On Friday, September 2, 2011, Suite101 chats with Karen Fairchild, one of the four vocalists of the Grammy-nominated country band Little Big Town. Her fellow band members include Phillip Sweet, Jimi Westbrook and Kimberly Schlapman. Karen talks about their music career, latest record, Lionel Richie, Martina McBride, proudest professional moments, fans, and shares their future plans.
Karen Talks About Little Big Town's Music Career
On celebrating their thirteen year anniversary as a band, Karen Fairchild remarks, “it feels that we are just getting started in many regards. It’s a great milestone for us as four individuals coming together with such different musical perspectives and making records together. The fact that we love making music together is a real achievement.”
Thus far, Little Big Town’s albums have sold over two million copies and they have performed for over four million people. “That’s what our lives are really about right now: getting out on the road, and sharing this record and music. It’s what we’ve been doing for over a decade and we’ll keep doing it. We love it,” she acknowledges.
Karen Talks About Their Latest Album
Their latest record The Reason Why peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Album Charts. Karen notes, “We never had a #1 record before, so that was really nice, and yet another career milestone. It’s nice when the albums that we make and the songs that we write get accepted by the fans. We don’t make music for the critics, so when they like it, and it’s a nice feeling.”
“One of my favorite songs on the album is Shut up Train, a ballad that we didn't write, but we feel so passionate about. We did a video for it two weeks ago, and it’ll come out soon. I’m super-proud of this record,” she admits.
Karen Talks About Their Grammy-nominated Single
Regarding their Grammy-nominated song Little White Church, Karen states, “it was an idea that came out in the process. I had written that title in my journal, and didn’t know what the song will be about. One day, Kimberly and I were talking about bluegrass music and how we should write something for the band that’s bluegrass-inspired, and one day the chorus hit me, and we finished the song that afternoon and we loved it. We had no idea that it would be the first single, or that it would get a Grammy nomination. We had a great time writing it, and we knew that the fans would connect with it.”
Karen Talks About Lionel Richie
Little Big Town collaborated with Lionel Richie on the tune Deep River Woman. “That was a highlight for us over the last ten years. We were so happy to collaborate with him, since he was a big influence for us. His voice is still as good as relevant as it ever was. He’s such a gentleman and we had a good time listening to his stories and singing with him,” she says.
Karen Talks About Little Big Town’s Proudest Accomplishments
“Probably a Grammy nomination for ‘Country Album of the Year’ for The Road to Here record. It was a nice surprise! Also, to stay together this long and to make music that people are connecting with is a special thing for the four of us. We’re lucky to continue to get to do it,” Karen says.
Yet another surprise for them was garnering a Grammy nod for “Best Collaboration with Vocals” for Life in a Northern Town, which featured Sugarland and Jake Owen. “Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush had the idea to do this song as a finale on their first headlining tour. It was just a backstage idea, so we performed it that night, and it took off and then radio stations started playing it. We got so many nominations for that song, one of which was a Grammy.”
Additionally, Little Big Town were the recipients of the 2006 ACM “Top New Vocal Group Award.” “That was another career milestone for us as a band. We watched that show for years and years. We were a part of it one year prior, where we sang Boondocks. It was the next year that we won that award. It’s quite an honor to be patted on the back from your peers like that. We really appreciated that award!” she exclaims.
Karen Talks About Martina McBride
Little Big Town honored country queen Martina McBride this year as part of the Girls Night Out: Superstar Women of Country concert event.
“Martina is one of our best friends in the business. We were incredibly honored that they asked us to honor her and her career. She’s such an amazing singer. It doesn’t get any better than her. We wanted to make her and her family proud. We tried to come up with our own version of what Independence Day would be if we had cut it. She loved it, and we loved it and we got such an amazing response from that night.”
In addition, Little Big Town opened for Martina McBride, as well as for some other mega-stars in country music. “That’s when we got to be so close with Martina and her family. We just really hit it off instantly. Our friendship with her has continued over the years. It’s been really nice,” she adds.
Karen Reveals Little Big Town’s Future Plans
“We’re taking off into the studio in the late fall to work on our new album. We’re writing right now and we are getting songs together. We are in the beginning stages of the new record,” she shares.
Karen notes that their dream collaboration choices would be to someday write and sing with Keith Urban, as well as Emmylou Harris.
For Little Big Town’s fans, Karen concludes, “thank you for letting us do this for a living. It’s a real privilege. I hope you will continue to come out and see the band live and listen to the records and check out the music.”
For Little Big Town, success means “writing a song like Lean Into It with Wayne Kirkpatrick, which moves the four of us so much, and watching tears roll down our own faces, as we’re writing something that moves us deeply. Then watching the song come to life in the studio and then seeing it on our own fans’ faces as they connect with it. That is the greatest success we could ever have.”
For more information on Little Big Town, visit their Facebook, Twitter and official website.
Source
- Telephone Communication with Karen Fairchild. September 2, 2011.
Markos Papadatos - Markos Papadatos holds over six years journalism experience, authoring over 700 articles, many of which are feature profile interviews.
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