Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild might be one of the leading female vocalists in country music, but she has a tomboy side as well. The singer recalls one gruesome injury she received in high school while playing football.
“I was the quarterback to my powder puff team,” Fairchild recounted. “I was running the ball and I came around the corner – this was in high school – with a foreign exchange student. I think her name was Inga. I didn’t want to fumble ’cause my brother and my dad were there, and I come from this very athletic family, so I held onto the ball. I knew I was going to go down, so I let my head hit first and I bit all the way through, but I didn’t fumble. I had a hole in my face, though.”
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She adds that the “sad thing” was that it was just “flag football,” and that she left her flags and cleats on because it “looked cool.”
“I had blood running all down my jersey,” she continued. “I went to the emergency room like that, and they sewed up my lip.”
Kimberly Schlapman joins Fairchild in being the other female in Little Big Town, which also includes Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet. Both women feel fortunate to be part of a group with men who are constantly encouraging them, both on and off stage.
“They have always been supportive, for everything we’ve done in the band, and even when we’ve stepped out to do things on our own,” Schlapman told CMT. “They have always been there to lift us up and cheer us on.
“They’re incredibly strong men and confident in themselves and very happy for this honor and incredibly supportive,” she continued. “If they weren’t, it wouldn’t be the same band. If we didn’t have the support and the bond and the love that we have, we probably wouldn’t still be together.”
Fairchild is married to Westbrook, while Schlapman is the wife of Stephen Schlapman. But both men earned the praise of Fairchild.
“I think right now we have to speak up for each other and support each other, and we have to say the difficult thing as women,” Fairchild said. “And if we don’t do it for each other, who’ s going to do it?
“We are lucky that we’re in a band with strong, beautiful men and that [Kimberly] is married to a strong, beautiful partner,” she added. “We’re lucky that we have men in our lives that lift us up. It’s time for the girls to raise each other up.”
Little Big Town will continue their Breakers Tour in 2019 in Canada, with Midland and Ashley McBryde serving as their opening acts. The tour kicks off on Feb. 14. Find dates at their official website..
Photo Credit: Getty images/Steve Jennings
