“They are one of the most important groups in music period,” Ballerini says.

Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town; Photo by: Greg Gayne/NBC

Kelsea Ballerini has recruited GRAMMY, ACM, CMA, AMA, and Emmy Award-winning group, Little Big Town as her Season 27 battle round advisors on The Voice.

The first-time Voice coach opened up about her decision to have LBT’s Karen Fairchild, Phillip Sweet, Kimberly Schlapman, and Jimi Westbrook join her on the show and admitted it was a no-brainer.

“They are one of the most important groups in music period,” she told Extra. “They have 25 years as a band of consistent storytelling that matters, and challenging conversation that matters, and just being a pillar in the genre that I love so much.”
Kelsea Ballerini, Little Big Town; Photo by: Greg Gayne/NBC
She selected the group as her battle round advisors because they’ve been friends and longtime mentors to her.

“The other side of it is they’re my friends,” she explained. “I bought tickets to see them growing up, but also, they’re my friends and they’ve mentored me.”

With the band watching on, Ballerini also added, “You guys have dabbled and created in every avenue, and I feel like having that kind of knowledge for everyone on the team has been amazing. Whether it was performance or working on harmonies, there’s literally no one better to work on that with. I mean, they offered everything.”

Fairchild couldn’t help but to praise her friend and co-writer. “She’s an incredible coach… She’s a force out there. She knows what she’s doing, so she didn’t really need us.”

Kelsea quickly interjected, “Not true!”

Little Big Town joins fellow battle advisors Cynthia Erivo, who is advising Team Bublé, Kate Hudson, who is offering advice to Team Adam, and Coco Jones, who is working with Team Legend.

While the lineup of advisors is quite impressive, Schlapman insists that Balleirni’s team absolutely “slays” and might even take home the win at the end of the season.
Little Big Town; Photo by: Greg Gayne/NBC
“Team Kelsea is looking like it’s going to win… Every single person on her team has risen to the occasion, and they are ready to battle and one of them is going to take it all the way home,” she shared.

Even though this is her first season as a coach on The Voice, Ballerini is also feeling confident as she said she feels as if she is “flying under the radar a bit.”

“They’re like, ‘Oh, she’s new, she’s still learning the ropes,’ so they’re not going to think of me as a threat until the very end, when they realize the whole time I’ve been chilling with some amazing artists. So that’s my game plan,” she revealed.

Fans can tune in to NBC’s The Voice on each Monday at 8/7c.