CMT Music Awards: Little Big Town Grateful For Second Chance to Host

Little Big Town will return for the second year in a row to host the CMT Music Awards, with the quartet eager to take the stage another time.

“It feels amazing,” Fairchild told CMT. “We didn’t get fired and we got asked back.”

“I remember last year, we were really nervous, but then it was so much fun,” Karen Fairchild added. “And then it was over.”

Little Big Town’s first big hit was “Boondocks,” released in 2005. Since then, the group, which also includes Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet, has released more than a dozen hits, including “Pontoon,” “Tornado,” “Girl Crush,” and their current single, “The Daughters.” Although their catalog is diverse, Little Big Town is proud of their wide range of songs.

“We think that that’s progress,” Westbrook said. “You are just taking steps forward, and you try to continue to take steps forward, not backwards. You never want to get stuck in a certain situation.”

LBT is nominated for Group Video of the Year, for “Summer Fever,” but it’s their video for “The Daughters” that they are most excited about.

“We do leave it up to the director, but we also painstakingly go over every detail of the way it could be interpreted,” Fairchild said, explaining their process of choosing how they wanted to portray the song with the video. “What’s important? And how do we communicate the heart of the song, the spirit and the dance? If you really think about daughters, and you look at little girls and you watch them grow, the way they can express themselves in dance they seem to be really connected to that.”

“And you’re continuing that evolution of following your heart with that message,” added Sweet, “and staying true to that dance mode that seems to drive the whole thing.”

Country music has certainly changed since the foursome released their eponymous freshman album in 2002, which to them is nothing but positive.

“Because people’s tastes are constantly changing, we get to see how the genre’s evolving and growing,” said Sweet. “That is really exciting for us. We like to see it grow and change and become more than it ever has been.”

The 2019 CMT Music Awards will air live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday, June 5, at 8 p.m. ET on CMT.

“The Daughters” is from an upcoming new album. Download the single on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Getty Images/Steve Jennings