Little Big Town

[Kim]

Little Big Town Partners with ACM Lifting Lives to Fight Hunger


The Academy of Country Music (ACM) announced today that ACM Award winners Little Big Town will partner with ACM Lifting Lives® to perform “Here’s Hope,” an original song co-written by singer-songwriter and ACM New Artist of the Year nominee Hunter Hayes, to shed light on child hunger in the United States. This special musical moment, presented by ConAgra Foods’ Child Hunger Ends Here campaign, will be performed at the 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, to be broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 1st on the CBS. Hayes will introduce the powerhouse quartet, who will be joined onstage by the Clark County Children’s Choir, to bring this powerful 2012 ACM Lifting Lives moment to viewers.

“When I first learned about ACM Lifting Lives a few years ago, I immediately asked to be a part of this amazing organization,” said Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town. “Lifting Lives seeks out needs and takes care of people. They work hard at giving both children and adults comfort, contentment and happiness. We are so honored and excited to be a part of the very special Lifting Lives moment to end child hunger on the ACM Awards. We can’t wait!”

After learning that more than one in five children in America do not know where their next meal is coming from, Hayes, along with industry-leading songwriters Luke Laird and Barry Dean, was inspired to pen “Here’s Hope.” By using the power of music to touch hearts, the song was written to inspire consumers to join the fight against child hunger.

“What I didn’t realize – and what most people may not know – is that child hunger is not a faraway problem; it’s a problem right here in our own backyards,” said Hayes. “The good news though is that this is a problem we can all help solve together. My hope is that through music, we can inspire people to get involved and finally put an end to child hunger in our country.”

ACM Lifting Lives, which works to improve lives through music, is spotlighting Hayes’ personal passion for ending child hunger and his work with the ConAgra Foods Child Hunger Ends Here campaign, which will donate up to five million meals this school year[1] to Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization. To participate, consumers can purchase specially-marked packages of select ConAgra Foods brands, including Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Healthy Choice, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s, Manwich, Orville Redenbacher’s, Peter Pan and Snack Pack, and then visit www.ChildHungerEndsHere.com to enter the eight-digit code found on participating product packages. For each code entered through August 2012, the equivalent of one meal* will be donated to Feeding America. In return for entering a code from specially-marked packages, consumers can download their favorite version of “Here’s Hope” from Jewel, Owl City and Jay Sean.

“Lifting Lives is dedicated to improving lives through the power of music. By partnering with ConAgra Foods, Little Big Town, Hunter Hayes and consumers, we want to use a song in the telecast to raise awareness about how we can all help eradicate child hunger in the United States,” said Lisa Huddleson, Executive Director, ACM Lifting Lives.

“ConAgra Foods is proud to partner with the Academy of Country Music, Hunter Hayes and Feeding America to help solve the issue of child hunger,” said Chris Sinta, ConAgra Foods, Director of Consumer Promotions and Sponsorships. “We believe this partnership, and the performance of ‘Here’s Hope’ by Little Big Town, will drive home the fact that more than one in five children don’t know where their next meal is coming from, raise awareness of our commitment to ending child hunger and reinforce how everyone can help.”

This year’s ACM Lifting Lives show moment with Little Big Town marks the fourth consecutive year of moving performances, which have highlighted worthy causes and provided support on behalf of their beneficiaries during the live Awards telecast.

For more information on how to join the fight against child hunger and how to participate in the ConAgra Foods Child Hunger Ends Here program, please visit www.childhungerendshere.com.

[Kim]

Little Big Town Share the Guts and Glory of Preparing for the 2013 Grammy Awards

by Billy Dukes
tasteofcountry.com


For fans, the Grammy Awards are a three-hour commitment — less if the show gets boring. For artists, it’s a three-day-long journey around Los Angeles. Little Big Town have been in L.A. since Thursday. They’ve got their families with them as they play shows, make media rounds and try to take in the city like true professionals. “Try” being the key word.

“Yesterday when we were going somewhere and I was standing outside waiting for someone to pick us up,” Kimberly Schlapman tells Taste of Country, continuing with great enthusiasm, “Halle Berry walked by me! That was priceless!”

“I wanted to squeeze Halle Berry when she walked by,” she adds. “But I didn’t.”

With three kids under five, the Grammy-nominated quartet are always balancing the glamor of being country stars with the more humble moments every parent knows. The group has partnered with Mastercard to document their weekend via Facebook and Twitter.

There are more than a few non-country artists each member is looking forward to meeting at the Grammys this weekend, and they revealed how they’ll react if ‘Pontoon’ is named the winner for Best Country Duo/Group Performance. Someone is gonna get misty, but it’s probably not who you think it will be.

