Lady Antebellum, playing First Niagara Pavilion, goes beyond Heartbreak Country
Dave Haywood, guitarist-keyboardist for Lady Antebellum, readily says the kind of songs that come most naturally to the group are ballads and mid-tempo songs.
That's worked fine so far for Haywood and his bandmates, singer Hillary Scott and singer-guitarist Charles Kelley. The trio's resume is filled with hit songs that fall into that category, including “I Run to You,” ‘Need You Now” and “American Honey.”
“I think we write that style really well,” Haywood says. “Those were the kind of songs we tended to write a lot of, a lot of nostalgia, a lot of heartbreak.”
The hit ballads have played a leading role in making Lady Antebellum one of today's most popular country acts, a group that routinely headlines outdoor and arena shows.
But the group's talent for writing compelling and heartfelt ballads and mid-tempo material has created one problem for Lady Antebellum as the trio has transitioned to headlining the largest of venues.
“But when you do get on a big stage,” Haywood says, “you kind of start to look at the set list over the past few years, and we've gone, ‘Oh, wow, there's a ballad. Now I guess we have to follow it with this ballad.' You kind of start hitting that wall.”
Realizing that they needed to add some juice to the live show, Lady Antebellum set a specific objective for its latest album, “747” — write songs with more energy.
“We had to push ourselves, I think, out of our comfort zone a little bit more,” Haywood says, pointing to the frisky song “Bartender” as an example. “To sit there and (write lyrics that) talk about being on the dance floor and having a party, doing all these fun things. But that's what's fun.”
As Lady Antebellum follows up tours of Europe and Australia with an extensive U.S. run in support of “747,” Hayward is already seeing the difference the new rockers are making.
“There is such an exciting pace and energy to the show,” he says, “because we've got (uptempo) songs ... and a lot of those songs from the new record that are able to carve out a great set list (that's) a lot more high-energy and on-your-feet. It feels a lot more like a Lady A party this year.”
Of course, this still leaves the question of how the friskier songs from “747” would work in another forum — radio. So far, the results are mixed. “Bartender” did well, reaching No. 4 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, but “Freestyle” stalled at 24.
Otherwise, Lady Antebellum has been one of the most consistent hitmakers in country over the past seven years. Its previous four albums have produced a half dozen No. 1 singles on the country chart — including “Need You Now,” which won the 2011 Grammy for song of the year and record of the year, and a handful of Top 20 singles.
Nearly all of the hits were produced by Paul Worley, except for the deluxe edition of Lady Antebellum's fourth album, “Golden.” For that, the group had Nathan Chapman (known for his work with Taylor Swift) produce the song “Compass,” which became a Top 10 hit.
Lady Antebellum decided to stick with Chapman for “747,” but Haywood emphasizes it's no knock on Worley.
“We have all the intention to continue to work with Paul,” Haywood says. “We got a taste of working with Nathan, and I think we caught a bug of the excitement that he really shares.
“Nathan is very, I think, very unique and special in the fact that he is just like a little kid in the candy store in the studio. He is so excitable, and it's infectious. And that was fun. We really latched onto that and wanted to pursue that. Really, I think the moment we were at in our career lined up with the moment that works for what his sound is as a producer.”
Alan Sculley is a contributing writer for Trib Total Media.
