Little Big Town, one of today's hottest country acts, rides into town tonight for a gig at the Pabst Theater. I caught up with Kimberly Schlapman, via e-mail, and asked her six quick questions.
The band's latest single, "Kiss Goodbye," was officially released last week.
OnMilwaukee.com: What do you know about Milwaukee? Honestly.
Kimberly Schlapman: When I think of Milwaukee, I think of the Brewers, and "Laverne & Shirley." I'm also looking forward to checking out The Safe House sometime when I'm in town.
OMC: Discuss how being on the road has changed through the years, with kids, etc.
KS: The four of us started out driving ourselves around in a minivan loading on and off all of our gear at every show. We now travel on two cushy buses with a full band and crew and three little angels who make sure there's never a dull moment.
OMC: What was the inspiration for "Little White Church."
KS: Karen (Fairchild) had the idea for the title of this song one day when she was driving around Franklin, Tenn. She just noticed all the little white churches on every corner. She wrote down that title in her journal. A few weeks later, she and I were listening to an old Patty Loveless record and talking about writing a bluegrass-type song with call and answer parts. A couple of days later, while she was in the shower, the chorus came to her. We got together later that day with our producer, Wayne Kirkpatrick, and wrote the song fairly quickly. We had a ball writing it, worked up a healthy appetite and went to eat at local barbecue joint.
OMC: What are you guys listening to these days, other than your own stuff.
JS: Miranda Lambert is one of our favorites. That CD never leaves my car stereo. We also so admire the new album Dierks Bentley just put out. I love his bravery in doing something different. We're predicting a Grammy there! Also, we spent a lot of the year on the road with Sugarland. They just put out an amazing new CD. You must check it out!
OMC: Best and worst parts of being on the road.
KS: The best part of being on the road for me is getting to visit new places and meeting new fans every day. The best part of our gig is hearing people sing our songs back to us during a show. That is quite a rush! The worst part of being on the road is being away from our homes. We are blessed to be able to travel with our families, so we have that piece of home with us, but I have to leave my critters behind with a house-sitter. That's hard. I have a precious black lab and two sweet little kitties.
OMC: Any plans to dress up for Halloween? If so, as what?
KS: Our children will definitely be dressing up for Halloween. My 3-year-old little Daisy is going to be a butterfly. I think Phillip's (Sweet) 2-year-old daughter, Penelopi, is going to be Sleeping Beauty, and Karen and Jimi's (Westbrook) 7-month-old little boy, Elijah, is going to be a dinosaur. We always have fun on the road with Halloween. Jimi and Phillip usually pull out their pranks.
A life-long and passionate community leader and Milwaukeean, Jeff Sherman is a co-founder of OnMilwaukee.
He grew up in Wauwatosa and graduated from Marquette University, as a Warrior. He holds an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University, and is the founding president of Young Professionals of Milwaukee (YPM)/Fuel Milwaukee.
Early in his career, Sherman was one of youngest members of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, and currently is involved in numerous civic and community groups - including board positions at The Wisconsin Center District, Wisconsin Club and Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. He's honored to have been named to The Business Journal's "30 under 30" and Milwaukee Magazine's "35 under 35" lists.
He owns a condo in Downtown and lives in greater Milwaukee with his wife Stephanie, his son, Jake, and daughter Pierce. He's a political, music, sports and news junkie and thinks, for what it's worth, that all new movies should be released in theaters, on demand, online and on DVD simultaneously.
He also thinks you should read OnMilwaukee each and every day.
