Charles Kelley fans are excited to hear that his new album will be released on February 5th of this year! February is also the month that Kelley and his wife are expecting their first child.
Driver, Kelley’s first solo album and first time away from band Lady Antebellum, is a moment that the “The Driver” singer has been looking forward to his whole musical career. The album is going to hold a lot of collaboration with singers such as Dierks Bentley, Eric Paslay, Miranda Lambert, and Stevie Nicks. That is an impressive lineup!
Lady Antebellum fans should be warned that this isn’t a “Lady Antebellum“-style record. Kelley wanted to tap into his musical roots which ranged from Southern rock to ’70s folk singers on songs that can only be described as his own style. You can hear a little John Fogerty on “Leaving Nashville,” a ballad about being a working artist on Nashville’s legendary Music Row. Kelley also collaborates with Stevie Nicks to duet on a cover of Tom Petty’s “Southern Accents.”
“For me, as an artist, I do have other things that I am into and styles of music,” Kelley said. “I just knew that if I never did this, it would never see the light of day.”
Kelley started promoting the new record with a release from the project titled “The Driver”, which featured Dierks Bentley and Eric Paslay and has already earned him a Grammy nomination for best country duo/group performance.
Kelley then embarked on a tour in 2015 that he ultimately had to cancel so he could finish recording the album. The tour was a departure from what he was used to with the band Lady Antebellum, who skipped playing small clubs and went straight to opening up in amphitheaters and arenas for acts like Martina McBride, Keith Urban and Tim McGraw.
“I am kind of a new artist again, and we really needed to get the word out there,” Kelley says.
“You get so used to hearing 15,000 people scream and sing your songs back that it’s a little jarring,” Kelley said of his solo shows. “I have to walk off stage and go, ‘OK, I am going for a different response here.'”
When asked if he would like to keep at it as a solo artist or meet back up with Lady Antebellum, Kelley is torn between the two very different worlds.
“In an ideal world, I would love to hop back and forth between these two projects,” Kelley says. “Both worlds are equally exciting. They are just fun for different reasons.”
Watch the video for “The Driver” below!
