In this episode of the Biscuits and Jam Podcast, Southern Living's Sid Evans talks to Kimberly Schlapman, a founding member of the band Little Big Town, about her path to country music stardom. From a small town childhood in Georgia, playing piano at a Baptist church with her mother, to Samford University where she met her future bandmate Karen Fairchild, she shares the stories that led her to stardom. Plus, get the details on her latest undertakings, since she’s now a cookbook author, TV host, and longtime Southern food enthusiast!
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00:00Kimberly Schlappman, welcome back to Biscuits and Jam.
00:03I love being here with you, Sid.
00:06Like, this is pretty much where, if I could live inside Southern living, that's where
00:11I would prefer.
00:12I think that's going to be what my heaven looks like.
00:15So I'm really happy to be here with you again.
00:18The last time I was with you, I was up in a tiny little space upstairs because COVID
00:24had just taken over all of us and we were all scared and we, you know, it was a different
00:31time.
00:32So I'm glad for the freedom of today.
00:34I know it was, it was, you know, it was four years ago, like spring of 2020.
00:43And yeah, what a strange time.
00:45It's nice to be on the other side of it.
00:48So I'm reaching you at your house.
00:51You're at your house in Nashville.
00:53Yeah, this is our little home.
00:56This is the kitchen that the song pontoon built.
00:59Oh, and so my husband and I, we've been in this house for 18 years.
01:05And when we first moved here, when we drove up the driveway, we knew this was our home,
01:10but there were things that we also knew we were going to have to change because the kitchen
01:14was like this big and I like a big kitchen.
01:18And so this space back here used to be mama and papa and grandmother's room and it had
01:24a bathroom back there.
01:26And then when we were able, right after pontoon hit, we tore down the walls and made a big
01:33old kitchen back here.
01:35I love that we are looking at you in your kitchen.
01:37I mean, how often, how often do you get to cook these days?
01:41Oh, not as much as I would like, but as often as I can, I'll tell you that.
01:46I was able to cook yesterday.
01:48I cooked some goodies for a friend and I cooked supper for my family.
01:54So I cook as often as I can, but when we're on the road, busy, I don't get to cook nearly
02:00as often as I like to.
02:02Well, you seem like you're busy all the time and just on the road and on the go and on
02:07the run all the time.
02:09So I know that you love being home and having a minute to actually, you know, do a little
02:15cooking.
02:16Yeah.
02:17I'm a home girl.
02:18So I love being home.
02:19I know you, I know you are.
02:22And I, you know, I've seen some videos every now and then that you'll post with your daughters,
02:28you know, doing a little cooking segment.
02:31And I love that, you know, you're kind of teaching them to cook and, and, you know,
02:37showing them the ropes.
02:39Is that, has that been a fun thing for y'all to work on together?
02:41Oh, I love it so much.
02:44My older daughter, Daisy, was about three.
02:47She started coming up with her own recipes and, and they were terrible, awful, but my
02:54sweet husband always tasted them.
02:56And then as she grew like to four and five years old, she realized that if she added
03:00more bacon soda or bacon powder, things would just puff up and they would look better.
03:06They would not taste better, but they would look better.
03:08And so then she would just add gobs of bacon soda to whatever she was cooking, bacon, she
03:14would always bake.
03:15And, um, oh man, it was awful.
03:17And I would fake try it.
03:19Now she knows this.
03:20She's, she's actually upstairs, so she hears me.
03:23She knows that I would fake try it, but my sweet husband always tried it.
03:27He literally ate it every time.
03:29But now she's an incredible cook and, um, and now so Dolly, Dolly doesn't, um, make
03:36up recipes like Daisy always did, but she like sits on the counter and stick her, sticks
03:41her fingers and everything so that she can taste it or she just like opens a box of sugar
03:45and pours it into a recipe.
03:48But I love the time in the kitchen with my girls.
03:51I grew up with my mama, um, in our kitchen and with my grandmothers and, oh, it, the
03:58memories that I have are precious.
04:02Wow.
04:03Daisy sounds like my kind of cook.
04:04She likes to kind of sample as she goes.
04:06Yeah, she does.
04:08So, you know, Kimberly, you're so busy all the time and you, you get, you know, a little
04:13bit of time to cook and, you know, I'm just wondering what cooking means to you as kind
04:18of a creative outlet.
04:20You know, you're, you're pouring so much of your creative energy into performing and into
04:26songwriting.
04:27Um, but this is a completely different thing, you know, what, what does that, what does
04:31that mean to you?
04:32It is.
04:33It, it, but yet, you're right, it still is creative and I love taking a recipe that I've
04:39known forever.
04:40Like, for instance, recently, I took a recipe that my grandmother always used to cook and,
04:45um, I changed it a little bit and I added a different kind, it was a cobbler and so
04:49I added, um, she always made it a strawberry cobbler and so I was like, hmm, how could
04:54I change that a little bit and make it a little different?
