Cleveland musician helps Lady Antebellum rise

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Nashville-based Lady Antebellum.

By John Benson

Lady Antebellum will perform at Country Jam at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds on Saturday.

New bands don’t debut at No. 1 on the country music charts.

That is until rising country act Lady Antebellum — Hillary Scott (vocals), Charles Kelley (vocals) and Dave Haywood (guitar) — released its debut self-titled album this past spring. In part, the Nashville-based band can thank Cleveland native and new age musician Jim Brickman enough for picking the trio to sing on his 2007 song “Never Alone.”

“Debuting at No. 1 was a combination of that song with Jim and also the other single we released ‘Love Don’t Live Here’ to country radio,” said Scott, calling from Virginia. “I’ve known him for five years because our co-producer Victoria Shaw and Jim are close friends, and Victoria co-wrote ‘Never Alone.’

“We know he’s a Cleveland boy, and we’ve talked about collaborating with him in the future because we owe him so much for taking such a risk on us, being unsigned at the time and featuring us on that song.”

While “Love Don’t Live Here” was a top 5 song for the threesome, its latest single “Lookin’ For A Good Time” is already top 40. There appears to be a shift in the Nashville country music sound of late with more acts outwardly showcasing their pop rock leanings with some classic rock influence.

Specifically when you look at Lady Antebellum — which in concert naturally plays material from its own album, as well as covers from The Doobie Brothers, The Allman Brothers and Otis Redding — a comparison to fledgling country band Sugarland is inevitable.

“They’re a huge influence of ours, especially for me,” said Scott. “Anytime I see Jennifer (Nettles) perform, she just mesmerizes me. And Kristian (Bush) too. They just have so much energy, and I think their live show is just really out of this world. I love how free she is and how much she runs around.

“I think it’s our responsibility, and we’d be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn’t look around, to learn from everyone.”

Also similar to Sugarland, Lady Antebellum is honing its live show with supporting slots for some of country’s biggest acts. Having already opened for Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood and Reba McEntire, the trio has a busy fall planned as part of the “CMT Tour” featuring headliner Jason Aldean.

Scott points to these tours as invaluable learning experiences. Furthermore, considering Lady Antebellum spent the last few months playing the county and state fair circuit, Scott said she’s become a connoisseur of a certain familiar fair cuisine.

“Oh my gosh, something I’ve found out over this summer is I’m becoming a professional at this whole fair business,” Scott laughed. “And always, somehow, the best corn dog stand finds me. It is almost like I have no self-restraint when it comes to corn dogs. I just don’t.

“And it’s a bad problem to have because I’ve had to get in the gym a little bit more because of it, but I can’t turn down a corn dog. So far the best one was at the Iowa State Fair.”

Considering the act is scheduled to perform at Country Jam Saturday at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds, odds are Scott may find a corn dog vendor or two. More importantly, she may just find her new favorite corn dog comes from the Buckeye State.

“Well, I’m going to keep searching,” Scott said. “You never know. I don’t think you can ever find the perfect corn dog.”