Photo: Becky Fluke
Little Big Town stars opened up about why they’re grateful they experienced “failure” earlier in their careers.
The Grammy-winning country group — made up of Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook — appeared on TODAY on Tuesday morning (September 1). Little Big Town’s interview and performance arrived days after they delivered their 12th studio record, It’s A Dying Art. TODAY asks the band, “Is there anything that you guys are really grateful that you got to experience, that maybe emerging artists nowadays don’t get to?”
“Failure,” Fairchild responded. Others began to laugh, but she clarified, “I’m not kidding. I mean, I think, you know, unfortunately, there are some that have failure and then we never hear about them. And if you go back and you look at Shania Twain, or Toby Keith, or us — there’s so many — we got the chance to fail and then have another chance to make a record.
“Yeah, I think just quick and on to the next [it happens because of how the business has changed over time],” she added later. “But we learned so many lessons in that first failure — well, first, like, three failures, I don’t know — about who we are and what we need to do and where we draw the line, and trusting our collective gut as a band, which we always have about things. And I think it’s just important to do that.”
Westbrook explained, “a lot of times when you’re starting out, people have ideas of who you are and, you know, they always come to you with many years of experience. And that’s you know, you want to listen to that, but also you got to know who you are and what you’re wanting to do, and the music you want to make.”
“And in the beginning…we were still searching and creating, and then you let people talk you into things. …That was a big, big lesson,” Fairchild said. She and her bandmates later discussed ways they hope up-and-coming artists learn as they pave their own paths in the music industry. That includes touring in a van, selling their own merchandise and more. Fairchild said, “I hope the younger generation of country artists is watching our generation because we do, we have this connected — we pull for each other. and I’m inspired. I’m inspired by Kelsea [Ballerini], I’m inspired by Sugarland, I’m inspired by Miranda [Lambert], and Maren [Morris].”
Little Big Town features collaborations with Ballerini, Ashley Monroe and Jason Isbell on It’s A Dying Art. The album includes “Over and Over,” “Hey There Sunshine,” “Closing Time,” “The Idea” and more.
1. Intro
2. Sucker For A Sad Song (with Ashley Monroe)
3. The Door (with Jason Isbell)
4. Dying Art
5. Hey There Sunshine
6. Over And Over
7. The Idea
8. We Could Have It All
9. Crickets
10. Closing Time (with Kelsea Ballerini)
11. Long Way To Your Heart
12. It's Coming Around
13. Jet Plane
“This album was made in the middle of real life — grief, hope, and everything love costs and gives us. It’s a reminder to hold on,” Little Big Town shared when they announced It’s A Dying Art. “We can’t let love be a dying art.”
“We’ve said goodbye to loved ones together, we’ve raised families together. We’ve lived a whole lot of life together, and you can hear that in every note of this record,” Fairchild said in a statement on Friday (August 28). “We’re in a different season of life, marked by both grief and gratitude, and we wanted to be honest about that journey. After all these years, we still have each other, and that human connection is at the heart of this music.”
Find It’s A Dying Art on iHeartRadio here. Watch Little Big Town’s interview on TODAY below, and scroll to find the band’s upcoming tour dates.
Little Big Town 2026 Tour Dates
^ festival performance
* The Christmas Shows
Sep. 2 – Nashville, TN – Grand Ole Opry
Sep. 3 – Nashville, TN – Grand Ole Opry
Sep. 6 – Puyallup, WA – Washington State Fair Event Center ^
Sep. 12 – Youngsville, LA – Youngsville Amphitheater at Youngsville Sports Complex
Sept. 24 – St. Petersburg, FL – Duke Energy Center for the Arts - Mahaffey Theater
Sept. 25 – Orlando, FL – Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts – Walt Disney Theater
Sept. 26 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre
Oct. 1 – Louisville, KY – The Louisville Palace Theatre
Oct. 2 – Milwaukee, WI – Miller High Life Theatre
Oct. 8 – Chattanooga, TN – Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium
Oct. 9 – St. Louis, MO – Stifel Theatre
Oct. 10 – Minneapolis, MN – State Theatre
Oct. 15 – Boston, MA – Boch Center Wang Theatre
Oct. 17 – Philadelphia, PA – The Met Philadelphia presented by Highmark
Oct. 18 – Wallingford, CT – Toyota Oakdale Theatre
Oct. 22 – Newark, NJ – New Jersey Performing Arts Center – Prudential Hall
Oct. 24 – National Harbor, MD – The Theater at MGM National Harbor
Oct. 25 – Pittsburgh, PA – Citizens Live at The Wylie
Oct. 29 – San Antonio, TX – Majestic Theatre
Oct. 30 – Houston, TX – The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
Oct. 31 – Dallas, TX – Music Hall at Fair Park
Nov. 5 – Virginia Beach, VA – The Dome by Rutter Mills
Nov. 6 – Durham, NC – DPAC
Nov. 7 – Charlotte, NC – Ovens Auditorium
Nov. 12 – Akron, OH – Akron Civic Theatre
Nov. 13 – Columbus, OH – Mershon Auditorium
Nov. 14 – Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre at Old National Centre
Nov. 19 – Chicago, IL – The Chicago Theatre
Nov. 20 – Detroit, MI – Fox Theatre
Nov. 22 – Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
Dec. 8 – Nashville, TN – The Ryman Auditorium *
Dec. 9 – Nashville, TN – The Ryman Auditorium *
Dec. 10 – Nashville, TN – The Ryman Auditorium *