Little Big Town Has Some Surprises in Store for the First-Ever 'People’s Choice Country Awards'

Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild, Phillip Sweet of Little Big Town

The first-ever People’s Choice Country Awards, hosted by superstar country music group Little Big Town, will take place live from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tenn., tonight recognizing the biggest and best country music has to offer, chosen entirely by the fans.

“It’s really special,” Kimberly Schlapman, who will be joined by bandmates Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild and Phillip Sweet on the venerable country music stage, told Parade. “I think a lot of people who watch the show have never been to the Opry. They’ve never seen a show from the Opry. Being able to introduce everyone out there to this incredibly special, sacred, historical home of country music is going to make for a great night.”

The star-studded awards show will feature iconic country musicians taking the stage to perform, including Blake Shelton, Carly Pearce, Dan + Shay, HARDY, Jelly Roll, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, and will also see Toby Keith (Country Music Icon Award) and Wynonna (Country Champion Award) bestowed with special honors.

“Toby always cared about the song first,” Fairchild said when asked why she feels he is the perfect artist to receive the first PCCA Country Music Icon Award. “That’s always been his thing. He was honored last year with the BMI Songwriter Icon Award. We haven’t seen him in a while so it’s going to be fun for him to be back out there with the fans. Such a unique presence and voice and those great songs.”

“And Wynonna,” Sweet said. “Talk about the fabric of our lives.”

“There’s nobody like her,” Fairchild added. “She is the most kind. When she’s speaking to you, she’s looking you in the eye and it doesn’t matter if she’s in her kitchen making mac and cheese and talking to you or you wanting her to meet your mama after a show. She will take the time to walk over and meet your family and really connect and that’s what she’s always done as an entertainer. There isn’t a bigger star than Wy when she gets on that stage and belts out those songs, it’s magic.”

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Fairchild and Schlapman are known for turning up their fashion a notch on the red carpet, so a fun part of the evening—for them and for the viewers at home—will be the many costume changes, some in tribute to country legend Dolly Parton.

“We’re going to change as many times as they’ll let us. We love that,” Schlapman said.

“We get to bring some sparkles and pay a little homage to the format,” Fairchild added. “If Dolly’s watching, there’s got to be some glitz and glam. You’ve always got to think about Dolly watching the show. I love seeing the way fashion has evolved in this format as well. We go from the high fashion of what Kelsea Ballerini is always doing, to the boys still getting away with wearing cowboy boots, denim and a T-shirt. It all works in our format. We’re going to try to bring some fun to the show with the fashion."

Parade also chatted with Little Big Town about the growth of country music, which performances they are looking forward to seeing, and what's next for the group.

The fact that there’s another country music awards show being added is a reflection on the increased interest in country music. What does that mean to you?

Karen: It’s connecting in a way. It’s always connected, but we’re definitely seeing just this almost resurgence of people wanting to lean into country music.

Jimi: And new fans.

Karen: A lot of new fans. It’s a reflection I think of the way we all listen to music now. We listen by making up our own playlists. We’re scooting around through all kinds of genres, and it speaks to the power of the song writing and the relatability of what country music brings and the passion. The fans in this format are just crazy good. They’re the most loyal and when they love something and they buy into a story, whether it’s Jelly Roll or HARDY or Kelsea or Dan + Shay, or Wynonna Judd, they’re in. And they’re usually in for their whole life. There are people that are still following Wy around that probably were at shows 30 years ago.

Even within country music there are different genres. What do you think about the fact that it’s expanded in that way?

Phillip: I think it’s just showcasing the true diversity and where people really are, everything from Dan + Shay to Kane Brown, that we’re going to honor Toby Keith. Just the breadth of what country music has kind of shown us all through the years. Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton were big pop stars back in the day and now we have country artists being big pop stars.

Jimi: Morgan Wallen is the biggest star on the planet, too. He’s outselling everything. I think that is that connection to the stories and the songs and where people are living. It’s hard-working people spending their money on music, and they buy who they connect with.

Karen: That and that we’re creating stars in this format again that are at the same level as other stars in the pop format. They’re selling the same number of tickets or more. Luke Combs just did a whole European tour and sold out every arena that he played. That just speaks to the power of what’s going on with the storytelling and it was with a Tracy Chapman song that we loved however many years ago. That song was in the ‘90s. Again, there’s a connection going on for him with the way he tells a story and the loyalty of the fans that they would go with him on a Tracy Chapman song. His young crowd probably didn’t know who that was. I kind of hope she wins coming up on the CMAs. She could win songwriter of the year. Wouldn’t that be incredible?

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Are all four of you on stage all the time or are you going to to divide up the duties?

Phillip: I think it’ll be a little bit of both. We’ll be together some and then we’ll…

Jimi: …probably split off…

Phillip: …jump around. That will be the exciting part.

Kimberly: We have incredible directors. It’s all in their hands.

Whose performances are you looking forward to seeing?

Kimberly: I hope we get to watch the performances.

Phillip: Yeah, sometimes we miss them.

You’ll be changing outfits.

Kimberly: We’ll be changing outfits. We’ll watch it back later. Kelsea, we just adore her, and I feel like she’s got the world in the palm of her hands right now. That’s going to be a great one I’m sure.

Jimi: I personally want to see HARDY because I’ve never seen HARDY live. I only witness the crazy madness on his Instagram. To see that in this setting with the fans being the center of all this, I think that’s going to be pretty cool to watch.

Karen: And Dan + Shay are friends. Shay, I don’t know if there’s a finer singer on the planet than Shay. I think they’re doing some new music from the record. Carly Pearce is singing.

Phillip: Kane Brown.

Karen: Kane Brown is singing. Talk about incredible fans. That’s going to be fun.

Kimberly: Jelly Roll.

Phillip: The Jelly Roll thing, that’s going to be exciting.

Jimi: Yeah. So happy for him.

What’s next for you? After you do this are you back out on the road? You have new music coming up? What can we expect?

Phillip: We’re going to be working on some new music and we’re going to be back on the road next year with George Strait and Chris Stapleton for nine shows.

Jimi: And then a lot more in the works.

Karen: A lot of things coming. We will be at nine stadium shows with George Strait and Chris Stapleton. Which we did this past summer as well. If you’re a country music fan, that is a spectacular night. We have the pleasure of kicking off that party. Man, from the time we start, there’s 60,000 people out there.

The People’s Choice Country Awards will air live tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.

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