04:58Not necessarily better, but a little bit different.
05:00So I thought, what if we combined lemon and blueberry together with some lemon zest and
05:05a little bit of lemon juice and some blueberries?
05:08How would that do?
05:09So I love to experiment on things that, um, that I've known for years, that recipes that
05:14I've had for years.
05:15I love to experiment and see what, um, I can come up with and sometimes it's successful
05:20and sometimes it is not.
05:22Yeah.
05:23Well, that's, that's why it's called an experiment.
05:26Um, Kimberly, how much of this, you know,
05:30interest in cooking came from your mom, um, directly?
05:34I mean, I know you've talked, you know, I remember you talking about how you had kind
05:38of a pretend cooking show, um, and you used to, you know, you used to kind of pretend
05:45that you were on TV or on a camera and, you know, talking about what you were making and,
05:51and that I think started pretty young, but you know, some of that must've come, uh, from
05:55your mom.
05:56Oh, it absolutely did.
05:59My earliest memories are with my mama in the kitchen and she would let me help her
06:04make biscuits and she'd let me pour the milk in and, um, she'd, she'd be, had her, had
06:10her fingers all in the flour and the butter and she would be, um, you know, squishing
06:15it together and, um, she would let me pour the milk and I, I, I remember, I remember
06:20it like it's yesterday and she would say, okay, go, go more, more, whoa, whoa, whoa,
06:26whoa, whoa, whoa.
06:27And she was like, if I started doing too much, she makes the best biscuits and, and she can't
06:33really write the recipe down because it's just a feel and she knows when the milk needs
06:36to stop and she knows when to add more milk and all that.
06:39But, um, yes, they're definitely my sweetest memories in the kitchen are with my mama and
06:46also my grandmothers and my great grandmothers.
06:49Um, they died, both of my great grandmothers died when I was fairly young, but I still
06:55have so many precious memories in the kitchen with them.
06:58Like my one grandmother, Granny Bramlett, she lived in a little trailer beside my aunt's
07:03house and she made tea cakes and now that tea cake recipe, my mother has perfected and
07:10handed down.
07:11But, um, she always had tea cakes and, um, also at her house, like when she would serve
07:17Sunday dinner, we called it Sunday dinner, but it happened at noon or right after church
07:22and she'd have everything on the table and all the pots and the pans and all the dishes.
07:26And then she'd take a tablecloth and lay it over that little, little table in her little
07:31tiny trailer.
07:32And, um, it was like a thin tablecloth and she rubbed, she laid all over that.
07:36And then five hours later when it was time for supper, we just lift the tablecloth off
07:41and eat the food again.
07:42And um, I just, oh, I have such a vivid memories of that.
07:46And then my other great grandmother, Grandma Burrell, her kids were, they had a farm and
07:52so her husband was a farmer and she would make 40 biscuits a day just for her kids.
08:00So because they would work out in the field and then they'd come in and she'd feed them
08:03biscuits and I, I remember her biscuits were phenomenal.
08:10And then my mother, of course, also perfected that recipe and those are her biscuits and
08:16my biscuits today.
08:17I mean, that's so great that you actually got to know your great grandparents a little
08:22bit.
08:23Not everybody has that, you know, and, and what a, what a cool thing.
08:27And everybody, I guess, was sort of in the same neck of the woods in Georgia growing
08:32up, right?
08:33None of them were too far.
08:35No, everybody was probably in a five mile radius.
08:39We lived right next door to my mother's parents and, um, just for a quick story about them,
08:47my grandmother grew up in Hollywood, California and my papa was a dirt poor Georgia boy.
08:56And they met when he was in the service.
08:58They met at a dime store she was working at.
09:01And he said to his, his army buddy, he's like, that's the girl I'm going to marry.
09:08And he went up to her and started talking to her.
09:11And she tells the story, they're both in heaven now, but she tells the story about falling
09:16in love with his Southern accent.
09:19And so he, they started going out on dates and actually when he met her, that first time
09:26he met her, he went AWOL for four days.
09:30He totally disappeared for four days because he was so in love with this woman.
09:35And luckily his superior officer gave him a little grace and he didn't give him a pass.
09:41He gave him a pass.
09:43I mean, this makes a lot of sense to me that your grandparents are, you've got a little
09:49bit of Hollywood and a little bit of country.
09:52This makes a lot of sense.
09:54Yeah.
09:55I feel like I got my, my little glitz and glamor side, my high heel shoes and my jewelry
10:01addiction and all that from my grandmother who grew up in California for sure.
10:06Kimberly, where did the musical ability come from?
10:10I mean, you know, obviously, you know, who knows where these things come from, but in
10:16your family, was it your mom?
10:18Was it your dad?
