genre country

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After touring for 30 years, LeAnn Rimes has learned a thing or two about maintaining her ­sanity on the road.

“Don’t ever fly day of show. You can’t do that anymore,” she cautions. “Even if you’re flying from Los Angeles to Oakland [Calif.], make sure you pack your outfit in your carry-on because your bag still may get f–king lost. And never do more than three shows in a row.”

Rimes has been famous ever since an impossibly big voice came out of a wee girl when she appeared on Star Search in 1991, becoming a one-week champion at the age of 8. Five years later, she sounded preternaturally mature when Curb Records released her first single, “Blue,” which garnered comparisons to Patsy Cline.

More than three decades into her career, the multiple Grammy winner, now 43, finds touring a richer experience than ever before, which has earned her the Unstoppable Award, to be presented at the Billboard Live Music Summit in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. “I love performing now more than I probably ever have because I feel like it’s on my terms,” she says. “I create this show that I want to perform, and I invite people into this space.”

LeAnn Rimes will be honored with the Unstoppable Award at Billboard‘s Live Music Summit, held Nov. 3 in Los Angeles. For tickets and more information, click here.

That’s a far cry from the early days when she moved at a much swifter pace, playing more than 500 shows over three-and-a-half years from ages 13 to 16. “No one really knew how long this was going to last,” she recalls. “And it was that frame of mind of, ‘Get it while you can.’ Then when we were done, people were like, ‘This may actually last and we just killed her!’ ”

For decades she continued touring at a less punishing rate but never took off more than six months out of the year. “It wasn’t until COVID till I ever sat my ass in one place for that long,” Rimes says, adding that the pandemic renewed her appreciation for performing. “These last several years, I’ve really thought long and hard about what I want to be putting out in the world, and it’s important to me to hopefully bring [the audience] some joy when people come to the shows.”

For Rimes, who now aims to play around 60 shows a year, touring remains “a huge part of my income. God knows the music business sucks. This is how we make money as artists.” Along the way, the live veteran has adapted to modern touring — namely, the advent of social media. “It’s just wild to see how much it’s changed,” says Rimes, who now looks out at a sea of cellphones rather than people’s faces every night. “It could easily control you. I don’t think about it too much anymore. I try to just allow it to be what it is because it’s its own beast.”

But as she experienced this summer, she can’t control everything onstage. During a show in Bow, Wash., in June, her front dental bridge fell out as she was singing “One Way Ticket.” She ran offstage, adjusted it and rejoined her band. The moment was, of course, captured on video and went viral. Months later, she calls the incident “pretty f–king funny,” laughing as she relives it. “I realized at that moment I could either quit — I’m four songs in — which I thought I was going to have to unless I was able to hold [the bridge] in. But luckily, I was able to. I’ve pretty much had everything happen to me onstage that could possibly happen, and that was probably one of the most precarious situations I’ve ever been in. I was very proud of myself that I handled it like a pro.”

After that incident and countless others, including tripping over sound monitors and even falling into the pit years ago, she has grown unflappable — and her shows remain potent. “LeAnn’s remarkable voice, her deep artistry and her connection with an audience have all continued to strengthen and grow throughout her 30-year career,” says Seth Malasky, her primary agent and senior vp at Wasserman, which books her in North America. “Her shows feel timeless yet brand-new. She’s earned her reputation as an authentic and captivating performer.”

Still, Rimes has diversified her creative output. Over the past two years, other projects have limited her to about 30 performances annually; in 2024, she was a coach on The Voice Australia and The Voice UK, and this year, she’s shooting ABC’s 9-1-1: Nashville, in which she plays the villainous, jaded backup singer Dixie.

“It’s been insane,” she says of trying to schedule live dates around her often shifting filming schedule. She was initially wary of signing on to the Ryan Murphy-created fire department procedural after watching her husband, actor Eddie Cibrian, deal with the vagaries of shooting an episodic TV series: “I have seen him go through not getting scripts until 24 hours before they’re shooting. I won’t say it’s been easy — I think at one time we were juggling seven episodes [between us] — but I think we’re getting to a point now where we’re starting to kind of get a little bit more in a groove.”

Looking ahead, next year marks the 30th anniversary of Rimes’ album Blue, which reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart in 1996 — and celebratory plans include a potential tour. “It is in the works,” Rimes says. “I know everybody’s so into nostalgia right now, which I’m loving. It’s really funny to revisit that record because I was so little. There’s about seven songs on it that I still really love that I would play.” Among all her hits, including “How Do I Live” and “Can’t Fight the Moonlight,” she says she never tires of singing the album’s title track. “There are just songs that melodically, lyrically, they’re never going to go out of style,” she says. “ ‘Blue’ is probably the one that will forever just be a classic.”

As she plots that potential Blue tour and other future outings, she’s confident — and can find humor in the unexpected. “Pretty much nothing embarrasses me onstage,” she says. “I don’t even know if my pants falling down would embarrass me. I’d be like, ‘Whatevs… you guys got more than you paid for today.’ ”

This story appears in the Oct. 25, 2025, issue of Billboard.