Categories
Interviews Videos

Video Interview: Lady Antebellum

I still remember the first time I interviewed Lady Antebellum. It was back in 2010 at City Winery and I spent the entire weekend before my interview watching all of their Webisode Wednesdays, in hopes to find a question or two to ask that they had never been asked before. Though I had only 10 minutes with Lady Antebellum, I managed to succeed. During the height of the popularity of “Need You Now” it was a lofty goal to have, being as they’d done hundreds of interviews before. But I’ll never forget that pause in the interview when I knew I got them thinking.

Nearly four years later to the day, I sat down with the country trio once again to talk about their new album 747. During our chat, Charles Kelley admitted that new single “Freestyle” is the one song he is obsessed with, perhaps as much if not more than “Need You Now.”

He said he was initially hesitant during the writing process (he and his bandmates wrote the track with Shane McAnally) because it was “such a departure” from their previous material. Today, though, it’s one of his favorite tracks to play live.

“The one thing we learned was not to be afraid,” Kelley says. “‘Downtown’ was a good example of a song where at the time when we cut it Hillary was like, ‘I don’t know. This is so different.’ We’ve always found that our biggest and best songs always push us in a different direction. ‘Freestyle’ has this infectious energy to it. [You have to] keep it lighthearted sometimes.”

Watch the video of my chat above and read more of my interview with Lady Antebellum about their new album 747 at Radio.com.

Categories
Q&A

Lady Antebellum Talk Dating, Drunk Dialing and Dylan

To say 2010 is Lady Antebellum’s year would be an understatement. The trio kicked things off in January with the release of their sophomore album, Need You Now, and a Grammy win for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group under their belt. The nominations continued, as the band has five nods at both the CMA Awards and American Music Awards next month — tying them with the number of nods Eminem received for the latter awards show.

I chatted with Lady A’s Hillary Scott, Dave Haywood and Charles Kelley at their recent benefit performance in New York about success, songwriting (they’ve already begun penning a follow up to Need You Now) and why you should put that phone down at “a quarter after one.”

What is your songwriting process like?

Dave: If anything, it’s really musical. We start a lot with melodies and instrumentation and trying to figure out good melodies for verses and choruses. We get to lyrics sometimes second, so we’ll start humming a melody, finding something, and see where the music takes you as far as lyrics are and what you want to say and go from there. We love great melodies and great songs that have great hooks and melodies, so we start a little bit more on that side as opposed to other people that start more lyric-based. Sometimes we’ll do it the other way.

For my complete interview with Lady Antebellum, visit The Boot.

Related Links:
Sara Evans, ‘A Little Bit Stronger’ — Story Behind the Lyrics
Lady Antebellum, Amos Lee Dazzle for Musicians On Call
Q&A; with Lady Antebellum
Lady Antebellum Bring Nashville to New York at Sold-Out Show