10:19Was there, you know, a grandparent who was really musical or the whole family?
10:24Well, there was a grandparent.
10:26My daddy's daddy was in a gospel quartet.
10:31I never got to hear that because he, he was not still doing that after I was born.
10:36But both of my family, both sides are musical.
10:40My daddy has a beautiful voice.
10:42My sister and my brother sing also beautifully.
10:45My mother's side, my mother played organ in the church for over 50 years.
10:50And so she's very musical too.
10:53She doesn't sing, but she's very musical.
10:57And so I kind of had it coming from both sides.
11:01And I remember just, there's not a time that I don't remember singing.
11:07I grew up singing in the church.
11:08We were at the church every time the doors were open.
11:11I just remember singing as a little kid.
11:14I remember, I guess the first time I remember being in front of people would be singing
11:19with my daddy in the church, our little small country church.
11:24And we sang together a lot.
11:26And then when my sister came along and she got a little bit older, the three of us started
11:30singing together.
11:32And my daddy also plays any instrument that he picks up.
11:35He can play the banjo and the mandolin and all, you know, all those stringed instruments.
11:40And our family just was surrounded by music always.
11:44That's amazing.
11:45I mean, you've just had it all over the place.
11:50What a great thing.
11:54You mentioned the church, and I'm wondering, you said it was a small country church.
12:01So take me in there for a minute.
12:04What does it look like when you walk in the front doors?
12:08Is it kind of, you know, is it rural?
12:12Where is it?
12:13What does it look like?
12:15It's called Demarest Baptist Church, and it still stands.
12:17It's been there probably a hundred years, right in the middle of Demarest, Georgia.
12:22I grew up going to Demarest Church and Demarest School, where my mother taught, but we lived
12:27in Cornelia.
12:28But it was like this far apart.
12:30You know, they're very close little towns.
12:32And when you walk in the front door of the church, it's a traditional white, beautiful
12:38church with a gorgeous steeple on top.
12:40It's got brick stairs as you walk up to the front door.
12:43And you walk in and you see these beautiful stained glass windows up in the baptismal,
12:50and stained glass on each side, on the windows.
12:54And the church pews, which have, they were probably replaced 15 years ago or something,
13:02but I got one.
13:03Oh, that's great.
13:04I sold it to whoever was interested.
13:06And so I have one of our old church pews, just wooden, plain old church pew over in
13:12my music room.
13:13And it is a treasure.
13:15And I will take that thing with me wherever I go, because I remember sitting on those
13:21really hard benches.
13:22I remember being in church when there was no air conditioning, because when I was a
13:25little bit older, we raised money and bought air conditioners for the church.
13:30But I remember sitting in there in that hot Georgia sun, with it beaming in the sides,
13:36both sides of the church, you know, being so hot and sitting on those hard pews.
13:40But I think about that now, but when it was happening, I didn't know any different, you
13:44know.
13:45And so I was just in church and doing what I was supposed to be doing in church.
13:50And also, my mother played organ forever and ever, and I started playing piano in the church
13:56when I was 11 years old, because our church pianist left to go to a different church,
14:02and there was no piano player in the whole little tiny church.
14:06And so-
14:07You got drafted.
14:09I got drafted.
14:10I got drafted.
14:11And I literally banged out those hymns, and it was not good.
14:16It was not good for so long.
14:18But I practiced a lot and a lot, and I became a pretty good piano player.
14:23But yeah, they were like, who can play piano?
14:26Well, Kim takes lessons, so let's put her at the piano.
14:30So, but you know, as I look back, the memories I have of watching my mama on the organ, and
14:36me being on the piano straight across from each other, across like where the preacher
14:40preached on the podium, what a treasure those moments are.
14:45Was there one hymn that, you know, kind of stands out for you or something that you kind
14:50of latched on to in particular that you kind of maybe became known for a little bit in
14:55the church?
14:56I loved Amy Grant at the time.
14:58I sang a lot of Amy Grant stuff.
15:00My Father's Eyes was a song, maybe one of my very, maybe the first song I ever sang
15:07and played in church.
15:08I was probably early in high school, I had finally gotten good enough to sing and play
15:13at the same time.
15:15And so I feel like my Father's Eyes was probably the first song I ever sang and played.
15:21But my mama and I would work up hymns together for the special music, you know, that comes
15:25about three quarters of the way down in the bulletin on Southern Baptist Church.
15:29And we would work up hymns together like, you know, Amazing Grace or Just As I Am, or
15:36oh, I have the hymnals at my piano in the music room now.
15:41And sometimes when I get, when I have the time, which is not very often, or when I just
15:48need a little bit of comfort, I'll sit down at the piano, and these days I have to put
15:52my glasses on to be able to read the notes, but I sit down and play, and oh, it just takes
15:58me back.
16:00And those hymns are such a comfort to me.
