Lady Antebellum appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America Tuesday morning (February 19th) to announce the details of their fourth studio album, Golden, which is set for release May 7th. The three wrote the title track with label-mate Eric Paslay over a bottle of wine in Charles Kelley’s library room. ““It’s actually the last song we wrote for the record,” Charles tells The Huffington Post. While a few details have yet to be finalized, the collection will include 11 or 12 songs, half of which were written or co-written by the group. Paul Worley is once again at the helm for Golden, having produced all Lady A’s previous releases.
“This album feels to me like one of those that from start to finish could be a good road-trip record and that’s what we wanted,” said Lady A’s Charles Kelley. “It’s one of the reasons why the term ‘golden’ was kind of cool. I think about road trips and driving down the road with those little streaks of sunshine popping through the trees, especially at sunset. ‘Golden’…it just gives you this warm, easy feeling.”
“Writing and recording this record really took us back to when we first met each other,” added Hillary Scott. “When I first met the boys, we spent a lot of time around the piano at the house they lived in at the time. We didn’t really know each other at all, but there was still some magic and then the harmonies – that’s how it all started – that blend of our voices and that blend of our songwriting craft. So, it’s exciting that even on our fourth record, we can still find that.”
“The word ‘golden’ to me conjures up a lot of pictures,” continued Dave Haywood. “In the title track, it depicts driving down the road at sunset but, to me, it also depicts a special time in our career…a ‘golden,’ special time for us. We definitely want to value this time in our careers because it’s such a treasure that we can still sit in a room and write songs together. I personally feel so humbled to still be making records that people are excited to hear.”
The trio didn’t really feel much pressure on making this new album. “We spent the most time with this one, and we finally kind of had some time,” says Charles. “We got off the road, and nobody really gave us an end date, which was kind of nice.” Lady A’s Dave Haywood says the new album has a lot more energy to it, which makes them all pretty excited. “We’re cruising around town kind of listening to mixes. It’s fun to kind of have some really good rockers, especially with the first single.”
The new album’s lead single “Downtown” already stormed the Country radio charts, becoming the trio’s career highest charting debut. People noted “this preview of Lady A’s next album is slinky, sexy fun…crazy-catchy and downright soulful.”
Lady A’s previous three studio albums have paved the way for Golden, which follows over 11 million album sales, six career number-one hits and seven GRAMMY awards. Last year alone, more than one million fans in over 11 countries welcomed the ACM and CMA award-winning trio on their headlining tour.
The first single from Golden, “Downtown,” has been speeding up the country charts…already sitting inside the Top 15.
AUDIO: Lady Antebellum talk about their new album, Golden, which will be released May 7th.
Lady A (new album) OC: (Dave) …as well. :32
CHARLES: “We spent the most time with this one, and we finally kind of had some time. We got off the road, and nobody really gave us an end date, which was kind of nice. So, they kind of – the label and everybody – waited until we felt like the music was at a point to be heard.” HILLARY: “I think it was at the end of August when we started recording.” DAVE: “We’ve been working on it a ton, and it’s got a lot more energy and a lot more tempo than some of our past projects, which is what we’re fired up about. We’re cruising around town kind of listening to mixes. It’s fun to kind of have some really good rockers, especially with the first single, as well.”
