Little Big Town bike ride raises money to fight cancer, AIDS
Wednesday, June 11, 2008 – Little Big Town raised $35,000 for the T.J. Martell Foundation's second annual Ride For A Cure motorcycle ride on Sunday. Little Big Town, with the help of artists Darryl Worley, Lonestar, Jennifer Hanson, Gary Chapman, GAC's Storme Warren, Ira Dean, Chuck Wicks, Jeff Allen, Christian Kane, Earl Brown, Bluefield, Kendall Johnson, Levi Rose, Randy Houser, Ray Scott, Jamie Johnson, The Roys and FLOORD turned out to ride from one Harley-Davidson store in the Nashville area to another in 95-plus degree heat where they met fans, enjoyed a barbecue lunch and performed in a post-ride jam session.
"Everyone seemed to have a great time, and we were so pleased to see such wonderful support from the many sponsors, participants, artists and fans that came to help us raise vital dollars for research," said Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town. "Ride For A Cure was a great way for us to end CMA Music Fest week by giving back to such a wonderful cause as the T.J. Martell Foundation."
Prior to the start of the ride, Little Big Town was awarded the T.J. Martell Foundation - Nashville Division's Artist Appreciation Award for their support in the foundation's mission of funding leukemia, cancer and AIDS research. Mike Kraski, Chairman of the T.J. Martell Foundation's Board of Directors Artist Relations Committee and Laura Heatherly, Executive Director of the Foundation presented a special plaque to Karen Fairchild, Jimi Westbrook, Kimberly Roads and Phillip Sweet of Little Big Town.
"Little Big Town is a great example of how artists can get really get involved with a music industry supported cause such as the T.J. Martell Foundation and help raise vital dollars for research," said Kraski. "After attending some Martell events and learning about the mission of the charity, they decided they wanted to play a major role with the organization and host the motorcycle ride."
More news for Little Big Town
CD reviews for Little Big Town
A Place To Land (re-release)
Little Big Town's third studio album was recently re-released by the group's new label after they split from Equity Music Group and took the CD with them. Those already familiar with the quartet will find a dozen tracks from the original recording, but there are also four new tracks to enjoy including a live coda - a cover of The Dream Academy's Life in a Northern Town - recorded with Jake Owen and Sugarland that has charted on its own. Highlights include That's Where I'll »»» |
A Place To Land
If "Rumors-" era Fleetwood Mac was just starting out today, they would be considered a country band. Need proof? Meet Little Big Town.
The oxymoronically-named quartet does the kind of country music that would have been considered mainstream rock in the '60s or '70s. They seem to be playing this generational kinship up on their third album. The band's new logo would have been right at home on a vintage Jefferson Airplane rock poster. And check out Karen »»» |
The Road to Here
Little Big Town went for an overpolished sound the first time out and quickly found themselves off of Sony, but they have found themselves here. The quartet - Phillip Sweet, Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Roads - is a countrified Fleetwood Mac, but far moreso than say Bering Strait. That's apparent from the instrumentation with lots of mandolin, fiddle, Dobro and banjo. This is a cohesive effort as well with lot of strong harmonies, sometimes beautiful sounding and sometimes with »»» |
Editorial: There's no Equity –
The economic downturn was bound to hurt Nashville sooner or later. And now a few months into the economic disaster afflicting the country, the economy has claimed its first record label – Equity Music Group. The label started with the help of Clint Black, who was its flagship artist. At one point, Little Big Town also was on Equity, and reached new career heights after not getting the love at SonyBMG. »»»
Country Musings: Sturgeon, Rimbaud, Buck and Me –
Sturgeon's Law states that 90 per cent of everything is crap. And that includes music, of course. I submit that there are two exceptions to this rule: 1.) crap percentage is somewhat higher on modern day country radio, and 2) when you're young the operands in this equation are reversed, i.e., 90 percent of everything is pure gold. I remember when I was a kid taking a car trip somewhere with my dad. He wanted to change the radio station to listen to a basketball game. I asked him to wait till the song that was playing ("Valleri" by The Monkees) was over as it was my favorite song. »»»
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