Lady Antebellum's Hillary Scott says the group members consider themselves songwriters first. The group is, from left, Charles Kelly, David Haywood and Scott.
Photo by 1996-98 AccuSoft Inc., All right
Lady Antebellum is, from left, David Haywood, Hillary Scott and Charles Kelly.
In a time when making it in the music business is harder than ever, country trio Lady Antebellum seems unstoppable. In 2008, the group won Best New Artist in the Country Music Association Awards and Top New Duo or Group at the Academy of Country Music Awards, on the strength of the group's debut album and the hit singles "Love Don't Live Here" and "Lookin' for a Good Time." Two platinum-selling albums and a string of hit singles later, Lady Antebellum will kick off the act's most ambitious national tour in Knoxville tonight at the Civic Coliseum.
"We're not too naive to realize how blessed and lucky we've been," says Hillary Scott in a phone call from Texas. "We've definitely worked very hard, but this has happened very fast and we're grateful and excited."
The daughter of country singer Linda Davis and musician Lang Scott, Hillary watched people moving to Nashville attempting to have music careers "getting turned down or getting heartbroken."
Scott herself might have been one of those disappointed characters had she not met Dave Haywood and Charles Kelly.
"I've been singing since I was talking," she says. "But I was about 14 years old was when I could really feel that this was what I was put on this earth to do. Around the age of 16 is when I really tried to make it professionally."
She says her parents were always supportive, but, mostly, stayed out of her musical pursuits.
At the age of 16, Scott began working with a producer, one who approached her, and, eventually, landed a development deal with a record company. She was 20 when it looked like she was going to get her big chance.
"Looking back on it, I never felt 100 percent comfortable just me in front of a band ... carrying the entire show with just me and a band behind me," says Scott. "I wasn't enough of a seasoned performer to feel comfortable doing that. I am also a firm believer that God had different plans."
In March 2006, the record company set up a showcase performance for Scott to decide if they would finance and album an sign her to a full contract.
"The showcase was full of people and I felt really great about it, but the next morning I heard that they had passed. So I was heartbroken. I just had this gut feeling that I had it. It was going to be the beginning of the rest of my life, careerwise, and they passed. Just having this dream and working for four years on something and the first strike and it was over."
In May, though, she met Haywood and Kelly and the three decided to write songs together.
"You know that saying, 'When God shuts a door He opens a little window?' Well, he shut a window and busted open a door," says Scott.
"We played our first show in August of that year and then signed our record deal by the next summer."
Everything seemed right. The trio wrote well together and each had all grown up singing with family members (Kelly is the brother of country singer Josh Kelly) and instinctively knew how to blend their voices and harmonize.
"We all had that foundation. That was huge, but you never know how voices are going to blend together."
Scott told her bandmates her voice had never sounded so good with any other singers.
She says being with Kelly and Haywood was also the first time she felt truly comfortable onstage.
"I loved having them to interact with and it takes some of the pressure off. I just enjoy being with people. I'm a very social person and I enjoy the camaraderie that comes with it. It was just where I was meant to end up."
Scott says Knoxville feels like a good place to start the tour. On April 1, she and some friends spent her 24th birthday in a cabin in Gatlinburg.
"I'm from Nashville, so I've been coming to Knoxville my whole, entire life and grew up going to Gatlinburg and the leaves this time of year are just stunning. I can't wait to see it."
© 2011, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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