BAM Column: Lady Antebellum riding recent successes to Oklahoma City for Sunday show
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Songwriting at core of Lady A’s success
In the past year, Lady Antebellum has become a band on the run.
Since the trio’s third single, “I Run to You,” topped the charts last summer, co-lead singers Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott and multi-instrumentalist/harmony vocalist Dave Haywood have sprinted to the forefront of contemporary country pack.
The group’s sophomore album, “Need You Now,” debuted in February at the top of the Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums chart. It has held at the pinnacle of the country chart for an impressive 18 weeks and was certified double-platinum two months ago. The title track also ascended to No. 1 and has been declared triple-platinum, while follow-up single “American Honey” recently became the trio’s third straight chart-topper.
In the past few months, the band affectionately known as Lady A also has won two Country Music Association Awards, five Academy of Country Music trophies and its first Grammy gramophone, putting on memorable performances on each show.
They will be in Oklahoma City on Sunday after closing Wednesday’s CMT Music Awards, where they won the best group video award for “Need You Now,” performing Thursday at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville, Tenn., and playing two additional tour dates this weekend.
Lady Antebellum’s warm-up set Sunday for superstar Tim McGraw at Zoo Amphitheatre will give an indication of how rapid the band’s rise has been: McGraw’s tour marks the first time Lady A has filled the opener slot right before the main act. When Lady A played Frontier City last July, the group was taking a break from Kenny Chesney’s tour, on which they played before their Oklahoma pal Miranda Lambert and the headliner.
Now, the band is preparing to launch its own headlining tour in September.
“We’re completely blown away that everything has happened, especially this fast,” Haywood said in a phone interview last summer. “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.”
With the way that whirlwind has intensified, it’s easy to forget that Lady A only came together four years ago, when Haywood and Kelley, who grew up together in Georgia, met Scott, the daughter of Grammy-winning country singer Linda Davis, at a Nashville, Tenn., hotspot. They set up a songwriting session and found they could make magic together.
“I think at the core of everything we do is our songwriting,” Haywood said. “I think that’s where our chemistry starts, and our friendship has grown out of that.”
The trio wrote or co-wrote most of the songs on their first two albums. Haywood sees their songcraft as key to the group’s success, and they remain committed to continually generating new material.
“Everything we perform is something personal to us, if it’s something that the three of us have in common that we’re going through or if it’s something that we created by sitting together on a couch writing it,” he said. “I think it all stems from that and that’s the root of it.”
The bandmates don’t keep their songsmithing skills to themselves, either. They’ve spent time in Tishomingo writing with Lambert and her country crooner fiancé Blake Shelton. Lambert included the ballad “Love Story,” which she penned with Kelley, Haywood and Shelton, on her acclaimed 2009 album “Revolution.” Shelton plans to put “Suffocating,” a collaboration with Lambert and Scott, on his late summer release.
“In the country music industry, she’s probably one of our best friends,” Haywood said of Lambert. “She’s great, man, she’s as down-to-earth as they come.”
As success sends more attention and opportunities spinning Lady A’s way, Haywood said they “just always try to keep our heads down and keep writing music.” Even as their hits cross over to pop and adult contemporary listeners, they stay dedicated to writing about love, heartbreak and real life.
“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. “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.”
In concert
Tim McGraw with special guests Lady Antebellum and Love & Theft
When: 7 p.m. Sunday. Gates open at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Zoo Amphitheatre, 2101 NE 50
Tickets: Sold out.
Information: 364-3700 or www.zooamp.com.
-BAM
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment