'Let's do what inspires us': Lady Antebellum returns with a familiar sound and new record label

The members of crucial country music trio Lady Antebellum thought about naming their eighth studio album “Pictures,” a suitable nod to a collection of songs capturing a snapshot of the group’s life. 

But that didn’t seem right.

“We just started wrestling with if that was an accurate title to represent the rest of the record … or did it feel a little light?” Hillary Scott, one-third of the award-winning Nashville outfit, said to The Nashville Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Spoiler: She’s right. 

Instead of returning with a handful of snapshots, Lady Antebellum dives headfirst into “Ocean,” a 13-track sea of overpowering emotion that swells with honesty and stirs with intimate nuance. The album, out Nov. 15 on Big Machine Label Group, sails between life stories of near-drowning intensity to moments of relaxed splashes. 

“Ocean,” for Scott and bandmates Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, just made sense. 

“We started thinking of ‘Ocean’ and the waves, the ebb and flow of our career and our life and our music, our friendships, our personal relationships,” Scott said. “All of the emotions that are stirred up in you, depending on your circumstances at the time, of what an ocean makes you feel. 

“And we just feel like that was a truer metaphor.” 

Kelley interjected: “You’re either ridin’ the wave or … it’s crashin’ on ya.”  

Riding a wave for 13 years that’s seen the group conquer the Grammy Awards and contribute to a Broadway musical, Lady Antebellum enlisted a new record label, Big Machine, and producer, country hit-maker Dann Huff, for "Ocean." 

Behind Huff — known for his work with Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and more — “Ocean” offers a return to a warm, Southern sound heard on the group’s first two albums, a sonic callback to mid-tempo megahit “Need You Now” that’s matched by a lyrical maturity of a band wielding more than a decade of life experience.