A talk with Little Big Town's Karen Fairchild and Phillip Sweet

Little Big Town has played on the CMA Music Festival's premiere LP Field stage "like, seven or eight times" in their career, but this year is special.

The foursome's sixth studio album, Pain Killer, solidified them as a singular force in mainstream contemporary country, drawing on influences that favor musicality over fads but still hit the mark on country radio. LBT is one of the few acts that can walk the line between progressive appeal and old-school country ideals with credibility, and they're finally getting recognized for it. The group was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry this year, and recently they unwittingly ignited a (misinformed) gays-in-country debate when the conservative fake-rage machine completely misconstrued the lyrics to their latest single — the envy-laden ballad "Girl Crush."

The quartet takes the stage at LP Field on Saturday night. They'll also host ABC's portion of the CMA Music Festival: Country's Night to Rock TV special for the third year running.

In anticipation of the big gig, two of the band's members — Karen Fairchild and Phillip Sweet — talked to the Scene about the dubious honor of having one-third of LP Field's total female lineup in their group, the "Girl Crush" non-controversy, country radio #SaladGate and more.

What does it feel like to perform on the LP Field stage?

Sweet: It's breathtaking. The size of the crowd is one thing, but just the way everyone is so excited and how that many people can be that charged up is unexplainable.

Fairchild: When you get together the rowdiest, most loyal country fans from around the world in one place, the energy in that place is pretty electric. And if we can keep away the bad weather, it's the most amazing show we'll play all year long. The first time you walk out there as a new artist it's pretty daunting and intimidating, but also exhilarating at the same time, and you want to do it again and again. So we're always so grateful when they ask us back.

This has arguably been the biggest year the band has ever had, so does hosting the TV portion feel like a bigger deal than in years past?

Fairchild: It always feels like a big deal, but this year is going to be perfect timing. "Girl Crush" is doing so well, and the fans are loving it, so I can't wait to get out there in the middle of them and hear them sing it, because when they sing it, they're almost louder than we are.

Do you do a lot of prep for hosting, or do they just send you out there?

Fairchild: There's a lot of prep, actually. We just had a creative meeting about it, and we go through the lineup and come up with some things we want to do, especially things we want to do to our friends. You know, behind-the-scenes things we know about them that we could possibly reveal on a television show, or ways we could get back at Blake Shelton.

Sweet: We're always thinking of that.

Karen, did you notice that out of 21 acts scheduled for LP Field this year, you and [bandmate] Kimberly [Schlapman] represent two of the six women in total?

Fairchild: No, and that's pretty discouraging. I guess it's gotten to a place where it's hard to break a woman at country radio, but I'm not exactly sure of that. I'm sure that we're being told that, but we've just gotta change it. We can't just be a one-note format, and I think the guys in the format would say the same thing. It's gotta be diverse. The songs and the women that we all grew up listening to changed country music — Reba, Tammy, Loretta, Dolly — what would this format be without them? Nothing. Nowhere. I mean, that's my personal opinion, but this is too much of the same thing. So I'm grateful there are six of us singing, but there should be more, and it's gonna change. I feel it coming, and we want to be part of that.

What did you make of the #SaladGate quotes from Keith Hill, saying that women should be taken out of radio playlists to achieve higher ratings, since 70 percent of country radio listeners are female and the research shows they want to hear male singers?

Fairchild: Well, yeah, what choice do they have? If they only hear one female every couple of hours, then of course the ratings and scores are going to come back that they want to hear men, because they are not hearing women! That kinda doesn't make any sense to me. I just don't believe it. I love radio guys that go with their gut, and we're friends with a lot of them, and it makes me proud when they get away from the research and they just go for something that they love, like "Girl Crush," and that's what's gotta happen. And I love tomatoes, so I'm proud to be a tomato. If you wanna just eat lettuce ... well, that's all I've got to say.

Is radio paying too much attention to data?

Sweet: I think the data helps them keep their jobs; it helps them sell advertising. It's business and it's money, and that's the way they look at it, but they tend to lose sight of what it is that's giving them something to sell, and that's the creativity and the music. There needs to be more of a balance, I think, because if you're just focused solely on data and you're making hard decisions based on that and not on your creative gut, then you miss so much. And I think the fans and your listeners miss out as well. There are good ones out there that really do go with their gut, and we need more and more of those people, that's what's gonna change it.

Fairchild: I just don't understand about the research. How can anyone get a score on something that's not playing? How could you possibly get a reading off of what isn't there? If you spin a song a few times in the middle of the night and it's a new female, I don't see how you could possibly say that girls who are listening to your radio station don't want to hear that particular female. I think women are dying to hear songs that relate to them. Sure, they want the party songs, and we love 'em. We had big success with "Pontoon" and "Day Drinking," and nobody loves a cocktail hour more than this band, but we all want to get to the "Girl Crush" moment and the substance, and we all want diversity. So do guys like Luke [Bryan] and Blake [Shelton]. They probably don't like being called "lettuce." They do more than just that. So I just think it's a really narrow-minded viewpoint, and we've gotta open it up. It's a healthy discussion, and we'll just raise the banner high for the tomatoes of the world.