Little Big Town Slated To Host ‘People’s Choice Country Awards’

Little Big Town is set to host the first-ever People's Choice Country Awards, which will air live on NBC and Peacock from Nashville's Grand Ole Opry House on September 28.

Jimi Westbrook, Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild, and Phillip Sweet will also perform a medley of their greatest hits as part of the two-hour celebration. All awards and honors will be chosen entirely by the fans across various categories.

The group said in a statement, "We are honored to host the inaugural 'People's Choice Country Awards,', especially on one of our most beloved stages in the entire world. We look forward to welcoming so many of our talented peers to take the Opry stage for this magical night of music."

Cassandra Tryon, SVP of Entertainment Live Events, NBCUniversal Television, and Streaming, said, "Little Big Town is a force in country music and a beloved staple on Music Row. As Opry members, they've delighted fans for years on the world-famous stage, and we're honored to have them host, perform, and bring this inaugural ceremony to life for our NBC and Peacock audiences."

The press release also noted, "The awards ceremony will lean on the country music genre's rich history with the Grand Ole Opry and feature musical performances, collaborations, and tributes to the genre's biggest legends and surprise moments." Adding that "along with awards for this years best in the genre, the show will also give out several honorary awards during the program."

Little Big Town posted the news from People's Choice this morning (6/3) on their Instagram, saying, "@littlebigtown is hosting *and* performing at the first-ever People's Choice Country Awards! Save the date to tune in for a legendary night in country music, 9/28 at 8/7c only on @nbc & @peacock! #PCCAs."

Many LBT fans reacted to the post, including one who wrote, "Couldn't think of better people to host! Love y'all!" Another fan commented, "Can't wait to watch u perform Little Big Town and host hope not working that day night you're so amazing all of your music, videos, and albums."

See that post here.

Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild is spending her 54th birthday today (9/28) at work as she and her bandmates host tonight's People Choice Country Awards in Nashville at the Grand Ole Opry House.

Karen, her husband Jimi Westbrook, and bandmates Kimberly Schlapman and Phillip Sweet have been staples in the Nashville music scene for over twenty years.

As a journalist, I've been interviewing this group since day one, and Little Big Town members are some of the nicest people in Nashville. In 2015, the group struck a chord when they released their Pain Killer album, which had such songs as "Girl Crush" and "Day Drinking" on it. That album won a Grammy for Best Country Album in 2016 and also won the Album of the Year honors in 2015 for both the ACM and the CMA.

I chatted with Karen not long after the album came out. She responded to the praise it was getting. Karen told me about Miranda Lambert, who cited Pain Killer as her favorite album at the time. "For me personally to know that another singer-songwriter entertainer of the year Miranda Lambert would like what we're doing and you know, be listening to it is incredible. We listen to all her records." She added, "She (Miranda) raised the bar. We wanted to up our game too. It's like every time we get back in the studio, we wanna take it to a new place and a better place, and we're super proud of the way Pain Killer turned out."

I spoke to Fairchild again in 2016 when her group released the Taylor Swift penned "Better Man." Karen told me how they presented the song to the public without revealing the superstar behind it. She said, "Taylor is the biggest pop star in the world, but she's a songwriter from Nashville, Tennessee, and she likes to tell a story, and we didn't want you to have any subtext there other than to hear this song."

She continued, "And we did that, and it had the biggest add day in our history with the guys at Universal that we ever had, and so we were like, 'Damn, we were right! This is a good song! You know? Nobody even knows!' So, for all the people that we told little white lies to, we didn't really lie. We said a young girl from Nashville, Tennessee, wrote it."

As we celebrate Karen on her big day, we take a look at some of her group's biggest and best songs.