ToC: What is more stressful, the days leading up to the Grammys or the days before your wedding?

LBT: [laugh] I think the Grammys.

Kimberly Schlapman: We all had pretty low-key weddings, so I would say the Grammys.

What does your schedule look like — and is Sunday dedicated to sleeping in, relaxing and getting ready?

Karen Fairchild: It doesn’t really work that way with little kiddos out with us. They’re on central time.

KS: My little one woke up at 5:50 and she’s like “Mommy! Mommy!”

How are your kids dealing with Mom and Dad being nominated for Grammys?

KS: They don’t care [all laugh].

KF: They would care if we were gonna meet Mickey Mouse at the Grammys, or Elmo. But yeah, they don’t understand.

Surely the older ones have favorite artists who might be there?

LBT: Taylor Swift, and Taylor Swift, and Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves now.

KF: And Carrie Underwood. And probably a little Katy Perry.

KS: Keith Urban.

Phillip Sweet: Their musical tastes are diverse.

Are there moments when you take the stage or walk down the red carpet and you’re thinking, “If people only knew what I was doing just a few minutes ago…”?

KF: Oh, I think about it all the time. I think about if people only knew what was underneath this dress [all laugh]. The Spanx. It’s like a prescription under there, you know?

KS: We’ve all walked on stage with baby spit-up on our shoulders. There’s a lot to keep us grounded.

Who are you excited to meet?

KF: Tomorrow (Feb. 9). We’re doing a luncheon as part of the Grammy deal for our record label and we’re sharing the stage with Florence the Machine and Imagine Dragons and Neon Trees. It’s just a really diverse group of artists. I’d love to meet Florence, I’m a fan. I love the Imagine Dragons record, so that’s gonna be exciting.

Jimi Westbrook: I’m excited to see the Justin Timberlake thing, too.

KS: Oh yeah, that’s gonna be amazing I’m sure.

What’s he doing?

KS: It’s just like his comeback.

KF: We’ve been hearing some rumors and I think it’s gonna be pretty mind-blowing.

If you win the Grammy, who in the group is most likely to be a blubbering mess?

PS: Probably me. I cried at ‘March of the Penguins,’ so … [all laugh]

KF: It is probably Phillip.

JW: When we won a CMA Award, Phillip got a little teary there.

KS: So did you!

JW: I did, too, but Phillip cried the longest.

KS: I’ll cry when I can unzip my dress and release my lungs [all laugh].

[Kim]

Kimberly Schlapman, Husband Stephen Find Love After Loss

by Gayle Thompson
theboot.com



Rick Diamond, Getty Images


Little Big Town's Kimberly Schlapman has been happily married to her husband, Stephen, for six years, but their path to romance was far from easy. The songstress admits she found true love while mourning the death of her first husband, Steven Roads, who passed away from a heart attack in 2005.

"I wasn't planning on falling in love, at all," Kimberly explains. "I didn't want to ... I wasn't sure that I ever would. So, my husband now and I were just really good friends, and after my late husband died all my friends were calling me, all the time. Just checking up on me. He was just an old friend. We had known each other for about six years and he started calling me just like everybody else did. But he started calling me more than everybody else did [laughs]."

The two found they had plenty in common, including grief. "We had both been through similar losses," says the singer. "He hadn't lost a mate but he had lost a close friend, so we kind of bonded over that. I had a lot of grief left and he just took it and listened and accepted it and was so understanding and let me talk about my late husband all the time. We still talk about him a lot, and he's totally fine with it. He says that that made me who he fell in love with and he never minds if I bring anything from the past up, which is just really sweet. I was shocked; I remember when I first realized that I was having feelings, I just thought, 'OK, this is so weird. What is this? I haven't felt this in a long, long, time.' But eventually I allowed myself and it's been the most beautiful gift of my life. It pulled me out of the deepest hole that I've ever been in and healed me."

Married in 2006, the couple are the parents of 5-year-old Daisy Pearl. Kimberly's band mate Phillip Sweet and his wife Rebecca have a daughter, Penelopi Jane, who is also 5. Married Little Big Town members Jimi Westbrook and Karen Fairchild are the parents of Elijah Dylan, born in 2010.

Little Big Town is celebrating their first Grammy win for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for their hit single, "Pontoon," and is also nominated for four ACM Awards, including Vocal Group of the Year. They will spend much of the next few months on the road on their Tornado tour, including stops in New Jersey, Alabama and Tennessee.