Lady Antebellum announces next album 'Golden'

Lady Antebellum

Credit: Capitol Nashville

It's been almost exactly a month since Lady Antebellum lifted the curtain on their new single "Downtown," so it's about time they announce the album it's attached to: "Golden," the country crew's new full-length, will be released on May 7.

The trio describes the set as a "road-trip record" and in... sunny terms.

“This album feels to me like one of those that from start to finish could be a good road-trip record and that’s what we wanted,” said Charles Kelley in a release. “It’s one of the reasons why the term ‘golden’ was kind of cool. I think about road trips and driving down the road with those little streaks of sunshine popping through the trees, especially at sunset. ‘Golden’…it just gives you this warm, easy feeling.”

"Golden" arrives on the heels of 2012 Christmas album "On This Winter's Night," which peaked at No. 8 on The Billboard 200. Not counting that holiday set, "Golden" will be Lady A's fourth full-length, with their previous 2011 album "Need You Now" having made it to No. 1.

"Downtown" is currently at country radio; HitFix's Melinda Newman says the single "is a twangy, Americana, rootsy tune with a fun bluesy guitar lead that has more in common with Bonnie Raitt than Taylor Swift." You can hear it in the lyric video below. The band also previewed the title track and more at a recent "Crossroads" collaboration with Stevie Nicks.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

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After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.