GIRL CRUSH

It all began with Karen Fairchild in the middle 1990's.  Back then it was just only Karen Fairchild looking to start a rock band.  Karen Fairchild was packaged as a Born Again Christian rock singer and eventually joined the Christian rock band Truth as occasional lead singer as well as occasional backup singer.  It was as a member of the rock band Truth that Karen Fairchild met her future spouse Mark Childers as well as  Leigh Cappillino (she joined the all girl Christian rock band Point of Grace on November 2003).  Truth was a large rock band with eighteen members that produced four albums before breaking up. 

 Karen Fairchild and  Leigh Cappillino continued to hang out with other after the breakup of the rock band Truth, but fellow Truth co-band member Mark Childers didn't want to perform music anymore.  So Karen Fairchild and Leigh Cappillino formed a symbiotic duet called KarenLeigh without Mark Childers or any of the other fifteen members of Truth.  The singles Save it For a Rainy Day and This Love Has were recorded and an album was eventually released.  KarenLeigh broke up when it was discovered that Karen Fairchild didn't have what it took to be a Point of Grace girl.  Karen Fairchild went by her married name of Karen Childers at the time.

It was at 1997 that Karen Fairchild gave up being a Christian rock performer.  Defeated and not willing to perform music in concert anymore, she relocated to Alabama to attend Samford University.  She met Kimberly Roads who convinced her to become a country music performer instead of a Christian rock performer.  Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Roads dropped out of Samford University, left Alabama far behind to live in Nashville, Tennessee.  Well, Jimi Westbrook was a friend of Karen Fairchild's spouse (And former bandmate) Mark Childers and joined the all girl duet to make it a trio.  It's not sure when or how Phillip Sweet got involved to make it a two girl and two guy quartet, but that's what happened while trying to land a record deal in Nashville, Tennessee.
2001 found them a record deal with Mercury Nashville, but no album was recorded.  Instead, they were employed as backup singers for Collin Raye on his album Can't Back Down.  Country music singer Sherrie Austin recruited Kimberly Roads and Phillip Sweet to co-write the song Back Where I Belong, but not perform on it for her album Followin' a Feelin'.  2002  was the year that a second record deal was signed, but the debut album only produced minor hits and ultimately was a failure.  That was just the start of their problems.
 Karen Fairchild and Phillip Sweet encountered further setbacks when their respective spouses filed for a divorce almost simultaneously.  Little Big Town were dropped a second time and signed with Equity for their next two albums on 2005 and 2007 and that's when Little Big Town started taking off into blockbuster success.  It wasn't known when, how or why Kimberly Roads was renamed Kimberly Schlapman, but that's what happened eventually. Capitol Nashville released their fourth album in 2010, their fifth album in 2012 and their sixth album in 2014.  Little Big Town continues to record music and tour to support their music to this exact moment of time.

 Phillip Sweet, Jimi Westbrook, Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild

 Jimi Westbrook, Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild and Phillip Sweet

 Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild

 Karen Fairchild

 Phillip Sweet, TJ Osborne, Kimberly Schlapman, John Osborne, Karen Fairchild, Darius Rucker and Jimi Westbrook

Karen Fairchild

 Jimi Westbrook and Karen Fairchild

  Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook and Karen Fairchild

 Jimi Westbrook,  Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild and Phillip Sweet

  Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild and Phillip Sweet

 Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild,  Kimberly Schlapman and Phillip Sweet

Karen Fairchild and  Kimberly Schlapman

 Kimberly Schlapman

Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild,  Kimberly Schlapman and Phillip Sweet

 Phillip Sweet, Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook

Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet

 Jimi Westbrook, Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild and Phillip Sweet