NASHVILLE, TN, April 23, 2009 — With shared backgrounds…all drawing inspiration from the same place — growing up singing harmony with their families — the four members of GRAMMY®-nominated Little Big Town started along a path to vocal fame at an early age.
Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman began singing together while students at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Both moved to Nashville in the mid-1990s, and invited old Alabama friend Jimi Westbrook to join them in 1998. Phillip Sweet completed the band later that year. Now ten years later – the band reminisces of another connection – a lifetime with Shure microphones.
“We’ve all used SM58®s as long as we can remember,” says Sweet. “It’s like the go-to microphone.”
“Yeah, they are just reliable,” Westbrook says without hesitation, picking up the banner, too. “You know what you’re getting, and it sounds great. As far back as when I was a kid singing in church I sang on 58s — SM57s, too. Karen cut a vocal using a 57 on…”
“It was on “Looking for a Reason,” Fairchild says, finishing Westbrook’s sentence. “That was a song on The Road to Here, our second album. We had all these crazy mics in there, and then we’re like ‘let’s grab a 57 and see what happens.’ We ended up loving it!”
However you want to describe them, Little Big Town draws fans and critics alike to their mesmerizing four-part harmonies. Their sophomore CD, critically-acclaimed, A Place to Land, was recently re-released on Capitol Nashville with four new tracks, including the GRAMMY-nominated collaboration with Sugarland and Jake Owen, “Life in a Northern Town.” They released the Platinum-selling record, The Road to Here, in 2005, which included Gold Digital Certified, "Boondocks."
In 2006, the foursome landed two GRAMMY nominations, including Best Country Album for The Road to Here and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group for “Boondocks.” Billboard Magazine also named them Independent Artist of the Year and named The Road to Here Independent Album of the Year. In 2007, they were awarded Academy of Country Music’s Top New Vocal Group and, in 2008 were nominated for CMA Vocal Group of the Year.
Fans of Little Big Town loving the idea of catching the band’s act live will be happy to note that April 23 will mark the beginning of a touring schedule starting at Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC. Subsequent dates will follow nationwide culminating in a stop on October 9 at Mo’s Place in Katy, TX.
About Shure Incorporated
Founded in 1925, Shure Incorporated (www.shure.com) is widely acknowledged as the world's leading manufacturer of microphones and audio electronics. Over the years, the Company has designed and produced many high-quality professional and consumer audio products that have become legendary for performance, reliability, and value. Shure’s diverse product line includes world-class wired microphones and wireless microphone systems for performers and presenters, award-winning earphones and headsets for MP3 players and smartphones, and top-rated phonograph cartridges for professional DJs. Today, Shure products are the first choice whenever audio performance is a top priority.
Shure Incorporated corporate headquarters is located in Niles, Illinois, in the United States. The Company has additional manufacturing facilities and regional sales offices in China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, The United Kingdom, and the United States.