16:03And then it just makes me think of my mama and growing up.
16:07When you need a little grounding, you can always go back to that.
16:11That's right, for sure.
16:13So Kimberly, I don't think we got to talk about this last time, but when you went to
16:18college, I'm just curious kind of what your trajectory was, because you were, you know,
16:24you're already discovering your musical ability, and I mean, you must have had some interesting
16:30decisions to make about, you know, where you were going to go to school.
16:34I know that you've spent some time at University of Tennessee, and I'm just, fair warning,
16:40I'm a huge Tennessee fan, so I love that.
16:43Oh, great, great.
16:46But tell me a little bit about your trajectory there.
16:48In the middle, between my 11th grade and my 12th grade year, I went to something in Georgia
16:53called the Governor's Honors Program, and it was down in Valdosta, Georgia at Valdosta
16:58State University, and I got chosen for the music program.
17:02So I went down there, and I spent the whole summer, my first time away from home, and
17:06I loved it.
17:07I fell in love also down there, and that's a whole other story.
17:11But I spent the summer at Valdosta State, just singing and making music with all these
17:17amazing people, and I met someone who became a close friend of mine.
17:20Her name's Andrea, and Andrea told me she was going to Samford University, and I hadn't
17:25even heard of Samford at that point.
17:27So I started finding out about Samford, and I guess there were some folks in my little
17:34town who had gone to Samford, and they heard that I wanted to go there, so they called
17:39the music director at the school who led the a cappella choir there, and the a cappella
17:44choir there is like no other, it's phenomenal.
17:48And Dr. Black, who is now passed on, he called me one day on our telephone at our house in
17:55north Georgia, and he said, Hi, I'm Dr. Black from Samford University, and I'd like for
18:00you to be in our a cappella choir if you would be interested, and can you sing a song for
18:05me?
18:06And I remember where I was in my sister's bedroom, and I was like, oh my word, is this
18:12an audition?
18:13I'd never even done an audition before.
18:16So I sang the song, he asked me to sing the hymn, My Jesus I Love Thee.
18:21And so I sang that hymn for him, and then he said, I'd like to invite you to join the
18:27a cappella choir, and we have a little bit of a scholarship we can give you.
18:31And I was like, well, okay, I guess I'm going to Samford.
18:35And so I did, that was like during my senior year, and the next year I went to Samford.
18:43And my first week at Samford, they have a cappella choir camp, well, I guess it's the
18:48week before school starts.
18:49So I was on the a cappella choir camp bus going to Muscle Shoals, Alabama to do choir
18:55camp.
18:56And there was a girl sitting in front of me, a couple of girls sitting in front of me.
19:00And one of them turned around and said, hey, where are you from?
19:03And I said, I'm from Cornelia, Georgia.
19:06And my name's Kim Bramlett.
19:08And she said, well, my name is Karen Fairchild, and I'm also from Georgia.
19:12And I was like, oh, wow, okay.
19:14We started talking about being from Georgia, and we knew some people actually that I had
19:20met at the Governor's Honors Program were her friends.
19:23And so we had a lot to talk about.
19:25And that was, oh, my word, that was forever and ever ago.
19:30And I think about those two very young girls on that old school bus.
19:35She's in front of me, I'm right here.
19:37And I think about how, you know, God was looking down from heaven going, oh, ladies, I have
19:43got something prepared for you one of these days.
19:47And you know, if you had told us, I was 17 at the time, she was 18.
19:51If you had told us what we were in for together, we wouldn't have believed it.
19:58But that's kind of, that was the very, very beginning of Little Big Town.
20:01And then, so I went to Stanford for a couple of years.
20:04And Stanford, no offense to Stanford, but it was really expensive, and we just couldn't
20:09afford it.
20:10And so while I was there, I also fell in love with a law student.
20:16And he got a job at the University of Tennessee.
20:20And then we got married.
20:22After I was at Stanford a couple of years, we got married.
20:24And so I finished up at the University of Tennessee.
20:27I'm a proud Vol fan.
20:30And I loved, I loved UT.
20:33I loved going there.
20:34I love, you know, there aren't many SEC teams that I don't have some connection to and love
20:39for.
20:40But University of Georgia and the University of Tennessee are my tops.
20:45Well, I'm very happy to hear that.
20:47I mean, I have heard that you might favor Georgia a little bit in a game like a head-to-head
20:54game.
20:55So I don't love that, but you know, but I'm glad you're a Tennessee fan.
21:01And wow, what a fateful, you know, bus ride that you had with Karen Fairchild.
21:09And that is, that's incredible.
21:11And Sanford, you know, I think, as you know, is right next door to this office.
21:17I mean, it is literally, I could walk over there in five minutes.
21:21Yes.
21:22And I have to tell you, when I lived there and we knew that Sanford was, I mean, that
21:26Southern Living was right next door, I was always such a huge Southern Living fan.
