Little Big Town Still Find Live TV Performances ‘Nerve-Wracking’
It seems that even high-profile musicians aren’t immune to jitters every now and then. Little Big Town is an award-winning country music band for more than 20 years now. But it doesn’t stop them from getting nervous before some of their performances.
The group is certainly practiced when it comes to their four-part harmonies and the finer points of live performances. But certain gigs still have them on edge before they hit the stage. According to some of the band members, though, those nerves are what ensure they’re keeping things sharp for their fans.
Little Big Town started in 1998
The country band, like so many others, had humble beginnings in Nashville in the late ’90s. Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman originally met at Samford University and started making music together. Then they added Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet to complete the lineup we now know. The group is infamous for not having a lead singer, and for seamless harmonies.
The group had its first Top 10 country hit in “Boondocks” in 2006. This was followed in quick succession with other hits like “Bring It On Home” and “A Little More You.” The band reached a new level of fame with the pop crossover hit single “Pontoon” in 2013. That single won the group its first Grammy for Best Country Duo/Group. They later garnered additional Grammys for singles “Girl Crush” and the Taylor Swift-penned “Better Man.”
All told, the group has been nominated for more than 40 awards from the Grammys, Academy of Country Music, and more prestigious organizations, according to IMDb. Notably, they’ve been nominated for Group of the Year at the ACM Awards almost every year in the last decade. And they have won multiple times.
The group still gets ‘good, healthy’ butterflies when they perform live
Despite the several No. 1 hit singles and the numerous awards over the years, the group says they still get nervous from time to time for performances. Understandably, live ones with higher stakes — like awards shows — carry the most amount of stressors, member Jimi Westbrook said. Late-night programs or productions like the Grammys can be particularly stressful.
“There’s something about the countdown…you’ve got three minutes to play your song and it’s all this buildup all day, all day, all day, and it’s like: Go!” Westbrook explained on the Spout podcast. “That is nerve-wracking for me.”
Westbrook’s wife and fellow band member Karen Fairchild recounted one particularly stressful moment, when the group was about to perform “Girl Crush” live at the 2016 Grammy Awards. The other three vocalists had their mics and were ready to go, but she didn’t have her mic yet — and had the solo for the hit single. “I kept telling the production guy…I don’t have a mic,” she said. The countdown started, and it was seconds before starting the song that a mic was finally put in her hand. “Now, my heart’s racing because I didn’t have a mic,” she recounted on the podcast. “You’re trying to calm your breath.”
“When you see the whole crowd up there, it’s going to be the good kind of butterflies,” LBT member Phillip Sweet told Smooth Radio in a backstage interview before a show. Fairchild agreed, particularly in light of performing in the same lineup as singers like Alison Krauss and the Eagles. “The butterflies are in a good, healthy way,” she explained, saying the group hoped to respect the venue and their fellow performers by bringing their A-game.
Their 10th studio album, ‘Mr. Sun,’ released September 16
Little Big Town has had plenty of experience shaking off pre-show jitters since hitting the road after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The band co-headlined several stops on a second Bandwagon tour with Miranda Lambert in the spring, and toured throughout Europe with the Eagles this past summer.
In September, the group released its 10th studio album, Mr. Sun. The album was a result of the group being apart for the first time in two decades of touring due to the pandemic and is a celebration of the things they — and their fans — hold most dear. “Mr. Sun is intentionally an emotional record that holds hands well with our last album Nightfall,” Fairchild said, according to Billboard. “Mr. Sun is focused on better days ahead, the value of friendships and family; it touches on heartbreak and letting go, but it’s full of sunshine and joy.”
