Ли́тл Биг Таун: Американдық кантри тобының тарихы

American country band

Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama. Founded in 1998, the group has had the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook. Their musical style relies heavily on four part vocal harmonies, with all four members alternating as lead vocalists. After a recording deal with the Mercury Nashville Records label which produced no singles or albums, Little Big Town released its self titled debut on Monument Records in 2002. It produced two minor country chart singles before the group left the label. In 2005, the group signed to Equity Music Group, an independent record label owned by Clint Black. Their second album, The Road to Here, was released that year, and received a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). A Place to Land, their third album, was released via Equity, then re released via Capitol Nashville after Equity closed in 2008. Six more albums followed for Capitol: The Reason Why (2010), Tornado (2012), Pain Killer (2014), The Breaker (2017), Nightfall (2020) and Mr. Sun (2022). Their albums accounted for 24 singles on Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay, including the No. 1 singles "Pontoon", and "Better Man" along with the top 10 hits "Boondocks", "Bring It On Home", "Little White Church", "Tornado", "Day Drinking", and "Girl Crush".

Fairchild and Schlapman met at Samford University in 1987, where they both sang in the school's vocal ensembles. In the mid 1990s, Fairchild sang with the Christian vocal group Truth and was featured as a lead singer in a few of their songs. She formed a duo called KarenLeigh with Leigh Cappillino, a member of Truth who joined the group Point of Grace. KarenLeigh produced the singles, "Save It for a Rainy Day" and "This Love Has". Fairchild and Schlapman moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where they reunited and began singing together. Westbrook joined Schlapman and Fairchild in 1998, followed by Sweet. In 2002, the band signed with Monument Records Nashville. The band released its first album, Little Big Town, in 2002. The album produced the singles "Don't Waste My Time" and "Everything Changes", which peaked at 33 and 42, respectively, on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Little Big Town was left without a label when Monument Records dissolved its Nashville branch. After Westbrook's father died, and Fairchild and Sweet got divorces, the band members got outside jobs while they continued to tour. Little Big Town released A Place to Land, their third studio album and second with Equity, on November 6, 2007. Its lead off single, "I'm with the Band", peaked at number 32 on the country chart. On April 23, 2008, Little Big Town announced it was leaving Equity for Capitol Nashville. Shortly afterward, they charted with Sugarland and Jake Owen on a live cover of The Dream Academy's "Life in a Northern Town". Taken from Sugarland's 2007 tour, it reached number 28 on the country chart based on unsolicited airplay. In October 2008, Capitol re released A Place to Land, which added four new songs, and the label promoted two further singles from the album, "Fine Line" and "Good Lord Willing". In the fall of 2008, Little Big Town opened up for Carrie Underwood on her Carnival Ride Tour. They began their first headlining tour in January 2009 in Jacksonville, Florida and continued through April. Fairchild recorded a duet with 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 was accompanied by a music video. Fairchild also duetted with Mellencamp on "My Sweet Love" and appears in its music video. Little Big Town was nominated for Vocal Group of the Year for the fourth year in a row at the 2009 CMA Awards.

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" peaked at No. 6 on the country chart. The album produced two additional singles in "Kiss Goodbye" and the title track, but both failed to reach the top 40 of Hot Country Songs. 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. Also, in promotion of 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. Little Big Town's fifth studio album, Tornado, was released on September 11, 2012. It was also their first album to be produced by Jay Joyce. "Pontoon" was released as the album's lead single on April 30, 2012, and became their first number one hit on Hot Country Songs in September 2012. It was their first single to receive a Platinum certification. The title track was released as the album's second single on October 1, 2012. It reached No. 2 on the Country Airplay chart in 2013. At the 55th Grammy Awards, "Pontoon" won the Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. The album was certified gold by the RIAA in December 2012. The band joined Rascal Flatts on their Changed Tour, along with Eli Young Band and Edens Edge, for dates spanning Summer 2012. They played at the C2C: Country to Country festival in London on March 16, 2013. The album's third single, "Your Side of the Bed", was a No. 27 hit. The band sang background vocals on Ashley Monroe's 2013 single, "You Got Me", featured on her 2013 release, Like a Rose. Fairchild co wrote the song with Monroe. The album's fourth single, "Sober", was a No. 31 hit.

Schlapman was married to Steven Roads, the band's lawyer, who died from a heart attack in 2005. On November 28, 2006, Roads married Stephen Schlapman, and gave birth to a daughter in July 2007. The couple adopted a daughter on December 31, 2016. Sweet married Rebecca Arthur on March 30, 2007. They welcomed a daughter in December 2007. Fairchild and Westbrook married on May 31, 2006. They have a son who was born in 2010.

Little Big Town's musical stylings are defined by four part vocal harmonies. Unlike most vocal groups, Little Big Town does not feature a definitive lead vocalist. 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").