21:31And back then as a kid, I was like, if I just walked in Southern Living's doors, I wonder
21:34if I could get a job or I wonder if they would use me to do something over there just so
21:38I could get involved in that magazine.
21:40But yes, we, everybody knew that Southern Living was right next door.
21:43Well, I think you had, you had other plans in store.
21:46Well, I got to ask you real quick, Kimberly, you know, as a Tennessee fan and a football
21:52fan in general, I know that you like to have a good tailgate every now and then.
22:03And someone walked down here the other day and shared with me a recipe that you gave
22:10us for shrimp and grits, hush puppies, and they are outstanding.
22:17So it was, it was such a treat.
22:22They are so good.
22:23Is that something that you like to make whenever you have people over for like a game?
22:27Yes.
22:28And that makes me so happy, Sid.
22:29That's a huge compliment coming from you.
22:31Thank you very much.
22:32Yeah, I love, well, I got the idea for shrimp and grits, hush puppies from a legendary
22:39restaurant here in Nashville called Puckett's.
22:42I'm sure you know all that.
22:43Sure.
22:44Yeah.
22:45And they used to have Puckett's Boathouse.
22:46And my husband and I would go on dates to Puckett's Boathouse for their shrimp and grits
22:50hush puppies.
22:52And so, but they have closed in the last few years and we love those shrimp and grits hush
22:57puppies so much that we just had to keep them in our lives.
23:00So I just figured out the recipe and we love those.
23:05Yeah.
23:06And you know what I love?
23:07I think I have so many current like memories as of late as far as tailgating on the road
23:15because we're always on the road in the fall, on Saturdays in the fall.
23:19And one of my favorite things is when we just, we have, we park our buses in the parking
23:25lots and we call it the bus compound.
23:27So all the buses are there in the parking lot and some of the buses are so fancy that
23:31they have TVs that you can pull out and watch the football games.
23:37And that would be because Phillip and Jimmy are such diehard football fans.
23:40And so on their buses, you can open up the bay and pull out the TV.
23:44And so we'll gather chairs around and everybody will watch the games together in the parking
23:48lot on those Saturdays.
23:50And those are just so much fun.
23:53And if I were to have a cooking facility, I would be making those shrimp and grits hush
23:59puppies.
24:00As a matter of fact, I should do that this fall when we're on Sugar Land because we have
24:03a little bit of a, I have like two little hot plates on my bus so you can pull out and
24:08cook a little bit on.
24:09So I'm going to do that this fall.
24:10Okay.
24:11Yeah.
24:12We'll make a picture for you.
24:13But I love, I love when people get together with the same, like, whether we're pulling
24:22for the same team or not, Jimmy and I are rarely ever pulling for the same team because
24:26he's an Alabama fan.
24:28Oh yeah.
24:29Enough said.
24:30Yeah, enough said.
24:32But I just love it when everybody gets together and watches the games and sometimes it doesn't
24:37work out for us to do it all together, but sometimes it does and it's just, it's just
24:41really fun.
24:42You know, I've interviewed quite a few country artists who happen to love football and they're
24:48always complaining about those Saturday night, you know, games when, you know, they have
24:53to go play a show and they have no idea what the score is and, you know.
24:57Yeah.
24:58We have that a lot.
24:59Jimmy is such an Alabama fan that, I mean, he takes it so seriously that no one better
25:07ever tell him a score until, like, if, like, if the game has started and we have to go
25:11on stage, he hates that, but better, no, nobody better ever tell him a score because he's
25:16going directly back to his bus where he's recorded the game to pick right back up where
25:20he left off.
25:21Oh, he wants to, he wants to see the game.
25:24He wants to find out.
25:25He wants to see the game.
25:26Yeah.
25:27He does not want to be updated.
25:28He wants to see it for himself and that's just a funny little thing about Jimmy and
25:34everybody knows it and we respect it and we're like, we know what has happened.
25:38Don't tell him the score.
25:39We're not going to tell Jimmy.
25:42On that Saturday in October when UT and Alabama play.
25:47Third Saturday in October.
25:49Yes.
25:50Yes.
25:51There were so many years that Jimmy couldn't even look me in the eye.
25:54I was like, Jimmy, we love each other.
25:56You've got to get past your Alabama thing you have and just look me in the eye, but
26:03I'm just joking, but he's very serious about Alabama football.
26:09Well they've had the upper hand lately.
26:10Well, Kimberly, I want to talk holidays for a second.
26:13You know, I know that you love Christmas and we celebrated Christmas actually together
26:20this past year at Illumination in Charleston, which was, which was so much fun.
26:24So I know you love the holidays.
26:27Talk to me about, you know, recipes and when you think of Christmas, like what's a recipe
26:32that you're kind of known for in your house or that you love to make?
