The fall just got a little bit sweeter for country music fans. Sugarland reunited and met Little Big Town on stage at Sunday's CMT Music Awards to deliver a cover of Phil Collins' "Take Me Home," to deliver one of the night's most epic performances.
Catch the moment during the 2024 CMT Music Awards encore 7 p.m. ET Thursday on CMT.
The bands last performed together on the CMT Music Awards in 2008 when they covered "Life In A Northern Town" alongside Jake Owen. The performance sparked a Grammy win for the artists.
"That was unreal," Little Big Town's Kimberly Schlapman said of the Grammy win. "Let's do that again. "
"Take Me Home" is on streaming services now, and the two bands and long-time friends are heading on tour in October. Tickets for the Take Me Home Tour, also featuring the Castellows, are on sale now.
"We would not have had this 25-year-long career without the fans," Schlapman said. "I just want them to feel like this is their story just as much as it is ours. We'll want to make sure we do all the songs that have become people's anthems and our big hit songs. And then we'll also want to do songs that are incredibly just meaningful to the band and songs that fans didn't hear on the radio, but that they have spoken up about and have become so important to them."
The tour marks Little Big Town's 25th anniversary as a group and falls on the 20th anniversary of Sugarland's breakthrough hit "Baby Girl."
"Sugarland and Little Big Town have been close friends since the beginning of both of our careers," Bush said. "Great things happen when we're on stage and in the studio. We're so excited to make music together again."
Schlapman credits Bush for the idea of reimagining Collins' "Take Me Home," which she said is not only a personal song to her, but the rest of the band loved it, too.
"I was like, 'Yes, yes, yes,'" Schlapman said. "I love it. And I'm telling you, it is fun. It's awesome. We sang our hearts out. We had so much fun doing it together. And I think the fans are going to feel it, and I think it's going to bring them back to the days of 'Life In A Northern Town,' which as far as I know, has never been done again. That kind of magic happened because the fans heard us do the song and loved it, and then it became a big old hit song, and then it won us a Grammy."
"Take Me Home" was initially written and released by Collins in 1985. Schlapman and her bandmates Karen Fairchild, Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet join Bush and his duo partner Jennifer Nettles, taking turns with lines of lyrics. Schlapman admits that hashing out who was going to sing what could have been a taxing experience. But it wasn't.
"We were just so happy to work with each other," Schlapman said. "I think the fact that Jennifer and Kristian came back together for this and for the tour was like a huge gust of fresh, clean, beautiful air. We made magic in the studio, and it was just super easy. We were like, 'You sing that, and I'll sing this, and you sing that, and I'll sing this, and hey, I want to try that. And hey, you try that.' And it came together, and we made a song of it."
Little Big Town and Sugarland will launch their tour in October in Greenville, SC, and wrap it up in time for Christmas in December at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.
Tickets go on sale Friday to the general public atwww.littlebigtown.com.
Take Me Home Tour Dates:
October 24 – Bon Secours Wellness Arena – Greenville, SC
October 25 – PNC Arena – Raleigh, NC
October 26 – Nationwide Arena – Columbus, OH
October 31 – TD Garden – Boston, MA
November 1 – PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, PA
November 2 – KeyBank Center – Buffalo, NY
November 7 – Target Center – Minneapolis, MN
November 8 – Fiserv Forum – Milwaukee, WI
November 9 – Van Andel Arena – Grand Rapids, MI
November 14 – T-Mobile Center – Kansas City, MO
November 15 – Denny Sanford PREMIER Center – Sioux Falls, SD
November 16 – Vibrant Arena at The MARK – Moline, IL
November 21 – Moody Center – Austin, TX
November 22 – Dickies Arena – Fort Worth, TX
November 23 – BOK Center – Tulsa, OK
December 11 – Mississippi Coast Coliseum – Biloxi, MS
December 12 – Gas South Arena – Duluth, GA
December 13 – Bridgestone Arena – Nashville, TN
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