(CSC) 1. It is so great to catch up with you! Let’s chat about your brand-new album “The Reason Why” and where does it find your band artistically at this stage in your lives?
(Little Big Town)
We are at a really good place in our lives right now and we think that you will be able to hear that on the record. We all have our personal families and the things that are on a personal level are really great. As far as our career goes, we are really excited where we are right now. This is a brand-new record. It’s our first record on Capital Records and we have a great bunch of people working around us and we’re really excited about the team that we have. On the creative side we are in a really good place. It has been a couple of years since we had any music out so we were really itching to get back in the studio to put down the songs we have been writing over the past couple of years. There is just a really great creative inspired spirit in the band right now and we are very excited about the record we came out with and we can’t wait for people to hear it!!
(CSC) 2. When you look back on the albums that you’ve made together as a band since your debut, how does each one of those records define the musical growth of your unique style?
(Little Big Town)
If you go back and look at all the records there has definitely been growth and as artists, we want to do that. We want to take steps forward with every decision we make and we feel like we have done that again on this record. It is important for us to take steps forward and to do things we haven’t done and we feel like we have done that if you look back at the records. There has been a progression; for this record it is different. It sounds different from the other records that we have made before and there are some moments we haven’t done before. There are some stone-cold country ballads and then we move on to a more modern song like “Kiss Goodbye.” The satisfaction on the creative side is real important to us.
(CSC) 3. What is the most valuable standard that you’ve learned to practice when facing the constant craziness of the music business?
(Little Big Town)
The thing that comes to mind when you ask that is to trust your gut instinct. As a band no one knows more about the path this band needs to take than the band itself. At the end of the day, if there is a failure, you answer for it, it is yours so you might as well do what you feel is best. Sometimes that is not always the best decision, sometimes you can be wrong. The thing is at the end of the day if it had been your gut check and it was really what you wanted to do, it is easier to live with those things that may not turn out like you hoped they would but at least you know that you followed your gut and you did what you felt like was right. We think that is probably the biggest thing we have learned over the years with some of the disappointments we faced. If we would have trusted our gut and followed a little harder on things, things may have turned out differently in some situations. We definitely would have felt better about things. We are now at that place and have been for many years of just saying “This is our vision and no one knows our vision like we do, so we have to go with our gut.”
(CSC) 4. With all of you being first time parents, how are you balancing that role and what are the highlights about having a Little Big Town family out on the road?
(Little Big Town)
It is a completely different world (Laughs). It’s like anything else; people who have 9 to 5 jobs have a more regular schedule and they face challenges as well as anybody. They have to balance child care and have someone take care of their children while they are at work. We do the same thing out here but you just kind of figure it out as you go and you just make it work. It is definitely different but we love it. It is normal to us, because that is all we know. (Laughs) We have had the babies out on the bus since they came along with Kimberly and now us (Karen and Jimi). We have been on the road with some great people who have had their family on the road and have been successful at it and to be able to observe them and see how they do things that has helped along the way. It is definitely crazy; there are a lot of us on this bus, the children and their toys! (Laughs) It is funny because sometimes you walk on and laugh, as you look from one of the bus to the other, it’s just toys everywhere. It’s pretty funny but that is one of the things about this band. Some bands know that the hardest part about being on the road is the separation from the family, but we have been blessed to be able to bring our families with us. It is just a different set of challenges, that’s all!
(CSC) 5. Do you all travel on the same bus together?
(Little Big Town)
Yeah, we have kind of tricked ours out so we have more space; of course, the girls have their own bunk. It is the four of us and our spouses; of course, some of the spouses are in the band but the other come out on the road with us most of the time.
(CSC) 6. How did each one of you meet for the very first time, and at what moment did you decide that you wanted to form a band?
(Little Big Town)
The girls have been together since college. They were friends back then and have been ever since. I have known Karen from being out on the road with other college touring bands, and some have mutual friends and have met, but I had a prior relationship with her. When the girls started brain storming about the band, it was just kind of their idea and Karen called me when I was in Birmingham; I was living there working a 9 to 5 job and I decided I was about to move to Nashville and about that time Karen called me and said “We are thinking about doing this and would I be interested” and of course said “YEAH.” I was thinking of moving there and I came and met her and Kimberly and just instantly felt so comfortable. Meeting Kimberly for the first time was like meeting an old friend, she seemed like family instantly. Then I met Phillip two weeks later. We were writer friends and we just started hanging out singing and writing and that is how it all started. We have been a band ever since!
(CSC) 7. What are the challenges that come with being a band that equally share verses to your songs in addition to harmonizing with each other onstage and in the studio?
(Little Big Town)
That is something for the four of us that just came naturally, harmony is definitely something we all grew up with so those kinds of things in the way those lines move, was more of a natural thing we all have gravitated to all of our lives. So as far as that challenge goes, that is in our blood. There were never really any challenges with that. I would say as far as on the side of sharing verses and sharing the stage, a lot of time most bands probably have trouble with that because their ego starts becoming involved and everybody is fighting for the spotlight and that is NOT the way this band works. It has never been a problem for us as far as that is concerned. It is always what is better for the group overall and that is the way all of us are. We are not egomaniacs that feel the need to be in the spotlight. It wasn’t about that for us; it was just the love of music.
(CSC) 8. Can you tell us about your charity event/concert “Ride For A Cure” that takes place every year and how does it affect each one of you individually?
(Little Big Town)
This is our fourth year of doing that and they are just an unbelievable company that does research for cancer, leukemia, AIDS and a lot of other diseases. They’re researching and trying to find a cure on a day-to-day basis. In many ways we have all been touched by cancer in our lives. My mom was a cancer survivor, she had breast cancer and fought and won that battle. Kimberly had several in her family. My grandmother died of breast cancer and I had an uncle that died from cancer as well; so, all of us in some way or another have been touched by cancer. It is something that we have all dealt with on a personal basis so it means a lot to us to be able to do something to give to research because all they need is money and they are making strides to eradicate these diseases that are claiming the lives of our loved ones and that means a lot to the band, it is really important to us.
(CSC) 9. How much of an influence do you have on the artistic production (clothing, location and storyline) in your music videos?
(Little Big Town)
Yes, we are really involved. To us that is being who we are as a band. All those aspects are all creative aspects and we love those parts of it. I think some others kind of operate on that visual basis. I know for me writing a lot of times I have these visual things that come to my mind of the song so with the latest one in fact “Little White Church,” that was an idea that Karen had and when we submitted it to the directors it was definitely going to be a calibration to find someone to bring the vision to life. Coming up with those creative ideas is a lot of fun for us and presenting our music is a lot of fun. It’s another creative outlet for Little Big Town.
(CSC) 10. Where do you want to see Little Big Town head professionally in the next chapter of your career?
(Little Big Town)
We want to see this band become as big as possible. You have to get your music out to as many as you can. We think we are on the verge of that. We have had an amazing career already and have so many things that we have accomplished and things that we have been able to do as a band. We just want to continue to do that, just make music and grow as artists and let our music become better and better. That is our goal, just to keep going and keep getting better and to see our audience get bigger and to be able to play for our fans because that is what it all comes down to for us is the live performance. That actually gets all of us charged and that is the best part to making a connection with the fans and being able to share our music with them.
Bình luận