Lady A‘s “Need You Now” was a massive pop hit in 2010, and now Charles Kelley has his own solo pop hit, “Can’t Lose You,” from his new album, Songs for a New Moon. Both were heavily inspired by ’80s pop and yacht rock — a genre Charles says reminds him of his childhood.
“It just feels like a warm blanket,” he tells ABC Audio. “I think it just takes me back to that time where I really didn’t have any worries — you know, you’re just a young kid. And that music just always stuck with me. … When I’m on the golf course playing golf, I mean, that’s what I put on my playlist.”
“This was kind of where I am right now in my life,” he adds. “I wasn’t in the mood to make some singer-songwriter record. … I’m just kind of like, ‘Man, I just want to show some joy.’ So it’s the perfect time for me to do this record.”
Describing the music as “fun and fresh,” Charles says he knew some die-hard country fans might object, but notes, “I think anybody that’s a music fan loves a little bit of everything.”
However, he now has to “start from scratch,” as he puts it, when it comes to reintroducing himself to people who only know him as “that guy from that group.”
“You have to … really get out there and find new fans any way you can,” he says, adding that he’d like to “create a little word-of-mouth.”
“I think that that would be the ultimate dream for this project, is just people just talking about it, you know.”
Charles will be back with Lady A in December for their first Christmas tour, promoting On This Winter’s Night (Volume 2), which drops Sept. 26.
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