26:35I grew up and we would find a Saturday every Christmas season with my grandmother Burl
26:42who lived next door and we would have, my mama would come and all my cousins would come
26:46and my sister and we would all just bake and we would bake and bake and bake and bake and
26:51all these goodies like Georgia crackers and peanut butter, peanut butter balls and cookies
26:57and haystacks and all these yummy Christmas goodies.
27:02We would bake hundreds of goodies and then my mother and my grandmother would give them
27:08out as gifts to their friends during the Christmas season and we have kept that tradition going
27:14for the most part.
27:15There have been a few years we haven't been able to do it, but we'll go to my sister's
27:18house.
27:19It's hard to find a day when everybody can do it, but we work really hard to find a day
27:23and then we just cook, cook, cook, cook, cook, cook and then we then give them out to our
27:29friends for Christmas.
27:30Some of my favorite things and I don't know if everybody calls them this, but we make
27:34Georgia crackers, we call them Georgia crackers and they are townhouse crackers, the oval
27:40townhouse crackers filled with peanut butter, stack it up and then dip it in chocolate and
27:47then let it sit and cool of course and then your little sandwich cracker is called a Georgia
27:52cracker.
27:53Ooh, that sounds good.
27:54Sometimes we dip them in regular chocolate, milk chocolate and sometimes we do white chocolate.
27:59They are so yummy.
28:01Sometimes we put sprinkles on top and some we leave plain and I think that's probably
28:06the most popular in our family, the most popular little goody and we have them all throughout
28:11Christmas.
28:12No matter what we're doing with each other on Christmas, there's a bowl or a platter
28:15of Georgia crackers and they go, my sister, what she has learned to do is not put them
28:20all out at the same time because we spend most of our Christmas with her at her house
28:25so she'll put some out and then they'll get gone and then she'll put some more out and
28:29they'll get gone, but we devour those and we also leave those for Santa Claus.
28:36We eat eggnog and Georgia crackers for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.
28:41And I imagine Santa Claus is a big fan.
28:43Yeah.
28:44He's a big fan.
28:45Georgia crackers, yes.
28:47We may have to get that recipe from you.
28:49You can have it.
28:50Oh, I would love it.
28:51Absolutely.
28:52I would love it.
28:53Those sound really, those are right up my alley.
28:54Well, Kimberly, I want to talk about some other music.
28:57So two years ago or so, 18 months ago, you had a new album come out and it was called
29:03Mr. Sun.
29:04You know, there's a song on there that I wanted to ask you about.
29:07It's called Three Whiskies and the Truth.
29:11You don't strike me as a big drinker, but I feel like you love a whiskey song.
29:21How did this one come together?
29:22That's so funny.
29:24Yeah.
29:25I don't drink whiskey, but I really like to sing about it.
29:29I know you do.
29:31Karen and I love to write with these three women in town and they call themselves the
29:36love junkies, Hillary Lindsey, Liz Rose, and Lori McKenna.
29:41And there are no three more talented women.
29:45I mean, they have written so many hit songs together.
29:51And they also wrote Girl Crush.
29:54That's where Girl Crush came from.
29:56And so Karen and I like to write with them whenever the opportunity presents itself.
30:01And we were writing with them one day.
30:03We don't let the boys come.
30:04It's like an all girls, lots of estrogen, lots of chatting.
30:10We start out always, for some reason, we start out eating chicken salad together, usually
30:15at Liz's house.
30:17And then a little bit farther into the afternoon, she starts popping wine.
30:21We just always have such a great time together.
30:24But one day we were writing with the love junkies, Karen and I, and I feel like it was
30:30Hillary who we were just, what we do when we first sit down, we just start talking life.
30:37Everybody's just talking about life.
30:39And somehow Hillary came up with, what about, I've had this title, Three Whiskies and the
30:46Truth.
30:47And we were like, oh, what?
30:49And so immediately we just started writing and that song came together fairly fast because
30:55we were just so inspired by her title.
31:00And that's how that happened.
31:01And then we put it on Mr. Sun.
31:04It actually is a lot of people's favorites.
31:07It's country.
31:08The harmony is really thick and beautiful on that one.
31:15I'm really glad you like that one, Sid.
31:18Well, the whole album is great, but that one really spoke to me in particular.
31:23And yes, I do like a whiskey.
31:27It's just a beautifully done song and you can listen to it over and over and it's a
31:34great one.
31:35Thank you so much.
31:36Kimberly, I want to ask you about something a little bit harder.
31:40You were a part of an event in Nashville recently that was raising money to find a cure for
31:48Parkinson's disease.
31:50And you talked a little bit about your personal connection to that disease with your mom.
31:57And I'm just wondering if you could share a little bit about her struggle with that
32:03and what you've kind of taken away from that and how you've been dealing with that.
32:09Yeah, absolutely.
