Little Big Town singer says she loves Cincy chili, talks Carly Pearce and more before show

Little Big Town is one of the most successful groups in country music.

In the 27 years since the band formed in Alabama, it has won three Grammy awards and has produced countless hits, such as “Boondocks” and “Girl Crush.”

So what is the secret to Little Big Town’s longevity?

“We constantly strive to make our music just new. We try to make it fresh and new and evolve as it should, and we just enjoy performing together,” singer Kimberly Schlapman said.

Little Big Town is coming to Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center on Sept. 11. Here’s more from The Enquirer’s conversation with Schlapman.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Kimberly Schlapman and Little Big Town will perform at Riverbend Music Center on Sept. 11.

Kimberly Schlapman of Little Big Town on Cincinnati chili, country music and more

Question: You’re amid you’re Summer Tour ’25. How is that going?

Kimberly Schlapman: We’re having so much fun out here. We’re doing amphitheaters all summer, and that’s some of our favorite crowds just because you get to get close up with all the people, and people bring their families and their kids and it’s just really special kind of shows. You can often see a whole lot of the crowd at an amphitheater, so it’s fun to watch the people out there and kind of just be in it together. It’s really fun.

Jimi Westbrook, from left, Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild and Phillip Sweet of Little Big Town perform onstage during the 60th Academy of Country Music Awards in May.

I tried to look it up. It looks like you guys have been in Cincinnati several times. Do you have any memories coming here and performing at all?We’ve done a lot of shows in Cincinnati. I have a great memory of a (Riverbend) show. We opened up for Keith Urban, and that was kind of in our earlier days. That was just a huge show and a huge opportunity and moment for us to be in front of his crowd, and I remember that the crowd was electric. It was so much fun.

Do you have any impressions of the city or have you tried our famous chili at all?

I certainly have.

Oh really? What are your thoughts?

Phillip Sweet, from left, Kimberly Schlapman, Karen Fairchild and Jimi Westbrook of Little Big Town attend the 60th Academy of Country Music Awards in May

I love it. I love it. We had a tour manager who introduced us to the Skyline Chili years ago, and every time we went into town, he would make sure that we had the chili backstage. I’m a big fan. I love it.

That’s funny. Do just eat the coneys or do you get the Ways with the noodles?

I’ve never done it with the noodles.

Yeah, that’s the big controversial one is the noodles with chili, onions, beans and cheese on top.

You add noodles into all that? Holy cow. I’ll have to taste that one of these days − after a show, not before.

Back to music, I know you also have worked with Carly Pearce on this tour. She’s a local from Northern Kentucky, what’s it like working with her?

We just adore her. She’s literally a doll. She’s so friendly, so down to earth, so kind, so generous and so talented. Oh my word. She just sings incredible. I mean, it blows me away every time. She opened up some shows for us this summer, and we got to sing together on stage, which was just such a treat.

She’s just precious. When you’re backstage with artists, you really get to see who they are, and she was just so warm and kind. My kiddos were out with me this summer when she was here, and she was so sweet to them, and we just adore her. You raised her right, Cincinnati.

A little bit about you all: You have been together for so long, having success for so long. How do you guys keep things fresh when you’ve just been in the game for all these years?

Lance Smith talks with Little Big Town about their rapid rise in popularity at the 2006 CMT Music Awards Block Party.

We’ve been through so much life together. It’s like we’re family at this point, and we have been for a long time just because we’ve been through so much together.

We constantly strive to make our music just new. We try to make it fresh and new and evolve as it should, and we just enjoy performing together. There’s never a night that we are like, “We don’t want to do this.” We always just love it, and when we get out there in front of the fans, they breathe life into us and they make it new every night. I think it’s just that we want to keep going, so we find new ways to freshen (our music) up.Lastly, it seems like the state of country music has really evolved over the last few years. We had a big country music festival in August, and Shaboozey was in town. We got to interview him and talk about it. Of course, Beyoncé and Post Malone are coming into the genre, and it just seems like it’s really evolving in a cool way. So, what are your thoughts on the state of country music right now?I think country music has always been about the song and about the roots, how we were raised, being good to each other, taking care of each other, and I think that’s a beautiful human quality. So, when the genre opens up to more people, I think these folks still have these roots and you can enjoy any kind of music and have really great firm roots on taking care of each other and just being a good person.

I think the more the merrier. My grandmother, she would cook Sunday dinner for us every Sunday, and she’d be like, “Bring everybody, we can always make more biscuits. There’s always room for more.” So, I feel like that’s kind of how we are in country music. We’re going to invite you in and have a good time with you. We just enjoy the company.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Little Big Town singer Kimberly Schlapman talks Cincinnati chili, more