Country band Little Big Town stunned listeners with a cover this week. The beloved group sang Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me.” On August 24, the band performed the cover at the 2022 ACM awards.
“Congratulations Miranda,” lead vocalist Karen Fairchild said. “We love you so much.”
Little Big Town had performed the song to honor Lambert, who had won the Triple Crown Award. The award is given to a few stars who have won new artist of the year, male or female artist of the year, and entertainer of the year. Lambert has won a total of 37 ACM awards. PEOPLE has an exclusive clip of the performance.
“It means the world, honestly,” Lambert told PEOPLE. “I went to my first ACMs in 2005, I won new female in 2007, it’s 2022 and I just won entertainer [in March]. It’s just been such an amazing, long road, and that’s all I’ve ever wanted … This is just affirmation that I’m on the right path still. And I’m like, here we go. What’s the next 20 years gonna hold?”
Little Big Town knew exactly which song of Lambert’s to perform in her honor. Fairchild spoke to PEOPLE before they performed.
“We could have picked a million things,” she said. “but that song won ACM song of the decade. We’ve heard her sing it on the road a bunch, but as we got ready for this, we listened back to the recording, and it’s not just the magic of the way the song was written — which literally is magic — but her delivery and storytelling that’s so beautiful and direct.”
Little Big Town and Miranda Lambert Teamed Up for Tribute
Although Little Big Town was honoring Miranda Lambert, both the group and the singer had performed a tribute show for another star. Last May, at a stop during their Bandwagon tour, both performers paid tribute to the late Naomi Judd. Judd, one half of the band The Judds, died by suicide this past April.
Judd’s family had released a statement, writing: “We have always shared openly both the joys of being family as well its sorrows, too. One part of our story is that our matriarch was dogged by an unfair foe. The toxicology and autopsy reports are as we expected. She was treated for PTSD and bipolar disorder, to which millions of Americans can relate. We continue to reel from this devastation. We appreciate respectful privacy as we, her widower and children, mourn.”
Her death was very sudden, and saddened many. Lambert and Little Big Town performed The Judds’ “Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Old Days),” one of the band’s hit songs from the 80s. At the end, they featured a photo of Naomi.
