Little Big Town
is an American country music vocal group. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its inception: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, and Phillip Sweet. The quartet's musical style relies heavily on four-part vocal harmonies, with all four members alternating as lead singers. Westbrook and Sweet also play rhythm guitar.
After a recording deal with the Mercury Nashville Records label which produced no singles or albums, Little Big Town released their self-titled debut on Monument Records in 2002. It produced two minor country chart singles before the group left the label. By 2005, the group had been signed to Equity Music Group, an independent record label owned by Clint Black. Their second album, The Road to Here
, was released that year. Certified platinum in the U.S., it produced consecutive Top Ten singles on the country charts in "Boondocks" and "Bring It On Home". A Place to Land
is the title of their third album, released in 2007. This album's first single, "I'm with the Band", was a Top 40 hit on the country charts. Shortly after its release, the group was transferred to Capitol Records Nashville, which acquired the rights to A Place to Land
and released "Fine Line" and "Good Lord Willing" as its second and third singles, respectively. The latter song is new to the re-release.
Little Big Town have charted eleven songs on the Billboard
Hot Country Songs charts. This figure includes a Christmas single which was made available only as a download, and a live cover of "Life in a Northern Town" (along with Sugarland and Jake Owen) which charted in 2008 based on unsolicited airplay.
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LITTLE BIG TOWN TICKETS
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Musical career
Early years
In 1987, while attending
Samford University in the state of
Alabama, singers Kimberly Roads and Karen Fairchild met. Eventually, the two moved to
Nashville, Tennessee, where they reunited and began singing together.
[1] Jimi Westbrook, a friend of Fairchild's husband, joined Roads and Fairchild in 1998.
The three singers began performing as a trio, eventually rehearsing with
Gary LeVox and
Joe Don Rooney, both of whom would eventually become members of the country pop group
Rascal Flatts.
By 1999, Phillip Sweet was added as the fourth member of the group, which by then had chosen the name Little Big Town.
Little Big Town
Little Big Town's first record deal was with
Mercury Nashville Records. However, no singles or albums were released on that label, due to creative disputes.
A second contract, this time with
Monument Records Nashville, began in 2002. Their first album, also named
Little Big Town
, was released that year. It produced the singles "Don't Waste My Time" and "Everything Changes", which respectively peaked at #33 and #42 on the
Billboard
country charts. Westbrook's father passed away in 2002, just after the group's first album was released. Fairchild and Sweet both divorced shortly afterward, and the group exited Monument when the label's Nashville branch was dissolved. The four members all took up day jobs to earn additional money, although they continued to tour as well.
The Road to Here
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 May, peaking at #9 in January 2006. "Boondocks" served as the first of four singles the group's second album,
The Road to Here
, which was released in the United States on October 4, 2005. "
Bring It On Home", the second single from
The Road to Here
, became Little Big Town's first Top 5 hit on the country charts in 2006. It was followed by "Good as Gone" and "A Little More You", both of which entered Top 20. By the end of 2006,
The Road to Here
had been certified platinum for shipping one million copies in the United States. Unlike on their first album, the group's members co-wrote the majority of the songs on
The Road to Here
along with producer
Wayne Kirkpatrick.
A Place to Land
A Place to Land
was the title of Little Big Town's third studio album, released in the United States on November 6, 2007. Its lead-off single, "I'm with the Band", peaked at #32 on the country charts. On April 23, 2008, Little Big Town announced it was leaving Equity for
Capitol Nashville.
[2] Shortly afterward, they charted along with
Sugarland and
Jake Owen on a live cover of
The Dream Academy's "
Life in a Northern Town". This live recording, taken from Sugarland's 2007 tour, reached #28 on the country charts based on unsolicited airplay. Later in 2008, Capitol issued "Fine Line" as the second single from
A Place to Land
, which was re-released in October 2008 with bonus tracks, including "Life in a Northern Town". In the fall of 2008, Little Big Town opened up for
Carrie Underwood on her Carnival Ride Tour to support the album. Capitol also issued one of the bonus tracks, "Good Lord Willing", in late 2008 as the album's third and final single.
In 2009, Little Big Town started its first headlining tour. The tour began in January in Jacksonville, Florida and continued through April.
[3]
Fairchild recorded a duet with
John Mellencamp on his 2008 album,
Life, Death, Love and Freedom
. The song, "A Ride Back Home", was released as the albums second single and is accompanied by a music video.