32:10Thank you for asking.
32:11My mother, 19 years ago, I lost my first husband.
32:17And we noticed in the midst of that, which was a horrific time for everybody, that my
32:22mother had this tremor.
32:25We thought that she was just nervous and stressed, just like all of us were.
32:30And as the weeks and the months passed after that, that tremor didn't go away.
32:35And so she actually, and I know doctors aren't okay with this, but she kind of diagnosed
32:41herself with Parkinson's.
32:42She started reading about it and researching and she was like, I think I have Parkinson's.
32:47So she went, of course, to a neurologist and they confirmed that.
32:52And this was 19 years ago.
32:54And she was very active at the time.
32:57She and her best friend would walk three miles a day.
33:00And for about 10 years, you wouldn't have known that she had Parkinson's.
33:06She was just doing pretty much everything in life that she had ever done.
33:10She's very much like me.
33:11We're just really busy people.
33:13I realized when I had shoulder surgery recently that I'm pretty much a busy body because I
33:18just want to do, do, do, do, do.
33:21And that slowed me down a lot at the time.
33:23But my mother is the same.
33:25She's always cooking for people and taking care of people and cleaning and planting and
33:30doing all the things.
33:32And so she was pretty much able to do most of that for about the first 10 years.
33:38And then for the last, I would say five to seven years, she has moved to a deeper level
33:44in Parkinson's and it has taken over her life.
33:50The thing about Parkinson's is it's so complex.
33:54A lot of people, it's the tremors and it's the full body tremors.
33:58And luckily, well, I don't say luck, I say thank God, there are brain surgeries now that
34:04can help with those tremors with some people, which just will change a Parkinson's patient's
34:11life.
34:12My mother, her medicine takes care of those tremors, but her main challenge is her balance.
34:19And there's something in Parkinson's called feet freezing, where your feet literally freeze
34:26to the ground and your brain says to go, but your feet cannot go.
34:30They don't talk to each other.
34:32And so then you fall.
34:33And my mother, oh, God bless her.
34:36She's broke so many bones and she's, oh my goodness, her little body has just been beat
34:42up from this disease.
34:43And so balance is her biggest challenge.
34:47She does therapy a lot and she takes all the medications that there are for Parkinson's,
34:54but there's not yet a cure.
34:56And her disease continues to progress and her life is nothing like it used to be.
35:04Her spirit still is, and she's such a fighter, but it has taken a lot of her life, this disease.
35:13My daddy is her primary caregiver and I've learned a lot about caregivers through this
35:19and how hard it can be on caregivers emotionally and physically.
35:26They're seeing the person that they have loved their whole lives fail and decline.
35:34It's really hard on the caregiver and I have so much new respect for people in that role.
35:43Just for Parkinson's, it is such an interesting, wretched disease.
35:50Michael J. Fox, I've said and I will say again, is an angel to families like mine.
35:56If it weren't for him and his research, his foundation, I don't think there would be nearly
36:02as many advances as there have been and there will be a cure.
36:07We don't have it yet, but there will be a cure thanks to his foundation.
36:12I just say to anybody out there who has a loved one who has this disease, it's hard.
36:18It's a very, very difficult journey.
36:21And I support you and I feel you and I appreciate you mentioning it, Sid,
36:27because I feel like the more we talk about it, the better off it is
36:31for that disease and to find a cure for that.
36:35I'm sorry that you're struggling with that and that your mom is, but I also applaud you
36:41for doing what you can to make a difference and working with them to try and raise money
36:47and try and make some advances against such a terrible disease.
36:53I know that there's quite a few people, even just thinking about Nashville
36:59and the country music world, that are dealing with this on some level.
37:03And I'm wondering, are there people that you've become closer to just
37:09because of a shared experience with that?
37:13Yeah, I would say, well, there is some bit of a Parkinson's community here in Nashville.
37:20And it's like when you walk a road like this, if you can talk to someone else
37:26about what they're going through, whether you are the Parkinson's patient
37:30or you love someone who has it, I have a lot of friends who love someone who has it.
37:34Their mother has it or their father has it or their father-in-law has it.
37:37And when you can talk to someone like that and just share stories, it just makes you feel better
37:45and it makes you realize that you're not alone.
37:47I also have friends whose parents, you know, I feel like no one really prepared us for this point
37:53in our lives where our parents start to decline.
37:56And I try to get my friends to talk about it more.
38:00I knew that I would have to live without my parents one day,
38:04but I never really thought about the decline that might happen to get us to that point.
38:11And it's hard.
38:13And I try to talk to as many of my friends about it because I feel like we need each other in this time.
38:20I just didn't prepare myself for this.
38:22There are so many friends in this town also who give of themselves for causes like Parkinson's.
38:30My bandmates have given so much of themselves to raise money for Parkinson's.
