Grammy Nomination or Not, Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum Cancels Solo Tour
Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum received some happy news on Monday (12-7) after it was announced his debut solo single “The Driver” was bestowed a nomination in the 59th Grammy Awards for Best Country Duo or Group Performance. The song also features Eric Paslay and Dierks Bentley. It seemed like a somewhat strange entry in the category, seeing how “The Driver” was released fairly recently, and really hasn’t gained any traction just yet, but it was still a proud moment for the singer.
“The Driver” was officially released to the public on September 28th, sliding in only two days before the Grammy eligibility deadline of September 30th. The late entry may have benefited Kelley in the end, making the song top-of-mind as Grammy voters were filling out their selections. The sparse, sedated production has been well-received by many mainstream critics.
However in the greater public, “The Driver” has struggled mightily. The song has not reached the Top 40 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, and is outside the Top 50 on country radio. And that may be just where the struggles for Charles Kelley’s solo career begin.
Along with the single, a Charles Kelley solo tour was announced with much fanfare. The public was assured Lady Antebellum wasn’t breaking up, but Kelley would not be joining them on the “extended hiatus.” A 22-date tour of large clubs and small theaters was booked and announced in October. At the time, Kelley bragged how he wanted to get out among the people, play smaller rooms, smell the beer spilled on the floor, and enjoy the experience.
“I’m not going to make a dime,” Kelley told Rolling Stone. “It’s funny, my business manager called me up and she goes, ‘I hear you want to take two tour buses out.’ I said, ‘Yeah, there’s gonna be 12 people and one tour bus is gonna be kinda tough.’ And she goes, ‘Well you know you’re not going to make any money.’ I said, ‘I don’t care. I’m doing this to feed the soul.'”
But there may not be much soul feeding in store.
It appears most, if not all but one or two of the dates on the 22-date Charles Kelley tour have been either canceled, or delayed to future times. Kelley did play the Gramercy Theatre in New York on December 1st, but shows on December 3rd at the Fillmore in Charlotte, NC, and December 5th at the Tabernacle in Atlanta we canceled unexpectedly mere days before the shows. And now all the shows on the solo tour appear to be canceled, though no official explanation has been made available to the public. Where once the dates stretching into late January were displayed on Kelley’s website, it now says,
A portion of upcoming tour dates is moving to early 2016. For more information on rescheduled dates, check back here. Thanks for your continued support. Stay tuned for major album release news coming soon!
Maren Morris, who was scheduled to open for Kelley on the tour, told the Dallas Observer on Monday (12-7) that the tour was canceled, but that’s about the only indication the public has received about the status of “The Driver” tour. Kelley did play a show Monday night at the North Charleston Coliseum, but it was with Darius Rucker and Craig Campbell as part of a “Concert for the Kids” charity event.
Despite the Grammy love, Charles Kelley’s solo career might be the case of another failed single, and another rolled back rollout due to the lack of momentum. In 2015, we’ve seen this with Gary Allan, Scotty McCreery, Joe Nichols, Josh Turner, and numerous other artists.
Kale
December 8, 2015 @ 9:03 am
How exactly did this awful song get nominated for anything, especially this? I’ve never heard it anywhere. I’ve never even heard it mentioned, except on here.
Trigger
December 8, 2015 @ 9:10 am
My working theory is it came out RIGHT as folks were filling out their Grammy ballots, and when it was first released, and lot of critics were praising it for its depth and such. If you actually listen to the song, it’s Bro-Country lite with heady production. It’s not a terrible song by any stretch, but in my opinion, certainly not worth the praise it received out of the chute.
Amanda
December 8, 2015 @ 9:19 am
He also did a media preview night in Nashville the week that Grammy noms were due, which could have left him fresh in voter’s minds.
Kale
December 8, 2015 @ 10:05 am
I’ve never actually heard it. I can’t help but hear the occasional Sam Hunt or FGL song, but obscure songs like this and BYHB I have never heard. I can rant all day about Sam Hunt, but I can’t make any kind of informed opinion about this song because I’ve never heard it.
Anthony
December 8, 2015 @ 9:07 am
We’ve seen it a lot. Where is that Jake Owen album? lol This might be the strangest period of time I’ve ever seen where so little album release dates are actually out in the open.
Trigger
December 8, 2015 @ 9:16 am
It could be 1/4 to a 1/3’rd of the entire country music industry in 2015 has been delayed, pushed back, or scrubbed for one reason or another, and it all appears to be tied to the success or failure of lead singles. Tours are usually managed by labels. When “The Driver” failed commercially, possibly the label or Charles Kelley got cold feet.
