The hit-producing trio, once upon a time—or rather, two years ago—found its inception when a beautiful young woman, vocalist Hillary Scott, recognized a 6-foot, 6-inch singer-songwriter, Charles Kelley, from his MySpace page, and was then introduced to his longtime friend and partner in rhyme, multi-instrumentalist Dave Haywood.
Your MySpace or Mine?
As it turns out, Hillary—an aspiring singer who hails from and played around Music City—was a fan of Kelley's music, which she'd heard via his MySpace site. She recognized him in the crowd at a haunt where she performed, introduced herself, and the rest is still-recent music history.
Guitarist/pianist Haywood, in a recent pre-show interview from Indiana, said the players' teaming to become what country fans now know as Lady Antebellum was really "kind of like a Johnny Cash/Waylon Jennings" happenstance meeting.
"(Hillary) approached (Charles) and they got to talking, and then the conversation went to getting together to write … (and) the very first day, we wrote 'All We'd Ever Need,'" recounted Haywood, referring to a track contained on the group's self-titled debut for Capitol Records.
Lady Antebellum: Romancing (Only) the Songs
Although country fans and industry watchers have speculated that Scott, 22, has or is dating Haywood, 27, or Kelley, 26, such is not the case, the players consistently insist. Yes, there was an initial attraction and flirtations that followed, but when the three teamed to write, they vetoed any romances in favor of maintaining a professional "songwriting collective"—a decision that's paid off.
The lineup's freshman album has sold 250,000 copies since its late April release, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's country albums list. The CD's first single, an upbeat, kiss-off song to an old flame penned by the trio, "Love Don't Live Here Anymore," reached No. 3 on both Billboard and R&R. And most recently, the second single from Lady Antebellum, "Lookin' for A Good Time," cracked the Top 20.
Presently, the act's winding down a tour of fair dates that Haywood playfully referred to as "corndog and funnel-cake world." Then, Lady A, as fans call them, will hit the road Oct. 8 on Country Music Television's latest annual tour featuring headliner Jason Aldean. Officially tagged CMT on Tour '08, the 20-date series will last through November, with shows in or near college towns—something that suits Lady A just fine.
Collecting a College-Going Fan Base
"I like to think (our fan base) is across the board," Haywood said. "It's not the Taylor Swift crowd, but I think we have a lot of college kids as fans. But my grandma's probably our biggest fan," he noted, proudly, "so there's some variety in who likes us and our music."
Also mong the act's biggest fans are producers Paul Worley and successful songwriter/vocalist Victoria Shaw, the latter of who helped pen two songs on the 11-track Lady Antebellum, "Slow Down Sister" and "Home is Where the Heart Is."
"Victoria did an amazing job," Haywood said, regarding her role on the trio's first album. "We were thrilled to have both of them there, and without them, I don't know if we would have created what we did."
Per Haywood, Lady A's album currently is selling about 5,000 copies a week. And with 10 cuts written or co-penned by the trio, the CD's an authentic representation of the players' sound. It's not everyday, however, that a new artist is allowed the artistic freedom the trio was granted.
Country Sound is Lady A, All the Way
"You know, it was never a discussion with the label of letting us do that," Haywood said. "We sat down in a big room with 50 songs we'd written and 24 (songs) pitched (to us by other songwriters), and we picked the best songs that represented our project the best.
"We never set out to (record only songs we had written)," he continued. "We love the outside songs that we didn't write, but I think we wanted to pick the best songs for us, the ones that fit our style of writing. We are very excited those are on there; it means a lot. There's so many great writers (but) it just worked for us that we were able to record many of the songs we'd written."
Now reigning as the Academy of Country Music's Top New Vocal Duo or Group, Lady A—with their respective proud mothers in attendance, including Scott's famous mom, Grammy-winning country songstress Linda Davis—will take a one-day hiatus from touring to attend the Country Music Association's Nov. 12 awards show in Nashville, where they're nominated in two categories, Vocal Group and New Artist of the Year.
The next day, though, it's back on the road, where the trio's working to write more music for its follow-up Capitol release.
"We are writing (during touring), but definitely not as much (as we usually do)," Haywood shared. "We definitely try to write at least every few days, especially on fly days when it's 4:45 a.m. and we're going to L.A. and know we won't have time to write once we get there. It might be another year before we actually get to sit down and pick songs (for the next album), but … we want to make sure we have new material. We're always in that mindset."
As for those who may not feel Lady's A's country songs are not borne of genuine hard times and wrenching heartaches, thanks to the act's fast commercial rise, Haywood and company choose to let their music dispel any misconceptions yet-to-be fans may have.
"All three of us were working (in music) apart from one other for a long time," remarked the Augusta, Ga., native. … We haven't played as long as some, but we have a solid year of shows behind us, a time when we drove in Charles' Jeep Grand Cherokee and played everywhere they would let us play.
"We do feel very, very fortunate that we had interest from Capitol, and we know it's been fast. But you know, it just worked out," Haywood said. " When it works, it just works."
Lisa L. Rollins - Texas native Lisa L. Rollins, Ph.D., is an award-winning feature writer, interviewer and journalism educator.
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