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Little Big Town on celebrating 25 years of harmony with upcoming tour and “Greatest Hits” album
Little Big Town is celebrating 25 years as a trailblazing country music group, keeping all four of its original members.The band is set to embark on a tour in September alongside country duo Sugarland.
With their harmonious four-part vocals, Little Big Town has carved out a unique space in country music. They are a group where both fame and vocals are equally shared among members Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild, Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook.
The band’s Kimberly Schlapman said she’s never have reflected on their success but realizes they’ve achieved something unique together.
“I think that’s probably the key to why we keep going because we never, ever fully think that we’re there. It’s like the hunger to see what’s around the corner,” said Fairchild.
25 years and a “Greatest Hits” album
The band is marking its 25th anniversary with the release of their “Greatest Hits” album this summer.
“We want to do this for the fans,” Fairchild said.
With 32 chart-topping hits, they have a vast catalog to choose from, including favorite songs like “Pontoon” and “Wine, Beer, Whiskey.”
Little Big Town’s journey began in the mid-90s when Schlapman and Fairchild met in college. Initially, both Schlapman and Fairchild were pursuing solo careers in country music.
They began brainstorming and realized there wasn’t a mixed-gender group like The Mamas & the Papas or Fleetwood Mac. This led them to envision what such a group could look like — which eventually led to the creation of the band.
Their unique concept took shape and led them to their first record deal in 1999, with their debut performance at the Grand Ole Opry. Despite facing setbacks, including two failed record deals, their perseverance paid off with the release of “Boondocks” in 2005, a song that became their breakthrough hit.
“‘Boondocks’ was like the little star that could, and we just couldn’t believe it,” said Sweet.
Tragedy and triumph
In the same year as their breakthrough, tragedy struck when Schlapman’s husband died of a heart attack. The band members, including Schlapman, were at a radio station in Indianapolis when they heard the news after Schlapman received a phone call from her pastor and a police officer.
“She was screaming, and the four of us just laid together on the bathroom floor,” said Fairchild.
“I couldn’t even walk, and they walked me into the bathroom. Couldn’t walk for myself. So they carried me, and then they kept carrying me for months and months and months until I could walk again,” Schlapman said. “And that is why we’re still sitting here.”
After all they have been through, Little Big Town remains as close as ever. Schlapman remarried, Sweet and Fairchild also found love, and Fairchild and Westbrook married each other. Now, they all have kids and often raise them on the road.
As they celebrate their silver anniversary, the band members are grateful for their journey, and hope to spread the unity they’ve found among themselves to their audience this fall when they embark on the tour.
“Our legacy is the perseverance. Hopefully… kindness. You know, now we need some kindness back,” said Fairchild.
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1-month-old twins who died with mother believed to be the youngest-known Hurricane Helene victims
Month-old twin boys are believed to be the youngest known victims of Hurricane Helene. The boys died alongside their mother last week when a large tree fell through the roof of their home in Thomson, Georgia.
Obie Williams, grandfather of the twins, said he could hear babies crying and branches battering the windows when he spoke with his daughter, Kobe Williams, 27, on the phone last week as the storm tore through Georgia.
The single mother had been sitting in bed holding sons Khyzier and Khazmir and chatting on the phone with various family members while the storm raged outside.
AP
Kobe’s mother, Mary Jones, was staying with her daughter, helping her take care of the babies. She was on the other side of the trailer home when she heard a loud crash as a tree fell through the roof of her daughter’s bedroom.
“Kobe, Kobe, answer me, please,” Jones cried out in desperation, but she received no response.
Kobe and the twins were found dead.
“I’d seen pictures when they were born and pictures every day since, but I hadn’t made it out there yet to meet them,” Obie Williams told The Associated Press days after the storm ravaged eastern Georgia. “Now I’ll never get to meet my grandsons. It’s devastating.”
The babies, born Aug. 20, are the youngest known victims of a storm that had claimed more than 200 lives across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas. Among the other young victims are a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy from about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south in Washington County, Georgia.
“She was so excited to be a mother of those beautiful twin boys,” said Chiquita Jones-Hampton, Kobe’ Jones’ niece. “She was doing such a good job and was so proud to be their mom.”
Jones-Hampton, who considered Kobe a sister, said the family is in shock and heartbroken.
In Obie Williams’ home city of Augusta, 30 miles east of his daughter’s home in Thomson, power lines stretched along the sidewalks, tree branches blocked the roads and utility poles lay cracked and broken. The debris left him trapped in his neighborhood near the South Carolina border for a little over a day after the storm barreled through.
He said one of his sons dodged fallen trees and downed power lines to check on Kobe, and he could barely bear to tell his father what he found.
Many of his 14 other children are still without power in their homes across Georgia. Some have sought refuge in Atlanta, and others have traveled to Augusta to see their father and mourn together, he said.
He described his daughter as a lovable, social and strong woman. She always had a smile and loved to make people laugh, he said.
And she loved to dance, Jones-Hampton said.
“That was my baby,” Williams said. “And everybody loved her.”
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