Lady A stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to discuss their music and touring plans for 2024, share what their most trivial purchases are and more!
Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood of Lady A have been together since 2006, but they feel like they're in a different season now. For 2024, they are mainly focused on music and finishing the record. They feel like for the last 17 years, they were in a hamster wheel type of routine. They’d record the record, promote it, go on tour and repeat. Now, their man goal is to focus on the music, enjoy the journey/process and not put too much pressure on the outcome. They think the minute they let go of that control, the art will come naturally.
When they were pitched their new song “Love You Back,” it felt reminiscent of Lady A’s classic sound. It checked all the boxes for what they were looking for in a song. Written by James McNair, Lindsay Rhimes, and Emily Weisband, the song talks about the relatable feeling of wishing the memory of a past love could be with you. When Weisband sent them the song, from the first listen, they knew it was a perfect fit for a Lady A song. It’s part of the reason why they love Nashville and said the song represents the “Nashville story.” Weisband sent it directly to them, so they didn’t need to go through the label and loved how the song sounded like it was created just for them.
They are aware that people’s attention spans are different, and they have talked about the possibility of making a concept album, but they don’t want to box in their songs. When they create their music, it goes through a journey and ends up having different scenarios and sometimes a song will be better than a different one, but it doesn’t fit into the concept they want, so it’s never been something they want to fully commit to. But they do feel like they flexed their muscle of committing to a concept during their last tour, The Request Line Tour. The whole concept was having fans call in and request songs for them to sing so the set list was different each night. While on tour they would rehearse every day for an hour because they had to re-learn some of their deep cut's fans requested. The funniest request they got was for Sugarland’s “Stuck Like Glue.” The person who requested it thought that was their song, so they learned it and performed it that night. Before they go on stage, their pre-show ritual is to say a prayer and do vocal warmups. Although they are taking a small break from touring this year, since they have been doing it for so long, when they get back on stage it’s almost like riding a bike, it comes back naturally to them. What they struggle getting used to is living and sleeping on a bus again.
While in studio, Bobby Bones asked what their most trivial purchases were. Scott’s is having her groceries delivered, especially since she lives close to a grocery store. It’s just a lot easier for her to have them delivered since she has three young children running around. Kelley said his is Zyn pouches, which is a habit he picked up from Thomas Rhett. He saw Rhett was doing it and said since he is the nicest man in the world, it must not be that bad to do. Haywood’s is buying jerseys for his kids. They have every player and enjoy collecting them.
Lady A’s new single “Love You Back” is available now. They will also be performing at the iHeartCountry Festival in Austin, Texas. Saturday, May 4th. Tickets are on sale now here.