Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman reflected on Alan Jackson’s emotional final concert. He retired from his decades-long touring career with an all-star stadium show last month in Nashville, Tennessee.
Fairchild and Schlapman met with iHeartRadio’s Bobby Bones on a recent episode of The BobbyCast, which premiered on Tuesday (July 21). In a clip from the podcast shared on Instagram, Schlapman gushed over the legendary artist’s “phenomenal” voice. She highlighted an unforgettable moment in the show, when Jackson shared the stage with another one of the genre’s most influential artists, George Strait.
“We were standing by Miranda [Lambert], and she goes, ‘I can’t handle this. I can’t handle it.’ And she started crying tears,” Fairchild remembered. “I think she cried, like, four times in the night. But yeah, when George came out, that was — that stadium, oh my gosh.”
Schlapman pointed out, “that’s something that may have never happened before and it certainly won’t happen again. …It was so special to be a part of that kind of celebration.”
Little Big Town — which also includes Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet — took part in the star-studded “Last Call: One More for the Road – The Finale” show last month at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. The lineup also included Lainey Wilson, Little Big Town, Jake Owen, Thomas Rhett, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Riley Green, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Jon Pardi, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Lee Ann Womack and others. Across Nashville, more than 80,000 fans experienced the show. Jackson said that night, “this has just been incredible. I don’t even have words – it’s just been completely overwhelming.”
‘Alan Jackson: The Last Show’ will air as a televised special on NBC and the following day on Peacock in December. The date has not been announced as of publication time on Wednesday (July 22).
On The BobbyCast, the Little Big Town stars talked about “nearly breaking up, getting dropped, losing their tour bus and navigating a death within the band. They also discuss whether this could be their final album, performing at Alan Jackson’s last show and learning to feel comfortable with success. Plus, Karen calls out Bobby and shares how she accidentally offended Luke Bryan,” the episode’s description reads. Find the full episode on iHeartRadio here.