Little Big Town has just announced that they will be without Phillip Sweet in their upcoming ACM awards performance this Sunday.
Jimi Westbrook Announces Phillip Sweet’s Diagnosis
During an interview on Audacy, the chart-topping country band announced that one of their members will be MIA in their Sunday performance at the ACM Awards due to testing positive for the coronavirus.
“Well, Philly’s not feeling good. We might as well break the news, he’s got the COVID,” Jimi Westbrook. “He seems to be holding off the really bad stuff, just a little not feeling great.”
The band’s lead singer Karen Fairchild added that he’s “over the hump today, he’s hoping. … He is, unfortunately, so sad and missing out on this whole ACM week. But he’ll be back soon.”
Little Big Town will be performing their latest hit “Wine, Beer, Whiskey” on Broadway for the ACM Awards, and the band was also nominated for Group of the Year at the award show.
Speaking on whether the band is considering bringing in a replacement for Phillip Sweet, Westbrook joked that they’d auditioned 50 people and it just didn’t feel right, so it’ll be a trio performance. Kimberly Schlapman joined in quipping that they could cast Sweet’s “gazillionaire” lookalike Richard Branson to perform in his place.
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Dressing Up For the ACM Award
The band later discussed what they will wear to the awards show during the interview. “I’m wearing Stella McCartney,” Fairchild said. “We have two fabulous dresses for Kimberly and it’s really a toss-up. She’s got to wear both of them eventually. But I think she’s wearing Carolina Herrera. But we might flip a coin, we’ll see. Sometimes in the moment, we just go, ‘We should do this.'”
Schlapman hilariously added, “And sometimes in the moment we go, ‘You shouldn’t have had that last biscuit. You’re gonna have to wear this dress.’ You know how that is.”
Performances for the ACM Award will take place in various Nashville venues, including the Grand Ole Opry House, Ryman Auditorium, The Bluebird Cafe, Station Inn, Bridge Building and on Broadway.
The 2021 ACM Awards can be viewed live on April 18 from 8 p.m. ET on both CBS and Paramount+.
Be sure to catch up on everything happening with Little Big Town right now. Come back often for country music and celeb news and updates.
[…] Big Town is an American country music group founded in 1998 by group members, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (formerly Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbrook. Their […]