Personal lives
Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook secretly married on May 31, 2006, although their marriage was not revealed until two months later.
[4]
Kimberly Roads was married to Stephen Schlapman on November 28, 2006;
[5] she gave birth to a baby girl, Daisy Pearl Schlapman, on July 27, 2007.
[6] She now goes by her husband's last name, Schlapman Kimberly was previously married to Steven Roads, who died from a heart attack in 2005. He was also the band's lawyer.
Phillip Sweet married Rebbeca Arthur, a business owner and wardrobe stylist, on March 30, 2007. Arthur gave birth to daughter Penelopi Jane on December 27, 2007 at 5:47 p.m. at the Baptist Hospital in Nashville.
[7]
Musical stylings
Little Big Town's musical stylings are defined by four-part vocal harmonies. Unlike most vocal groups, Little Big Town does not feature a set lead singer.
[8] Instead, their songs are either led by any one of the four members, or by all four in varying combinations (such as on "Boondocks" and "Life in a Northern Town").
Discography
Studio albums
| Year
| Album details
| Peak chart positions
| Certifications
(sales threshold)
|
| US Country
| US
| US Indie
| US Heat
|
| 2002
| Little Big Town
- Released: May 21, 2002
- Label: Monument Nashville
| 40
| —
| —
| 43
|
|
| 2005
| The Road to Here
- Released: October 4, 2005
- Label: Equity Music Group
| 12
| 51
| 1
| —
|
- RIAA certification: Platinum
|
| 2007
| A Place to Land
[A
- Released: November 6, 2007
- Label: Equity Music Group
| 10
| 24
| 3
| —
|
|
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart or not released
|
;Notes
- A ^
A Place to Land
was re-issued in late 2008 by Capitol Records Nashville with four bonus tracks.
Singles
| Year
| Single
| Peak chart positions
| RIAA
| Album
|
| US Country
| US
| US
Pop
| CAN Country
|
| 2002
| "Don't Waste My Time"
| 33
| —
| —
|
| —
| Little Big Town
|
| "Everything Changes"
| 42
| —
| —
|
| —
|
| 2005
| "Boondocks"
| 9
| 46
| 59
| 15
| Gold
| The Road to Here
|
| 2006
| "Bring It On Home"
| 4
| 58
| —
| 13
| —
|
| "Good as Gone"
| 18
| —
| —
| 48
| —
|
| 2007
| "A Little More You"
| 20
| 101
| —
| —
| —
|
| "I'm with the Band"
| 32
| —
| —
| —
| —
| A Place to Land
|
| 2008
| "Fine Line"
| 31
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
| "Good Lord Willing"[A
| 43
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
"—" denotes the single failed to chart, not released, or not certified
* denotes unknown peak positions
|
;Notes
- A^
"Good Lord Willing" is only available on the re-release of A Place to Land
.
Other charted songs
| Year
| Single
| Peak chart positions
| Album
|
| US Country
| US
| CAN Country
| CAN
|
| 2006
| "Go Tell It on the Mountain"
| 35
| —
| —
| —
| digital Christmas single
|
| 2008
| "Life in a Northern Town"
(with Sugarland and Jake Owen)
| 28
| 43
| 30
| 53
| A Place to Land
(re-issue)
|
| "—" denotes the single failed to chart or not released
|
Videography
Music videos
All of Little Big Town's singles have featured music videos. The video for "Life in a Northern Town" was shot live in concert.
| Year
| Song title
| Director
|
| 2002
| "Don't Waste My Time"
| Trey Fanjoy
|
| "Everything Changes"
|
| 2005
| "Boondocks"
| Roger Pistole
|
| 2006
| "Bring It On Home"
| Kristin Barlowe
|
| "Good as Gone"
| Chris Hicky
|
| 2007
| "A Little More You"
| Roger Pistole
|
| "I'm with the Band"
| Charles Mehling
|
| 2008
| "Life in a Northern Town"
(with Sugarland and Jake Owen)
| Becky Fluke
|
| "Fine Line"
| Charles Mehling
|
| "Good Lord Willing"
| Becky Fluke
|
References
- Success no longer on Town's outskirts
- Little Big Town Signs With Capitol Nashville
- Tour Calendar
- Little Big Town Members Announce Marriage
- Little Big Town's Kimberly Roads Weds
- It's a Girl for LBT's Kimberly Roads!
- Little Big Town's Phillip & Rebecca Sweet Have a Daughter - Little Big Town, Babies : People.com
- Little Big Town biography