They are the harmony-based trio. Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood make up this amazing success story. There first arena run as a headlining act, during the band’s Own The Night World Tour were inspirational. But so was the time offstage. Lady A made a point of experimenting and creating with its road band as the one-nighters and the miles of travel piled up. That behind-thescenes interaction inspired much of the music on Golden, an instantly infectious project in which Lady A discovered new edges for its already-successful foundation. “Every band I love that’s been here for a long time has reinvented itself in some way,” Kelley says. “There’s a balance to it. I get a little annoyed when people reinvent themselves too much because there’s a reason people fell in love with you in the first place, but I think it’s important not to regurgitate the same stuff over and over again. Since its 2006 inception, the group had risen quickly to become Country Music’s most influential current group. Lady A won the Vocal Group of the Year honor from both the Country Music Association and from the Academy of Country Music three times in a row. Eight of the band’s singles went gold, with four – “American Honey,” “Need You Now,” “Just A Kiss” and “I Run To You” – surpassing the platinum mark. “Need You Now” went on to sell over seven million downloads, according to the RIAA. Additionally, “Need You Now” claimed five of the trio’s seven career Grammy wins in 2011, including the all-genre Record and Song of the Year. The group has performed on all the major television shows, including Saturday Night Live, Oprah, the Grammys, The Voice, and most every other daytime and late night program on network television. All of us at New Music Weekly wish the fabulous Lady A continued success and you’ll be seeing a lot more of them in our future issues to be sure.