Little Big Town's Jimi Westbrook Reveals 'Voice' Experience
Country music fans will have an extra fun time Monday night watching The Voice -- not only due to watching another episode with Blake Shelton (duh), but also because hitmaking quartet Little Big Town will be joining Shelton as his personal team of battle round advisers. (They'll be joining Gavin Rossdale, Stevie Nicks, and Alicia Keys; who are advising Team Gwen, Team Adam, and Team Pharrell, respectively.)
"Any moment with Blake is crazy and awesome," laughs the group's Jimi Westbrook, who took a rare few minutes to talk to Yahoo Music about the upcoming appearance. "You never know what he's going to say or do! He is so great on the show, I think the chemistry between the four of us and Blake is really great. We've known each other for probably 14 years, so there's history there. It's just a lot of fun.
"Even just the downtime hanging out," he adds with another laugh. "We make fun of each other a lot, that's basically the gist of what's going on!"
When asked if it was difficult operating as a four-part advisory when traditionally the role is held by one artist, Westbrook alludes to LBT's long history as a quartet. "That's kind of how we're used to working," he notes, amending, "It might have been challenging for Blake, but we're pretty good at laying back if someone else is talking and not talk over the other person.
"It was funny, watching the clips, seeing like five of us behind the piano," Westbrook says. "It's like, that's a lot of people sitting there that these people are staring at and having to sing in front of! It has to be somewhat intimidating just from sheer numbers."
Westbrook notes that he and the rest of LBT ended up completely pleased with how everything shook out. "I think it really worked. Going into it I was thinking 'It's not an easy thing on that side of things, critiquing what someone is doing.' I wondered how we'd be in that situation, but I felt really good when it was all over with," he says. "We had so much fun on the show, and it's fun being a mentor.
"I think because we've been a band for so long and had so much experience we actually did have a lot to offer these people who were on there, and I was proud of the way it came off and the job that we did. Blake is a great mentor for these people, and it was fun to see that on a closer level. You see it on the show but behind the scenes, it was really cool to watch."
However, "The Voice" is certainly not the only thing the band has going in their busy fall schedule. The group is poised to release their sixth album, Pain Killer, on October 21. Although the title of the set -- combined with a first single called "Day Drinking" -- might suggest that partying is bit of a theme throughout, LBT note that that isn't the case.
"We address a lot of different subjects," Westbrook explains. "A lot of different times when people are sad they want to listen to sad music, or they want to listen to something that means something to them and helps them heal. So, we were thinking of it in that way as well."
