Little Big Town, with two top 10 hits under its belt ("Boondocks" and "Bring It on Home"), isn't quite Sugarland in terms of Georgia ties — or success. But the quartet's two female members, Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Roads, are Georgia gals through and through.
The harmony-based act, which has no lead singer but gives all four members equal billing, will headline a show at the Tabernacle on Jan. 30.
Here's a quick look at the two women and their local connections:
Karen Fairchild, 39
Georgia tie: A graduate of Lassiter High School in Marietta, her family still lives here. She was a cheerleader and played softball.
High school superlative: Most dependable ("I kind of still am, for the band!")
Started singing seriously: at Samford University. "She had real stage fright at first," Kimberly said. "But she came out of it. People in college were blown away by her voice. That gave her confidence to pursue music and thank the Lord she did! That's where we met!"
Karen's take on the band's odyssey with four different record labels in 10 years: "It's a crazy journey. We had creative problems with Mercury. The album we did with Sony kind of failed miserably. We ended up making a record with no label and shopped it to Equity, a small indie label. That sold 1.2 million copies and was nominated for a Grammy." Since then, the band has gone on to Capitol Records.
Kimberly Roads, 39
Georgia tie: Grew up in Cornelia, at the foothills of the Smoky Mountains amid cows and pigs.
High school superlative: Most talented and friendliest
Started singing in: church. But hit the studio first at age 12. "I grew up wanting to be Barbara Mandrell and Dolly Parton.
On how the band started: "We were brainstorming and came up with the idea of a mixed-gender group. We love singing harmony. We thought it would be way more fun." It took a few years but they found the two guys -- Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet -- by 1999.
On the Grammy-nominated song "Boondocks": "We knew when we wrote that song, that that was our opportunity to shine."
On the collaboration with Sugarland and Jake Oweon on a cover of Dream Academy's "Life in a Northern Town": "We were on tour and when we did that song together, the crowd lit up. It surprised us. Radio started playing it without even a recording of it. We then did it on the CMT Awards and that's the version most radio stations started using."
On general radio resistance to the band: "Radio is always a bit of a challenge for us because we're different. But we're OK with it."
411: Little Big Town with Ashton Shepherd
8 p.m., Jan. 30, Tabernacle, 152 Luckie St., N.W., Atlanta
Tickets: $32 to $36
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