The problem is, Lady Antebellum fans are not engaged enough with music to follow someone like Charles Kelley into a solo career. They’re on to the next craze, whatever it is. Lady Antebellum doesn’t have any significant grassroots. At the same time, there’s has to be some commitment with these labels to these projects. Sometimes it takes time for something to stick. Here Charles Kelley got a Grammy nomination. Give it time to develop.
Applejack
December 8, 2015 @ 3:26 pm
In my mind, this kinda goes back to what Ronnie Dunn said about how “you think you’re just Ronnie Dunn, but then you find out that you’re actually ‘Brooks and Dunn.”
PETE MARSHALL
December 8, 2015 @ 9:43 am
I don’t want to call Charles Kelley “the driver” failure yet because the song finally charted on the airplay chart at #60 this week and (#41 on the country songs chart back in November) I really like the song. What happened to Steven Tyler’s debut country cd with his first failed single?
Mark Gardner
December 8, 2015 @ 10:18 am
I’ve been seeing it regularly on CMT / GAC video channels. Other than that, nada.
carmines04
December 8, 2015 @ 10:22 am
So – Is this some sort of thing where the “Nashville Machine” is trying to promote this song, thus put pressure on the Grammy’s to nominate a song that nobody likes for one of their awards?
This is where all these award shows lose all credibility with me. I’d have more respect for the Grammy’s if they nominated an FGL song or….any song that was actually played on the radio and had some traction. At least they’d only be guilty of bad taste, instead of being just downright shady. This smells like a play by the Nasvhille Machine to give some traction to a song that nobody really wants to listen to. Similar to the crap they have thrown in our face with The Band Perry and their “Live Forever” PR campaign.
Trigger
December 8, 2015 @ 1:51 pm
The Grammy voting body is not cohesive enough to lobby like with the CMA’s or ACM’s, and thus, they tend to have much more credibility. I don’t think label politics had anything to do with the nomination. Someone may have been pushing it for a Grammy, but I think he released the song at the exact right time to make it top of mind for voters, and he pulled a fluke. The Grammy Awards are known for flukes like this because of the incredibly diverse voting bloc.
DownSouth
December 8, 2015 @ 10:48 am
Not too bad considering the 3 guys involved. The “shine a light, drink a beer, lets get loud” chorus is the downfall. It could have been much better if that was re-written to something less cheesy.
However It is a step above “let’s turn this cornfield into a party” type garbage but I’m not sure it is Grammy worthy.
Fuzzy TwoShirts
December 8, 2015 @ 11:30 am
Well that’s good
albert
December 8, 2015 @ 12:13 pm
I’m not sure about south of the 49th …but up here in the Great White North I’d bet my firstborn that 99 out 100 music fans I asked wouldn’t have a clue who Charles Kelley is let alone who he sings with , what his Grammy -nominated single is called ( to my knowledge its never been broadcast ) or what he even looks like . And that observation would go for so many current chart-folk from the U.S. …pop or country . But Charles Kelley DOES have a voice that stands him apart from the herd of sound-alikes , look-alikes and write-alikes from the U.S. In a just and contemporary music sound-scape that should count for something . I’m wondering if his profile , or lack thereof, is similar in the U.S . Gaining traction is easier than maintaining traction in these times , it seems. Your 15 minutes is often up in 12 or 13 if deep pockets aren’t footing the bill . There are more wannabes swarming the gates by the day and even having the greatest voice guarantees you absolutely nothing but 15 minutes or less ( Voice folk ) .
FLYINGBURRITO2486
December 8, 2015 @ 1:25 pm
According to their website, his show at Boondocks in Springfield, IL is still on. On another note, I see that little fucktard Kane Brown has a two night show coming up there, with one already sold out. I’m between Chicago and Springfield, so traveling down there or to Joe’s On Weed wasn’t too bad. Now they have all these shitty bands. It’s gonna get to the point where we’re not going to have any venues left for good music in this area.
Trigger
December 8, 2015 @ 1:44 pm
According to Charles Kelley’s website, there are no current shows upcoming. This also jives with what Maren Morris said. When I checked the venues for each event previously announced, not a single one said they were canceled. With most of them, the dates just disappeared. I’m not sure anyone knows exactly what is going on here. He may play some of the later dates in the tour. Or he may not. I think they canceled the tour, but don’t want anyone to know about it. Maybe it was so undersold, there was no need to notify the public, just issue the refunds. Hence this article.
