Lady Antebellum enjoying rapid rise to country stardom
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
In just three years Lady Antebellum has earned two Grammy nominations, notched a pair of top five hits and received both the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association’s best new group honors.
Multi-instrumentalist and harmony vocalist Dave Haywood attributes the contemporary country trio’s rapid rise to an old-fashioned musical virtue: strong songwriting.
“I think at the core of everything we do is our songwriting. You know, we started off the three of us as songwriters, and that’s the one thing that’s remained true since the day we met, is we love sitting down and writing songs together. And I think that’s where our chemistry starts and our friendship has grown out of that,” Haywood said in a phone interview from a recent tour stop in Virginia Beach, Va.
The fledgling band is touring this summer with Kenny Chesney and Oklahoma star Miranda Lambert but also playing a few separate dates, including a show Saturday night at Frontier City. Fans can expect a passionate, high-energy show, Haywood said.
“We love performing and I think again that kind of stems from the songwriting,” said the Georgia-bred musician. “I mean, performing a song that you’ve written means so much, and so we put everything into it. We love doing that.”
Of course, the concert will probably include a few covers, since Lady Antebellum doesn’t have enough material to fill an entire set. After all, they have only released one album, their 2008 self-titled debut.
“We’re completely blown away that everything has happened, especially this fast. You know, you always dream of things happening like getting an award or getting a Grammy nomination … but we never would have thought that it would happen in this short amount of time. It’s definitely been a whirlwind,” Haywood said.
When Haywood and singers Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott formed Lady Antebellum in 2006, they brought with them years of music experience. Scott is the daughter of Grammy-winning country artist Linda Davis and musician Lang Scott. Haywood, 27, was raised in what he calls a “nerdy” “Partridge Family”-style musical clan and grew up playing with Kelley and his brother, pop singer-songwriter Josh Kelley.
After Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott met at a Nashville music spot, they started writing songs together with Haywood. The chemistry of Kelley’s bold tenor, Scott’s velvety alto and Haywood’s harmony vocals and acoustic guitar, piano and mandolin skills proved potent.
Haywood attributes the sudden, surreal rise of Lady Antebellum to “a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck” along with strong support from their label, Capitol Nashville.
“We definitely were in the right place at the right time, I mean there’s no doubt about it. There’s a lot of talented people out there and why we worked and other people didn’t, I don’t know,” he said with a laugh.
“I think in the country industry, there was just maybe a need for a group sound at that point of time when we were coming out, and it just kind of clicked and it kind of worked. There’s no doubt in my mind that it was meant to be because of the way that it’s worked out. There’s definitely a higher power looking over us.”
The band’s debut single, the sassy Southern rocker “Love Don’t Live Here” chugged to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Song’s chart. The follow-up, sexy party song “Lookin’ for a Good Time,” peaked at No. 11, but their current single, the heartfelt ballad “I Run to You” has already risen to No. 5.
The band counts 1970s rock groups with strong harmony vocals like the Eagles, Doobie Brothers and Allman Brothers among their influences. The members also have a variety of musical favorites: Haywood is a James Taylor fan, Scott favors Motown artists such as Gladys Knight, and Kelley prefers rockers like Bruce Springsteen. Their sound is tied together with the common thread of their love of country music, which Haywood noted has continued to evolve sonically.
“I think people just like good music, and all we want to do is just try to write music that we feel like is great and hopefully people respond to it,” he said. “But the one thing that’s remained true across the history of country, if you look at it from the ’30s and ’40s of Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe, all the way to now, it’s songs about real life and a lot of pop music doesn’t hit on that.”
He and his bandmates try not to listen to the hype or criticism that comes with sudden stardom, but focus on what fans say about their songs. They are in the planning stages of their second album and the first order of business will be choosing from the 75 songs – and counting – they have penned.
“We just always try to keep our heads down and keep writing music,” he said.
In concert
Lady Antebellum
When: 8 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Frontier City, 11501 N I-35 Service Road.
Information: 478-2140 or www.frontiercity.com.
-BAM
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