Charles Kelley of Lady A

The Working Songwriter

Joe Pug

Music, Performing Arts, Arts, Music Interviews

4.9 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 17 April 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Our guest on the Working Songwriter this week hails from Augusta, Georgia, but has made his professional bones in Music City, USA. Charles Kelley was one of the founding members of Lady Antebellum – now known as Lady A – and is one of the group’s principal songwriters. Their crossover hit, “Need You Now,” became one of the defining songs of the 2010s. Lady A have sold over 18 million albums, won 7 GRAMMY awards, and their songs have been streamed over 5 billion times. Along the way Charles has also released a pair of solo albums, including last year’s Songs for a New Moon. He’s recorded for Capitol Records Nashville and Big Machine and he’s toured with Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw, Keith Urban and many others. He’s also appeared on The Tonight Show and The Late Show with David Letterman. Rolling Stone has said that Lady A’s “vocal harmonies helped redefine country radio in the 2010s” and Billboard calls them “one of Nashville’s most successful songwriting teams.” I got a chance to catch up with Charles a few months ago to hear about his musical journey so far. Interested in sponsoring us? Contact BGS: https://bit.ly/sponsorBGSpods

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi and welcome to the working songwriter, the show where today's best songwriters come to talk shop.
0:20.0	I'm your host, Joe Pug.
0:21.9	Each episode here, we host a distinguished guest, and we ask them to go deep on their
0:26.8	inspiration, on their process, on the general ups and downs of making a life in music.
0:32.1	So, whether you're a grizzled veteran, attempting to write an entire album using only the Mixillidian scale,
0:40.3	or else a scrappy upstart, attempting to scrub your songs of any musical nuance beyond a seventh chord.
0:47.6	This is your show, because ultimately it is what every writer seeks most, an ironclad excuse to put off actually writing.
1:07.5	Hey, everyone, it's the third Friday of April 2026, and I thank you for joining us.
1:12.8	This week's show is brought to you by Banzugal.
1:15.2	Built by musicians and four musicians, Banzugal is an all-in-one platform to build a beautiful website for your music.
1:22.8	I'm old enough to remember when you had to pay somebody called a web developer to get a website made.
1:27.6	It would always be some guy named Buford, drove a Hummer H2 that he got from a police auction
1:33.6	and who was always trying to sell you bootleg mixtapes with a gratuitous amount of outcast songs on them.
1:40.9	And old Buford would charge you about a thousand bucks for a website that would be
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	...

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