Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley Is Planning a Solo Project

On Saturday (Oct. 3), Lady Antebellum will wrap up their Wheels Up 2015 Tour and "step away for a little while," taking a break to spend time with their families, write some new music and gear up to take on the next phase of their career. In addition to preparing for the arrival of his baby boy, trio member Charles Kelley will also be working on a solo project.

Billboard reports that Kelley revealed his plans and debuted several of his solo tunes at an industry event in Nashville on Wednesday night (Sept. 30). One of the songs, "Lonely Girl," was co-written by Chris Stapleton, while another, "The Driver," features Eric Paslay and Dierks Bentley.

"I wouldn't have done this without [bandmates] Hillary [Scott] and Dave [Haywood] giving me their blessing," Kelley told the assembled audience. "Lady Antebellum will always be my focus."

He also covered Tom Petty's "Southern Accents," noting that Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks will be providing harmonies on the recorded version of the song, and the Band's "Ophelia."

"Lady Antebellum will never break up, mark my words," Kelley said during his set. "But I wanted to step outside of my comfort zone."

A release date for Kelley's solo project has not yet been announced, but Billboard reports that it will be issued via Capitol Records. Paul Worley helped produce the project.

Although Lady Antebellum have not revealed how long their break will last, Scott says that "it will probably be a lot shorter than what we probably set out for it to be, because we can’t ever really stop." However, the band isn't worried about losing their fanbase during their time away.

“We can take some time off and not feel like we’re going to lose it all,” Kelley says. "... It’s all about the music, so we need to step away and make the best music we can. That’s the only way it’s going to sustain itself.”

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