Bands and musical acts typically have the same setup: there's one lead vocalist - the face of the group - while the rest of the members take one instrument each. Not so for Little Big Town. The foursome has set itself apart not just with the narratives that define their genre, but with the four-part harmonies that make up each and every song. Their songs are all about the singer, it's true, but it's about all four of them as well.

Little Big Town's Big Harmonies

"The band has never been about any one of us."

Bands and musical acts typically have the same setup: there's one lead vocalist - the face of the group - while the rest of the members take one instrument each. Not so for Little Big Town. The foursome has set itself apart not just with the narratives that define their genre, but with the four-part harmonies that make up each and every song. Their songs are all about the singer, it's true, but it's about all four of them as well.

Little Big Town: Starting Small

Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Roads met in 1987, while both of them were studying at Samford University, Alabama. Both were already singers then, but they each had their own lives until both made the move to Nashville, Tennessee and met up again there. That was when they began to sing and perform together.

A friend, Arkansas native Jimi Westbrook, signed up to form a trio in 1998. Phillip Sweet got on the boat the following year, and the lineup for what was then already Little Big Town was finally complete.

Their egalitarian performance format worked against them at first; their first recording deal - with Mercury Records - fell through partially because of it. With the mainstream success of country group The Dixie Chicks, however, the foursome seemed much more profitable and were picked up by Monument Records (coincidentally the Dixie Chicks' label as well) in 2000.

A self-titled debut came out in 2002 and produced a couple of minor hits, but was largely derided by the music press. It struggled to sell 50,000 copies, while the group members had personal struggles of their own. Sweet and Fairchild were going through respective divorces, Westbrook's father died that year and Monument's Nashville branch was axed, prompting the members to take odd jobs for gas money while on tour.

Little Big Town Makes It Big

It was three years before the group got signed to indie label Equity Music Group, which helped them record and release The Road to Here in 2005. This officially became their breakout album with three well-charting singles and platinum-level sales by 2006. It was so successful that it even gave their ignored debut record a boost, years after its release.

A Place to Land, their third studio album, was first released in 2007. A year later, the group announced that it was switching labels for Capitol Nashville, which re-released A Place to Land that year. They did well in terms of live performances, opening for Carrie Underwood in the fall and headlining their own tour the next year. 2009 also gave them their fourth consecutive nod for Vocal Group of the Year at the Country Music Awards.

Did You Know That