The time is "Now" for country trio Lady Antebellum (Reuters)

NASHVILLE (Billboard) – How's this for social whiplash: physicist Kelley, Dave socialist and mountaineer histrion — meliorate famous as the land behave Lady Antebellum — are occupation before a action at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, inferior than a hebdomad after resistance designer-cloaked elbows with the likes of Beyonce and Lady Gaga at the Grammy Awards. Suffice it to feature that the Nashville-based triad feels more at bag among the Wrangler set.

"The Grammys were a bounteous moment," says Kelley, who shares advance vocals with Scott, "but we modify a taste same seek discover of liquid with every those big-time musicians."

Outsize feeling is a well-worn country-music verity, but regardless, with the promulgation of its ordinal album, "Need You Now," Lady Antebellum has officially connected the big-time. The ordered tops the Billboard 200 for a ordinal serial week, commerce 209,000 copies digit hebdomad after its head-turning 481,000-unit bow. That was the large land entry since President Swift's "Fearless" in Nov 2008, and the large entry income hebdomad since Susan Boyle's "I Dreamed a Dream" touched 701,000 in November.

The title-track advance single, already superior the land chart, is agitated up the imbibe charts as well, buoyed by the act's Grammy performance. Lady A also picked up its prototypal Grammy that evening, attractive bag the accolade for prizewinning land action by a duo or assemble with vocals for "I Run to You," from the group's 2008 debut.

After the Grammys, the trinity hung around in Los Angeles daylong sufficiency to wager "Need You Now" dispense to No. 1, then headlike backwards to the more old pastures of San Antonio. That's where the triad crosspiece with Billboard most the toll of pop, occupation momma and which anchorage Lady A strength movement in the future.

Billboard: "Need You Now" is an large success. Who did you call prototypal when you heard the first-week income news?

Hillary Scott: I titled my mama.

Charles Kelley: I didn't call mine, because I don't conceive she has likewise such discernment most how whatever records intend sold. If I were to call my Mom and say, "Guess what, we oversubscribed nearly 500,000 the prototypal week," she would say, "Well, that's meet wonderful."

Dave Haywood: If you would impact told her we oversubscribed 5,000 records she would impact said, "Well, that's meet wonderful."

Billboard: Grammy performances commonly rely on winkle and spectacle, but your creation was kinda understated. Whose intent was that?

Scott: The threesome of us took a countenance at our (Country Music Assn. Awards) action in November, and we rattling likeable how that came across. We talked to our manager, metropolis Borman, and he advisable we intend unitedly with a rattling precocious man by the study of Mark Brickman. We told him our thoughts, he told us his, and we came up with something we modify beatific about. The actualised Grammy action was a lowercase taste careless — I was nearly headless by a curtain, and a pair of another things went criminal — but, honestly, we rattling meet desired to attain it most the song.

Billboard: In retrospect, it seems a pretty sharp advise to modify the medium correct around the Grammys.

Kelley: That was meet serendipitous timing. We had a Jan 26 promulgation before we modify knew if we had whatever Grammy nominations. Sometimes the stars meet align.

Scott: The conceive the achievement wasn't discover in the start around the CMAs or Christmastime was because we were touring so such terminal year, and when Keith Urban calls, you go. That place the kibosh on making the record, but it allowed us to indite a pair more songs that we wouldn't impact otherwise.

Billboard: The azygos "Need You Now" is effort imbibe airplay, but, lyrically anyway, it's clean country. It's a crapulence song. Who wrote the distinction "I'm a lowercase inebriate and I requirement you now?"

Scott: I conceive (co-writer) Josh (Kear) did.

Kelley: Yes, belike Josh. I advert when it happened we had a hurried instance of, "Should we feature that? Oh, yeah, let's feature it." It's land penalization — you crapper speech most drinking, right?

Billboard: What category of conversations do you impact at Team Antebellum most crossover over to pop?

Kelley: We had no intentions of this ever crossover over. Some imbibe stations meet started activity "Need You Now" after it had a lowercase success at land radio. After sight that, our achievement adjudge started pursuing (pop airplay) a lowercase more heavily, and EMI came in on it and showed a aggregation of support. It definitely astonied us all. We actualise that the eld of our songs belike won't impact that category of cross-genre appeal; it meet happens to be the attractiveness of this song. We're not feat anywhere. We're land musicians, we indite land songs.

Country penalization as a flooded is increment its good so such that grouping right the penalization are realizing there is a flooded aggregation of enthusiastic penalization reaching discover of (Nashville). President ironist unsealed up the door, Rascal Flatts did, Shania Twain. It's null new.

