Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley credits switching up producers with helping the band find a new sound on their upcoming album 747, which is out Tuesday (Sept. 30).
"We wanted to sound a lot bigger and a little more in your face than records in the past," Kelley tells Billboard. "We went out of our way to make sure that we found songs that had a lot more drive and energy to them. We really wanted to find songs that would translate to the live show like 'Freestyle' and 'Bartender,' so that's how we approached this record."
The group had been working with Paul Worley since their 2008 self-titled debut, but they decided to give producer Nathan Chapman a try for the new record. "There's an infectious energy, and it's almost like he's the fourth member of the band," Dave Haywood says about Chapman. "There's this youthful excitement where he's got an idea, and we've got an idea. He's like a big kid in the studio, kind of goofy. People might think he's all reserved in the studio, but he turns into a 6-year-old kid who has just learned to play guitar."
The new formula seems to be working — the band's first single, "Bartender," did some serious damage on country radio after its release in May. The lone female member in the group, Hilary Scott, adds that the band's live performances helped narrow down what audiences wanted to hear on the new album. "We took a half a year off, and so much of the landscape of country music had shifted in a really exciting kind of way," she says. "We would go out on tour and see that our uptempo songs were the ones that were really connecting with the audience. That whole environment really carried over into the live show. It also carried over into our writing. It just led us to a place where we weren't afraid to take some chances."
Lady Antebellum are on tour currently through the end of the year with one date in Australia for March 2015 already scheduled.
