Last April when I saw Lady Antebellum in concert, I fell completely in love with them. They put on a really great show and stole the hearts of the audience. Right after the concert, I bought “Lady Antebellum,” their first CD. I absolutely love that album. The members of Lady Antebellum are Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley, singers, and Dave Haywood, who performs background vocals as well as playing the mandolin, piano and guitar. On January 26 the band released their second album, “Need You Now.”

The first single from the new album, “Need You Now,” was released by Lady Antebellum quite some time ago. I consider it to be one of the album’s best songs. It has a catchy tune and hits you hard when you listen to it carefully. The music in the very beginning, before Hillary and Charles start to sing, is very beautiful. Weeks ago I bought the single on iTunes. Lady Antebellum has also released a music video which is quite good. In fact’s it’s my favorite music video by them.

“Stars Tonight” is another song that stands out. The melody is once again amazing. However what makes this a great song instead of just a good one, are the lyrics. They give insight into just how Haywood, Scott and Kelley really feel about being musicians. I think for people aspiring to be professional musicians this song would be very inspiring to them. It would also make a great music video.

The song “Our Kind of Love” has a completely different sound to it than the song “Stars Tonight.” The song is a lot slower. It’s a nice song and very enjoyable to listen to.

On “If I Knew Then” the voices of Hillary and Charles really shine through. It’s a really special song. I usually don’t go for overly romantic songs, however this one does really move me.

Some musicians hit what’s called the sophomore slump. That’s when their second album doesn’t turn out to be as good as their first. However, Lady Antebellum most definitely avoided the sophomore slump. “Need You Now” is a great second album.

We know already that the sophomore album from Lady Antebellum, “Need You Now” will almost certainly make their debut at No. 1 next week on Billboard’s 200 chart. However, now it seems the album is going to sell even more copies than was originally anticipated.

A lot more.

On Tuesday January 26, the day the album was released, industry sources were thinking the set from country’s trio would move about 325,000 units by Sunday January 31. However by Wednesday the forecast had grown to 350,000 copies at least. Now industry experts are thinking the album from Capitol may sell as many as 425,00 copies during the first week of its release.

How big is that number? To put things into perspective, the last time there was a debut by a country album that sold at least 400,000 copies was in November 2008. “Fearless” by Taylor Swift debuted on Billboard in the No. 1 position by selling 592,000 copies. It’s been rare lately to see any album, regardless of genre, debut with over 400,000 copies. In 2009, there were only six albums that debuted with over 400,000 units sold during their first week.

Sales projections for Lady Antebellum are based on internal data from industry sources. The final numbers from Nielsen SoundScan that are reflected in Billboard’s 200 album chart will not get released until February 3.

Some other albums that appeared to be headed for high debuts next week on Billboard’s 200 chart include “What Is Love?” by Never Shout Never, “The Greatest Love Songs of All Time” by Barry Manilow, “Songs From The Heart” by Celtic Woman, and “The Sea” by Corinne Bailey Rae.

The party was for celebrating the success of Lady Antebellum. Singer Charles Kelley was thinking the stream of praise and plaques would never end.

Kelley joked while getting ready to pose for yet another photograph that it was starting to get embarrassing.

He needs to get used to this. The band of this moment is Lady Antebellum.

Dave Haywood, Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley have proven they are worthy of the buzz with their platinum debut album. There are extremely high expectations for the band’s second album, which will be released on Tuesday, following the success of the first single already out “Need You Now” and it’s run at the No. 1 spot on the charts.

Kelley said, what “Need You Now” did was open things up for us to a larger audience overall in country music as well as other musical genres. We definitely recognize that. This year we have been making a conscious effort to create bigger shows and capitalize on the momentum to take things to the next level.

Rarefied air is the next level. However Lady Antebellum does appear to have that special something that is needed for getting there. After all, bands don’t often get this hot this fast.