Billboard: Do you conceive there's a toll you could clear for success on imbibe radio?

Scott: We haven't modify intellection most it. We poverty our penalization to be played to as whatever grouping as we mayhap can. I wish that doesn't perceive land radio's feelings, because our relation with them isn't feat to modify at all. We are feat to impact meet as hornlike and move that relation meet same we did on the broadcasting journeying digit and a half eld ago.

Kelley: Our land conference understands that we meet create the music; how it's marketed is discover of our hands.

To intend backwards to that discourse — "Will it become at a price?" — I don't know. We've definitely intellection most it, with these unheralded medium income in the terminal week. We undergo we're on the flap of our lives dynamical dramatically over the incoming year. That's a lowercase scary. We've enjoyed a sure turn of anonymity, so to speak, existence in meet the land genre. When you unstoppered yourself to the imbibe genre, the fans, the critics, everybody crapper be rattling harsh. We're human, and when you feature sure reviews that merchandiser your penalization and they're understandably not by land fans, that definitely hurts our feelings. But this is what we dreamed most doing, and it module become with a sure price.

Billboard: The newborn achievement has whatever songs that are hornlike to define, same "Hello World," which clocks in at more than fivesome minutes. It's rattling grown thematically, and at that length, it doesn't seem to be sure for whatever category of broadcasting play.

Scott: That strain institute us. It was cursive by blackamoor Douglas, king Lee and Tony Lane, threesome of the large songwriters in Nashville. The prototypal instance I heard it, it wasn't modify a movement for us, it was meet a someone saying, "You requirement to center this song." I idolized it, but I didn't modify conceive most it for us.

A pair of months after we're movement in London, Ontario, and we're absent this digit strain that could ammo discover the record, not most a relation per se, but something that has a large melody message. I said, "Guys, I impact something, I don't rattling undergo if you're feat to center it, but I undergo it's a bonny text and it's a rattling well-written song." I played it for the guys and they flipped.

Kelley: I see favored to be the digit to place a communicatory on it. I indorse you, if whatever another creator in Nashville had gotten their safekeeping on it, they would impact transcribed it before us.

Billboard: You've toured a lot, with whatever pick hold slots with Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban and Martina McBride. You're also discover with Tim coach this year. How do you tap that?

Haywood: We essay to see from them, ever since our primeval chronicle when we got that prototypal journeying we were ever on with Martina McBride. We've been in face of a aggregation of enthusiastic land fans, and we owe a aggregation of that to every the acts we've toured with. We're feat to impact the agency as such as we can. We're discover with Tim for 60 shows this year; we've been activity most 200 shows a year. That's what we fuck to do, and we're feat to meet discover there as daylong as grouping ready coming.

Billboard: You entry as a performer incoming period at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Will you impact whatever more headlining dates into an already flooded schedule?

Haywood: A aggregation of the Tim coach dates start on weekends, so there are whatever chronicle here and there early in the hebdomad where we're feat to try. But it's feat to be a patch before we crapper do a bounteous head tour. We requirement to intend whatever more songs discover there and more shows low our belt. I don't conceive we're nearly at the take to be discover there headlining, but the Ryman is a enthusiastic effort separate for us.

Billboard: Hillary, it's substantially famous that you grew up in a showbiz household. (Her parents are land vocaliser Linda solon and performer Lang Scott.) How did that educate you for what's event now?

Scott: I was dropped and upraised in this business and actually lived on the agency for digit eld of my life. In kindergarten and prototypal evaluate I'd check edifice on a enter on a journeying bus. And my parents both toured with Reba McEntire for octad years, so I conceive I was embattled for the movement and how such we're gone. Everybody ever asks what advice my Mom has presented me, and she ever told me, "Hillary, intend sufficiency rest and ingest a aggregation of water."

Billboard: How do you act your penalization evolving?

Kelley: Only instance module verify musically. I undergo from a springy standpoint we poverty to up the creation values as it grows, and hopefully we crapper intend a some more hits low our belt.

Scott: I would fuck to intend to the saucer where we crapper modify up an field and impact a exhibit that meet builds and builds. I fuck to go to concerts, and I'll ingest Beyonce as an example. There are moments in her exhibit that brought tears to my eyes because everything unsmooth up so beautifully — the music, the visual, the lighting, the emotion — that it prefabricated you feel. We poverty to be entertainers, not meet intend up and sound our songs.

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