equity for Capitol Nashville. Shortly afterward, they charted with Sugarland and Jake Owen on a live cover of The Dream Academy's "Life in a Northern Town". Taken from Sugarland's 2007 tour, it reached number 28 on the country chart based on unsolicited airplay. In October 2008, Capitol re-released A Place to Land, which added four new songs, and the label promoted two further singles from the album, "Fine Line" and "Good Lord Willing".
In the fall of 2008, Little Big Town opened up for Carrie Underwood on her Carnival Ride Tour. They began their first headlining tour in January 2009 in Jacksonville, Florida and continued through April.
Fairchild recorded a duet with Mellencamp on his 2008 album, Life, Death, Love and Freedom. The song, "A Ride Back Home", was released as the album's third single and was accompanied by a music video. Fairchild also duetted with Mellencamp on "My Sweet Love" and appears in its music video.
Little Big Town was nominated for Vocal Group of the Year for the fourth year in a row at the 2009 CMA Awards.
2010–2013: ''The Reason Why'', commercial success, and ''Tornado''
In March 2010, the group released a new single titled "Little White Church", as the lead-off single to their fourth studio album and first completely new album on Capitol Nashville, The Reason Why, which was released on August 24, 2010. "Little White Church" peaked at No. 6 on the country chart. The album produced two additional singles in "Kiss Goodbye" and the title track, but both failed to reach the top 40 of Hot Country Songs.The album's title track was released as a digital single on July 27, 2010, to begin an iTunes countdown to the album release on August 24, 2010. Three further digital singles – "Kiss Goodbye", "Why, Oh Why", and "All the Way Down" – were released weekly leading up until the album release. Also, in promotion of The Reason Why, Little Big Town went on tour as an opening act for Sugarland on The Incredible Machine Tour, as well their own The Reason Why Tour.
Little Big Town's fifth studio album, Tornado, was released on September 11, 2012. It was also their first album to be produced by Jay Joyce. "Pontoon" was released as the album's lead single on April 30, 2012, and became their first number one hit on Hot Country Songs in September 2012. It was their first single to receive a Platinum certification. The title track was released as the album's second single on October 1, 2012. It reached No. 2 on the Country Airplay chart in 2013. At the 55th Grammy Awards, "Pontoon" won the Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. The album was certified gold by the RIAA in December 2012.
The band joined Rascal Flatts on their Changed Tour, along with Eli Young Band and Edens Edge, for dates spanning Summer 2012. They played at the C2C: Country to Country festival in London on March 16, 2013.
On August 31, 2013 the album's third single, "Your Side of the Bed" peaked at #29 on the Country Airplay charts.
The band sang background vocals on Ashley Monroe's 2013 single, "You Got Me", featured on her 2013 release, Like a Rose. Fairchild co-wrote the song with Monroe. However, it failed to appear on any major Billboard Music Charts.
The album's fourth single, "Sober" peaked at #27 on the Hot Country Songs chart on November 23, 2013.
2014-2016: ''Pain Killer and Grand Ole Opry invitation''
Little Big Town performed harmony vocals on David Nail's 2014 album, I'm a Fire, on the song "When They're Gone ", co-written by Brett Eldredge. They were featured on Miranda Lambert's 2014 album, Platinum, on "Smokin' and Drinkin'", a song which the band had considered recording. It debuted on Billboards Country Airplay chart at No. 38 after their performance at the CMA Awards in 2014 and was released as a single in 2015.The band began recording their sixth studio album, Pain Killer, in early 2014. The lead single, "Day Drinking", was released digitally June 3, and was sent to country radio on June 9. It debuted on the Country Airplay chart at No. 32, their highest-ever debut at the time, and went on to peak at No. 2 on Country Airplay. It hit No. 1 on the Canada Country chart, becoming their second No. 1 single and first as songwriters. Pain Killers track listing was announced on July 14, and the album was released on October 21.
On October 3, 2014, Reba McEntire invited the group to join the Grand Ole Opry. They accepted and were inducted by Vince Gill on October 17.
The second single from the album, "Girl Crush", was released December 15, 2014. Some radio stations were reported to have pulled "Girl Crush" from their playlists, in response to concerns from listeners who interpreted the song's lyrics to be about lesbianism. The label created a commercial in which the band discussed the song and its meaning. Billboard consulted radio program directors on its panel and found one who detailed a specific complaint from a listener. The song became Little Big Town's second No. 1 on a Billboard chart in May 2015 and their highest showing on the Billboard Hot 100 after gaining exposure on "The Voice" and the 50th Annual ACM Awards. The album's third single and the title track, "Pain Killer", released to country radio on August 24, 2015.
On September 9, 2015, the group was nominated for five CMA Awards: Vocal Group of the Year, Album of the Year for Pain Killer, Single of the Year for "Girl Crush", Music Video of the Year for "Girl Crush" and Musical Event of the Year for their collaboration on the Miranda Lambert single "Smokin' and Drinkin'". They tied Eric Church for most nominations that year. The songwriters of "Girl Crush" were recognized with a Song of the Year win.
For the 58th Annual Grammy Awards Pain Killer was nominated for Best Country Album, "Girl Crush" was nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, Song of the Year and Best Country Song. Little Big Town received nominations for Best Country Album and Best Country Duo/Group Performance.
On January 24, 2016, the band sang the National Anthem before the Arizona/Carolina NFC Championship Game. On July 4 of that year, they performed with the Boston Pops at their annual Independence Day concert.