38:36Jason Isbell, Sheryl Crow, Brad Paisley, all these people have given of themselves to raise money
38:43for this horrible disease and I'm forever grateful to them for that.
38:51Yeah, I just, yeah, I have such respect for people that are taking their time and putting their energy
38:58and efforts into trying to make a difference on something like that and you included in that.
39:04Well, on a brighter note, Kimberly, I know you must be really excited about this tour.
39:11You're touring with Sugarland.
39:15It's kind of incredible that you've been at this with Little Big Town for more than 25 years.
39:23You must be just so excited about that.
39:26Especially, I would think, working with Jennifer Nettles and going out on the road with her.
39:34Yeah.
39:34Is that someone that you've known for a really long time?
39:37Oh, you did, yeah.
39:38Yes, I love that girl.
39:40We've known her forever and I heard your conversation with her and it was amazing.
39:45I loved hearing her talk about growing up and about the farm life and her grandparents and all that.
39:54That conversation, Sid, felt like I was just sitting on the couch with the two of y'all.
39:59It was incredible on both sides, incredible.
40:03But, oh, I love that girl and I love Christian and we were celebrating 25 years and we started having conversations
40:10like, how are we going to do this?
40:11How are we going to tour this?
40:13How are we going to celebrate this big, huge moment for Little Big Town?
40:18I think it was our manager that said, why don't we try to get Sugarland back together and have a tour?
40:24And then he did it.
40:26He has so much fairy dust that he uses here and there.
40:30He's very persuasive.
40:31And so, he made it happen.
40:33He called them up and they were into it.
40:35And so, yeah, we're going to go out on a tour in the fall with them and we're going to sing our own songs
40:41and we're going to collaborate a little bit.
40:43And we actually have a Phil Collins song that we worked up recently and recorded.
40:47I heard that.
40:49Yeah.
40:49It was so fun.
40:50It was great.
40:51They were the first tour that my little Daisy went on.
40:56So, right after Daisy was born, we went out on our first tour with Sugarland back in 2005 and Daisy was an infant.
41:04It was with Sugarland and Jake Owen.
41:06So, I just have so many just warm, cozy, comfortable memories of being out with them.
41:14And they, of course, were so good to me as a brand new mama trying to figure out my way.
41:20And then we toured with them at least once more, maybe twice more.
41:25And so, it's just going to feel like a homecoming being back out with them.
41:30I just can't wait.
41:31I can't wait.
41:31There's no telling.
41:32Christian is infamous for saying in an afternoon,
41:37how do y'all feel about working up a new song for tonight?
41:39And so, I know that's going to happen.
41:41And one time he said, how do y'all feel about doing a Queen song tonight?
41:45And we were like, what?
41:47And we did it.
41:48We worked it up and we did it.
41:50So, I'm just looking for the spontaneity that I know.
41:53I'm looking forward to that.
41:55I know it's coming.
41:56I think a lot of people are going to be excited to celebrate that with y'all.
42:00Oh, please.
42:01Please come.
42:02I can't believe Jennifer didn't tell me that that was happening, though.
42:07I should have heard a hint or two and gotten that out of her.
42:11Well, she was probably sworn to secrecy at that time.
42:14I'm sure.
42:15I'm sure.
42:16You know how showbiz is.
42:19You're sworn to secret.
42:20You can't tell, you can't tell, you can't tell until you can tell.
42:23Well, Kimberly, I just have one more question.
42:25And I've been asking this at the end of each episode.
42:29But the last time we talked, I did not get to ask you this.
42:33So, what does it mean to you to be Southern?
42:35My whole heart is Southern.
42:38It means love and being raised well.
42:43And it means God and family and patriotism and fun and celebrations
42:51and being loved and held well during grief.
42:55It means family and friends.
42:57And it means parties in the backyard with string lights hanging up at dusk.
43:02And it means being there with a casserole when a baby is born.
43:06And it is everything to me.
43:10And no matter where I live or where I go, I'm about to tear up.
43:15Because being Southern is who I am and will forever be how I'm labeled.
43:24And I'm so proud of it.
43:25And I love it when I get to show somebody what Southern really means.
43:30One of my pet peeves is when you see someone play a Southerner on TV
43:33and they have a horrible accent.
43:35I can't stand that.
43:37But when I get to show people what Southern really means
43:41and the whole truth of it and what all it encapsulates,
43:46oh, I get so excited.
43:47It makes me so happy.
43:48Well, few people that I know sound more Southern than you.
43:52And especially when you're saying things like lights and watts.
43:58My little Dolly, she's always calling me out on my long eyes.
44:03Always.
44:04Don't ever change.
44:06Well, Kimberly Schlappman, thanks so much for being back on Biscuits & Jam.
44:10I will come.
44:11You just come calling and I'll be there, Sid.
44:13Thank you so much for having me.