Charles Kelley‘s first-ever solo album, The Driver, is in stores and at digital retailers everywhere today (Friday, February 5th). The project includes the Grammy-nominated title track, which features Charles’ good friends Eric Paslay and Dierks Bentley.
Charles might be best known as a member of the hit-making trio Lady Antebellum, but he tells us there’s no trace of that Lady A sound on The Driver. “One thing when I was going into this project with my producer Paul Worley, we talked about was making sure this did sound different than Lady Antebellum. Of course there’s going to be common threads. I mean, being one of the voices in Lady Antebellum, of course that’s the music I love to make, you know, the sound of our band. You’re always going to have some things that remind you of probably songs that Lady Antebellum has cut, but there’s definitely, I guess, a little grittier of a sound on this record, maybe a little more raw. I think it showcases my voice a little more, of course, because we’re not basically throwing a whole bunch of three-part harmony on it. So, it definitely sounds a little different; a little more bare and naked, I guess, so to speak. But one of the main things I wanted to do was make sure whatever song I sang fit in this really gritty, gravelly spot in my voice, and hopefully, every song, that was what we were trying to accomplish.”
Charles will kick off The Driver tour with his brother, Josh Kelley, on April 9th in Washington, D.C. at The Fillmore.
He will perform on CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert tonight.
FAST FACTS
Here are the dates on The Driver tour:
4/09 Washington, DC @ The Fillmore
4/11 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
4/13 Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
4/14 Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
4/15 St Louis @ The Pageant
4/23 Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues
4/24 San Jose, CA @ Club Rodeo
4/26 LA, CA @ Troubadour
5/01 Houston, TX @ House of Blues
5/03 Nashville, TN @ 3rd And Lindsley
5/06 Athens, GA @ Georgia Theater