Sometimes it’s easy to fall into a creative rut. You hit a home run with a sound, a particular style of song and you stick with it. In the case of country trio Lady Antebellum, their sound was stuck in mellow and smooth. Even when they kicked it up, it was with a soft edge that never got crazy exactly.
On “747,” their new album out today, the platinum-selling trio has brought in producer Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift,Keith Urban) to kick things up a notch or two. In an interview in early June before Lady A played a nearly sold-out show at the AVA at Casino del Sol, guitarist/mandolin player Dave Haywood said they wanted to push themselves out of that comfort zone.
“We wanted to push ourselves to a place that was maybe a little bit different … and Nathan is, I think, a guy who brings a different perspective,” Haywood said then. “I think he’s been able to elevate our sound, honestly. He’s done a really great job of making these songs really high energy.”
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That energy is evident throughout. The more ballad-leaning songs like “Down South” and “Lie With Me” have a punchier edge while the trio gets downright funky on “Freestyle,” a song that sounds more akin to Florida Georgia Line than the three-part harmony rich Lady A of albums past.
That energy re-emerges in “Just A Girl” — “Now I know that I’m just another one of your Friday nights but this is going to be the last time” — with it’s three-chord driving melody and take-back-my-dignity message; and the reflective rocker “Sounded Good At the Time.”
Chapman hits a rocking high note with the trio on “Long Stretch of Love,” which has flashes of “Rumours” era Fleetwood Mac, before turning to lush, romantic country blues on the love song “One Great Mystery.” “Bartender,” the album’s first single that topped the Billboard Country Airplay Chart and Billboard’s Canada Country charts this summer, was a great intro to the album, but, ironically, not its strongest link. I would give that honor to “She Is,” which is just simply a wonderful radio-friendly, contemporary country pop song with great harmonies from Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott with wonderful mandolin accents from Haywood.
