Little Big Town

The country vocal quartet Little Big Town features Karen Fairchild, Phillip Sweet, Jimi Westbrook and Kimberly Schlapman. The quartet began with Kimberly and Karen, two Georgia natives who began singing together in college. Arkansas-born and Alabama-raised Jimi Westbrook, a friend of Fairchild's husband, joined them to make a trio, and the group was completed by the addition of Arkansan Phil Sweet in 1998. From the outset, Little Big Town devoted their sound to harmony and multiple lead vocals, a combination that made the band a hard sell at first. They finally landed a deal at Mercury Records, but it fell through due to disagreements about musical direction. In the wake of the success of the Dixie Chicks, however, Little Big Town were taken up by the Dixie Chicks' label, Monument Records in 2000 and Monument issued the band's debut single, "Don't Waste My Time," in the winter of 2002. The song was on its way up the charts when its accompanying album, Little Big Town, arrived in May. Although the debut produced several minor hits, Little Big Town didn't become a superstar act until 2005, when The Road to Here yielded four Top 20 singles (including the ballad "Bring It On Home") and earned the group its first platinum record. A Place to Land followed in 2007 and netted three singles. In August of 2010, Little Big Town's fourth studio album, The Reason Why, was released by Capitol. The band returned in 2012 with the single "Pontoon," which wound up topping Billboard's country charts. The band's fifth full-length album, Tornado, followed in September 2012 and it became their highest placed album on the Billboard 200 up to that point, reaching number two.