Little Big Town

Wikipedia:

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 twelve 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.

Little Big Town released their fourth studio album, The Reason Why, on August 24, 2010 via Capitol Nashville, which includes the Top Ten country hit, "Little White Church."

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. 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 2000-2002

Little Big Town's first record deal was with Mercury Nashville Records. The quartet did not release any singles or albums on the label. In 2001, Little Big Town sang backing vocals on Collin Raye's album Can't Back Down.

A second contract, this time with Monument Records Nashville, began in 2002. The band's first album, 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 died in 2002, just after the group's first album was released. Fairchild and Sweet both divorced their respective spouses 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 2005-2007

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 2007-2009

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. 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.

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 album's third single and is accompanied by a music video. Fairchild also duets with Mellencamp on "My Sweet Love" and appears in its music video, from the same album.

Little Big Town was announced to be nominated for Vocal Group Of The Year for the fourth year in a row on the 2009 CMA Awards.

The Reason Why 2010-2011

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" has become their first Top 10 hit since "Bring It on Home" in 2006. The album produced two additional singles in "Kiss Goodbye" and the title track, but both failed to reach the Top 40 and peaked at number 42 on the Hot Country Songs chart.

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.

To promote 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.

2012

Little Big Town released "Pontoon," the first single from their forthcoming fifth studio album, on April 30, 2012.

Little Big Town announced that they were joining Rascal Flatts on their American Band Tour, along with Eli Young Band and Edens Edge, for dates spanning summer 2012.

Tours

Personal lives

Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook married on May 31, 2006, although their marriage was not revealed until two months later. The couple welcomed their first child, son Elijah Dylan Westbrook, on March 5, 2010 in Nashville.

Kimberly Roads was married to Stephen Schlapman on November 28, 2006; she gave birth to a baby girl, Daisy Pearl Schlapman, on July 27, 2007. 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 Rebecca Arthur, a business owner and wardrobe stylist, on March 30, 2007. Arthur gave birth to daughter Penelopi Jane Sweet on December 27, 2007 at 5:47 p.m. at the Baptist Hospital in Nashville.

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. 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"). Little Big Town has been closely compared with the '70s classic rock group Fleetwood Mac, in comparison to musical stylings.

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.