Lady Antebellum
A Country Music group composed of Hillary Scott (daughter of 1990s country singer Linda Davis), Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood. The band made an unassuming debut in 2007 as guest musicians on a Jim Brickman pop song. Shortly afterward came "Love Don't Live Here," which launched a moderately successful debut album. The last single from the release, "I Run to You," slowly became the group's first #1, and was ranked by Billboard as the biggest country hit of the year — quite a feat for the last single from an album.
Then came "Need You Now," which launched the band's career into the stratosphere. That song had a super-fast climb to #1 on the country music charts, as well as the longest run at #1 on that chart in over three years. It then went Serial Escalation, also topping both of the Billboard AC charts and reaching #2 on the Hot 100, in addition to reaching Top 20 (or close to it) in nearly every country that has a single chart. In short, it was one of the biggest country crossover hits ever. That momentum has been maintained through two more singles so far, and the Need You Now album has had a death grip on the #1 slot on Top Country Albums. Third album Own the Night has also launched a rather big pop crossover in "Just a Kiss".
- Bowdlerise: Perhaps one of the most baffling ones ever, in "Lookin' for a Good Time," a song that's about two people meeting in a club and hooking up. The last line of the second verse on the album version was "Would you get the wrong impression / If I called us a cab right now"; the radio edit ends with "if I asked you to dance right now" and, to prevent "dance" from showing up twice so closely, "you shouldn't dance like that" in an earlier line becomes "you shouldn't move like that". However, the rest of the song (which includes such lines as "Go ahead and lie to me and hold me close/tell me that you love me even if you don't") is left alone.
- Call-and-Response Song: Many of their songs are set as dialogue between Hillary and Charles, most notably "Need You Now".
- Non-Indicative Name
- Lesser Star: Subverted by Dave Haywood, who doesn't contribute much vocally but plays piano, guitar and mandolin on many songs and does just as much songwriting as the other two members.
- Record Producer: Session guitarist Paul Worley, doing by far the most pop-sounding production he's ever done. Little-known singer-songwriter Victoria Shaw helped him on the first album.
- Vocal Tag Team: Many songs feature Charles and Hillary sharing the lead vocal.