FLYINGBURRITO2486
December 8, 2015 @ 3:18 pm
And it was a good, informative article. Saw that on Kelley’s webpage too. Was just mentioning it since it was a show in relatively close proximity.
scott
December 9, 2015 @ 7:52 am
Yeah, I’m an hour or so away from Boondock’s, can’t believe all the crap they have scheduled. Sad, really…
Jared S
December 10, 2015 @ 8:52 am
I’m up by Peoria, I’ve never been to Boondock’s. I saw that they had Turnpike Troubadours there last week, but it was sold out before I saw it. Is it a good place to see a show?
But, yeah, not a lot of good bands playing anywhere outside of Chicago in Illinois. Castle Theatre in Bloomington gets some decent shows now and then. It would be nice if Limelight in Peoria would draw some better bands.
FLYINGBURRITO2486
December 10, 2015 @ 3:45 pm
I’ve only been to Boondocks once, last year to see Turnpike. It isn’t a bad place I guess. It has a bar up front and the concert area in back is like a pole barn. The sound was pretty good and I was in the front row so it was cool. I think my main pet peeve was that I believe the place oversold tickets because it was more crowded than any other show I’ve been to anywhere. I think it said capacity was like 800. Also, there was a huge police presence there. Don’t know if that’s normal or because it was a holiday weekend. They didn’t fuck with anyone though. It’s worth trying out once to see for yourself. I personally would go back for a good show.
scott
December 11, 2015 @ 8:00 am
I’m from Pekin. Hear ya about Limelight. One of the three owners is an old buddy, gonna have to bend his ear a little about what country to bring in.
Houston Erwin
December 8, 2015 @ 2:04 pm
Maren Morris announced over 2 week ago it was cancelled on her instagram account. It was pretty frustrating to read considering Charles Kelly hadn’t said anything about it and the House of Blues was still promoting it at the time.
Jackass
December 8, 2015 @ 2:12 pm
This guy looks more like a hair dresser than a country singer.
KathyP
December 8, 2015 @ 6:35 pm
Best comment on this string, so far.
JohnWayneTwitty
December 8, 2015 @ 5:07 pm
He has a lot of Luke Bryan and Bob Dylan in his nasal vocals. That’s not a goot thing. At least he has a great mustache.
Richk
December 9, 2015 @ 9:04 am
First (and hopefully last) time Luke Bryan and Bob Dylan get mentioned in same sentence. BTW, it’s not country but the new Dylan bootleg series release “Cutting Edge” is seriously great.
Anthony
December 9, 2015 @ 12:26 pm
A lot of Summer tours have usually been rolled out for the next year by now as well. Its bizarre. If its this way throughout January thats pretty incredible and something is clearly going on.
Grace
December 10, 2015 @ 5:14 am
Summer tours for B,C,D level acts get put together starting around now and dates won’t get finalized until February or March. Touring in the winter is a good strategy, usually, because not many acts like to be out on the road in the holidays–they are road warriors during the summer fair season. But a promoter will def cancel a tour due to lackluster hard ticket sales. the labels do not have much, if any, control over tours… Those are the domain of the manager and booking agent and promoter. The labels will provide support around the tour stops in terms of partnering with local radio for promotions but that is usually only aggressively done if there’s an active single at radio.
Trigger
December 10, 2015 @ 8:39 am
Much of what determines who is in charge of the tours has to do with what type of contract an artist signs. Since labels aren’t making money off of album sales much anymore, most artists are expected to sign 360 deals, which allows the label to profit off of tour sales. Many labels will also provide the logistics or money up from for touring in the way of stipends since it is still the best way to promote an album for lower-tier acts. Obviously we don’t know the in’s and out’s of Charles Kelley’s deal.
mark
December 9, 2015 @ 12:53 pm
as far as summer tours go, Dixie Chicks are doing pretty well.
http://minnesotasnewcountry.com/dixie-chicks-add-second-show-at-minnesota-state-fair-grandstand/
sold out 17000 tickets in seven minutes for Minnesota state fair.
Anthony
December 9, 2015 @ 1:53 pm
I was going to mention they are the only ones I have seen so far.
Maranda
December 9, 2015 @ 4:55 pm
I’m only disappointed for Maren Morris. She’s not at all traditional country, but I love her voice and she writes great songs. I hope with an EP out she gets to open for a bigger tour soon.
chris
December 10, 2015 @ 3:47 am
He isn’t selling tickets folks. Plain and simple…
Canuck
December 14, 2015 @ 9:44 pm
Lady Antebellum, collectively, or as solo artists, churn out sonic garbage and attempt to pass it off as music. This is no exception.
Also, the hubris of this guy, thinking that the public would care at all about his vanity project, is hilarious.