Lady Antebellum's truth is in the music. But the alchemy which
forged this six time Grammy award winning trio extends beyond its
signature vocal blend and heartfelt songwriting gifts. With a
self-titled double platinum debut album and triple platinum second
effort, Need You Now, it's easy to applaud their amazing
achievements, but equally significant is the underlying importance of
the group's shared heartbeat.
"That's the core of our group, how we started," says Dave Haywood,
harmony singer and multi-instrumentalist. "What spawned our friendship
was that special writing chemistry. That's when we are the happiest,
just sitting in a room together making music."
"Maybe it's a self preservation kind of thing," agrees co-lead singer
Hillary Scott. "Especially on the road we have to work to nurture our
relationship. I write so much from about what is happening in my life
and the people closest to me, so knowing my friends care about what is
going on in my life outside of Lady A, makes me more likely pour it all
out into a song."
“Writing lets us chill and slow down a bit," says Charles Kelley
whose edgy lead vocals merge and weave with Hillary’s velvet tone."
Lady Antebellum formed in 2006. Hillary and Charles decided to try
writing together after a chance meeting at a Nashville music spot.
Charles and his high school musician friend and co-writer Dave Haywood
were living with Charles' brother Josh Kelley at the time. Late night
songwriting sessions with the new trio soon became the genesis through
which they discovered the remarkable emotional effect that was created
when Charles and Hillary's vocals blended. With Dave's harmony sounds
and instrumental prowess added to that mix the three young musicians
realized they might not just be writing songs for other people, but
perhaps would get to perform them, too. A Music Row "buzz" began to
spread as the newly-formed trio started making appearances on local
stages.
Soon key tastemakers began to believe in the group, including
producer Paul Worley who has worked on all three Lady A albums. By April
2007, a blink of an eye in music industry time, Capitol Nashville had
signed Lady Antebellum to a record deal and the trio began to ascend
toward the constellation of country music stars with powerful hits such
as "Love Don't Live Here," and "I Run To You."
The group's second album, Need You Now (released Jan. 2010)
took the band to an even larger audience. To date the album has sold
over five million copies worldwide, spawning three multi-week No. 1 hits
(“Need You Now,” “American Honey” and “Our Kind of Love”), and scored
five Grammy Awards. It has also received over a dozen other award show
trophies. ‘Need You Now’ introduced the world, outside North America, to
Lady Antebellum. The single was a huge airplay hit around the globe,
reaching the No. 1 spot in numerous markets and achieving Top 5 Airplay
in 30 countries world-wide. The album has sold in excess of one million
units outside the US, and ‘Need You Now’ remains in the airplay charts
more than 18 months since release.
"We never expected to be thrust into the international spotlight in
the way that we were… from the success of just one song," says Kelley.
"It was six months or so after the album came out that we were finally
able to go play overseas. When we got there, we were floored at the life
that 'Need You Now' had taken on. The power of that one song really
changed the scope of our entire career at home and in all these places
we had only dreamed of playing."
Lady Antebellum's third album, Own The Night, was released in
September 2011. "'We Owned The Night' opens the album, "says Dave
excitedly, "and I really love this song. We reworked the title slightly
to make it present tense for the album title -- Own The Night.
When people come out to our live show it's a call to action. Be
confident, live in the moment and enjoy the experiences you're going
through -- own them. That's the premise of what we wanted to say."
"I hope people realize we aren't taking it all for granted," says
Dave. "This is crazy, but we want to enjoy it and do our very best.
Twenty years later I hope people will talk about us and say, ‘They were
just genuine people who made genuine music based upon their life
experiences’."
