Capitol NashvilleEven though Little Big Town‘s “Summer Fever” has barely been out a week, it’s already a top-30 hit on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart.
In the writing session for the song, Karen Fairchild‘s memory traveled back to the days when she’d escape school in Alabama on a road trip to the beach in Florida.
“We thought, well we should just go all the way and describe what it’s like if you go to Panama City on Spring Break or on vacation,” she explains.
“For me in college at Samford, I used to take the long weekends with the girls and go to the beach.”
Jimi Westbrook chimes in: “When you cross the state line…”
“You start to smell the salt in the air,” Karen finishes her husband’s sentence. “You know you’re getting to the beach.”
“It’s like the start of summer…” Phillip Sweet says. “It’s like the feeling of ‘Ahhhh! Let’s go. Let’s party!'”
“So we had to shoot the video down there too,” Karen adds.
“Summer Fever” also owes a tip of the hat to the brothers Gibb, thanks to the Grammy tribute to the Bee Gees LBT sang on last year.
“[There’s] like a little bit of the Bee Gees influence on this song as well, just that kind of throwback seventies vibe,” Karen says.
“We’ve always loved seventies…” Jimi agrees. “You can go back to all of our records and there’s those sunny California harmonies that we’ve always been attracted to. And our vocal blend lends itself to those kinds of things. So it was fun to go there.”
“And I just love the breezy feel of it,” he finishes. “It just makes you feel good. It makes me happy and I can’t help but dance.”
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