Lindsey Buckingham News

Internal romances and breakups, backbiting, drug-fueled excesses — Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham could write the book on what tears bands apart.

With that, he has some sage advice for the country quartet Little Big Town: keep communication open.

"We never really had peace and closure," Buckingham said of Fleetwood Mac, whose internal drama was a constant backdrop to their music in the 1970s and '80s. "It was all about deferring and walling up our emotions and living in various states of denial."

Buckingham, who spoke by phone recently from his Los Angeles home, joins Little Big Town for an episode of Country Music Television's popular "Crossroads" show, which airs 9 p.m. EST Saturday.

The show teams country acts with artists from other genres, from Elton John and Ryan Adams to John Mayer and Brad Paisley.

This pairing was more obvious than most. Little Big Town drew immediate comparisons to Fleetwood Mac when they broke onto the country charts with "Boondocks" and "Bring It On Home."

With a mix of men and women, lush harmonies and a 1970s pop sensibility, the similarities are striking. Like Fleetwood Mac, the quartet — Kimberly Roads, Karen Fairchild, Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook — also co-write their songs and trade off on lead vocals.

Sweet, 32, said that although they have many influences, the Fleetwood Mac imprint is undeniable.

"It would be hard to have grown up in the era that we did and not be influenced by Fleetwood Mac," he said. "They were such a powerful force musically. They had a unique sound, a unique brand so to speak. I loved to hear Christine sing and then Stevie sing and then Lindsey sing."

Sweet is referring, of course, to Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks and Buckingham — the group's principal writers and singers.

They had a long run of rock and pop hits like "Rhiannon," "Go Your Own Way" and "Little Lies" before the classic lineup unraveled in the late '80s.

Over the years, they've reformed in various reincarnations to record and tour. Buckingham, a gifted guitarist as well as songwriter and producer, released his fourth solo disc, "Under the Skin," in October.

Meanwhile, Little Big Town have had their own ups and downs. They were dropped by Mercury and Sony before finally landing on the independent label Equity Music Group. Along the way, Westbrook's father died, Sweet and Fairchild went through divorces, Roads' husband died of a heart attack, and Westbrook and Fairchild were married.

"We never said `I don't think this is going to work — let's quit,'" Roads said. "It seems that when one was down the other three would carry them along.

"Lindsey said that that is one of the things he noticed about our band," she said. "We get along and admire and love each other."

Buckingham, 57, spent a few days hanging out with the group in Nashville before taping the special in October.

When CMT first contacted him with the idea, he was hesitant. "My initial attitude was 'How do I fit into this? Does it really work on an integrity level?'"

Then he listened to their music and heard the parallels.

"It was not some unholy alliance in terms of being such a stretch," Buckingham said. "And the funny thing was, once I got there I had a ball."

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On the Net:

Little Big Town: http://www.littlebigtown.com

Lindsey Buckingham: http://www.lindseybuckingham.com

CMT Crossroads: http://www.cmt.com/shows/dyn/cmt_crossroads/series.jhtml