Lady Antebellum are back with their fourth true album ‘Golden’ (check out our album review) and look to cement their position as America’s leading country group, and to celebrate the release of their cracking new record, we’re taking a closer look as to how this trio from Tennessee climbed to the top of the musical heap.
The story of Lady Antebellum might not be the longest, but it’s one that is filled with success.
Only formed in 2006, Lady Antebellum was the brainchild of Charles Kelley, who had grown sick of working a construction job and moved to Nashville in order to pursue his dream of country music. After some arm twisting, he was joined by his old school pal Dave Haywood and after talking to singer Hilary Scott over MySpace, the trio finally came together under their architecturally influenced name.
Musicality runs in the veins of Lady Antebellum, with Hillary Scott the daughter of Grammy award winning country artist Linda David and Charles Kelley the brother of fellow singer Josh Kelley.
After a year performing around the bars and clubs of Nashville, the group was snapped up by Capital Records, making the news that Scott had been rejected from American Idol twice even more astonishing.
The group’s incredibly likeable and smooth sound was an instant hit, with their first single ‘Love Don’t Live Here’ careening into the county charts at number three and making their exquisite melodies one of the most exciting prospects in country.
While they gained a massive country following with their first album, which resulted in a top five chart position on the Billboard 200 and a country charts number one, it would be the first song off their second album that would see them take over the mainstream charts and rack up more awards than they could ever imagine.
This was the monster that was ‘Need You Now’, a brilliantly downbeat and heart-breaking song that captured the imagination of the country, perfectly mixing immaculate pop production with a more solid and meaningful lyrical core.
The second highest selling song of the year (depressingly enough coming in behind Ke$ha’s ‘Tik Tok’), it made them instant household names and the toast of the music industry. The single’s incredible success supercharged the album’s release, shooting it straight to number one on the charts and making it the third biggest selling album of the year. That wasn’t the only accolade that the band would receive that year, with the band earning five Grammys at that year’s event along with a whole heap of other gongs that would have pretty much everyone else in American music green with envy.
Since then, they’ve been able to keep their lofty position at the top of the country crossover world, with their follow up album twenty months later also going straight to the top of the charts before going platinum and eventually winning the trio their seventh Grammy.
It’s not just Lady Antebellum that have found massive success in the new age of country, as Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert and The Band Perry have all broken out of the country charts and have grabbed mainstream success with both hands. The genre’s going through a pop and rock fuelled renaissance that has brought a whole new audience into the fold that might never have gone near a tanging banjo before now.
Whilst The Band Perry are hot on their heels, Lady Antebellum remain just that half step ahead that could see them pick up a hat trick of American number ones. With records as good as ‘Golden’ they might keep totting up successes like that for some time to come.
Lady Antelbellum’s new album ‘Golden’ is out now, and make sure you read our album review.
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