Seven months ago “I Run to You,” the single from their debut self-titled album made it to the top of the country charts. Ever since life has been in fast forward. Lady Antebellum won two Country Music Association Awards for best single and best vocal group, upsetting Rascall Flatts, the six time winner. The band’s debut album is still close to the top of country music’s charts.

The trio also has been nominated for two Grammys: best country song and best country performance by a duo or group with vocals. Lady Antebellum will also be performing at the Grammys.

“Need You Now” seems to have Lady Antebellum poised for even greater things.

According to Billboard, it was the only song by a group in 2009 to be in the No. 1 spot for five weeks on country music’s charts, as well as being only the third song this century to reach that level, joining “I’m Already There” by Lonestar which in 2001 was No. 1 for a period of six weeks, and “Bless the Broken Road” by Rascall Flatts which in 2005 was No.1 for five weeks.

The hit single also has shown crossover appeal. It reached Billboard’s Hot 100 top 10, an all-genre chart, with very little promotion done outside of country radio. Although Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift have been successful, it’s still tough for country acts to break through in the world of pop music. However Paul Worley, producer, thinks that Lady Antebellum does have the juice to do it.

Worley, who has two Grammy awards from being The Dixie Chicks producer said, in terms of their rise as well as viral popularity of the band, I compare them to that of the Dixie Chicks. Back then there was a kind of very enthusiastic and quick acceptance of their music. Watching them explore gives me the same type of feeling I had back then for The Dixie Chicks.

Being popular does lead to pressure. Members of the band are well aware that everybody’s watching them.

In practically every interview, and lately they’ve had dozens, they heard about the “sophomore slump.” When they are asked about expectations they tend to try to make light of things.

Kelley asked, why is everyone asking about that?

Scott said, don’t remind us. But everyone does keep reminding us.

Haywood added, everything has come very fast. We do feel quite blessed. It feels like we are coming on a moment, especially with our sophomore record. At this point it’s either sink or swim. We feel we needed to do the best we could to pour our hearts out into this record. We put all we have out on the line with this album.

According to Worley often bands do have a reason for worrying over their second album. However he thinks that between releases Lady Antebellum just got stronger. They either co-wrote or wrote 8 out of 11 songs appearing on the album and relied as well on good material coming from the outside songwriters. Worley also said that they made a concerted effort to explore different possibilities that the group has, featuring musical arrangements by Haywood and Scott and Kelley trading vocals.

Worley said, second albums usually are quite problematic. It’s hard doing something that is better than what you did on your first album, particularly now when artists are a lot busier than ever and their lives much more fragmented. I really am able to say the second album is truly better than their first. Just that alone is a huge success. Second when you listen to the singing, they have become better singers. They are focusing more on their songs’ cohesiveness.

Lady Antebellum also wrote songs that would improve their live shows. Early on they noticed that in order to play for large crowd, like the kinds they saw while touring with Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney, that they would need to beef their sound up to fill the arenas wide open spaces.

Scott pointed to the song “Stars Tonight,” written along with Monty Powell, that pays tribute to the band’s fans. It will be featured later this year when they go out on the road to tour with Tim McGraw.

Scott said, basically what it’s saying is this show belongs to you more than it does to us. If you just show up to do your part, then we will do our part too. Kick back and enjoy yourselves, stand up.

On January 15, Lady Antebellum tickets went on sale for their headlining debut concert in Nashville. The show sold out in just thirty minutes.

Because the show on March 11 sold out so quickly, a second show was promptly added by the group for March 10. That one sold out too, again within thirty minutes, solidifying the hometown appeal of the trio.

Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum said, we want to say thank you to our fans. They are the world’s best fans. They’ve given us the honor to be able to play two nights in a row at legendary Ryman Auditorium. We feel we are truly living our dream.

So far there aren’t any rumors floating out there regarding a third show in Nashville. However, never say never. Meanwhile, recently Lady Antebellum celebrated 2009’s longest chart topper with “Need You Now,” the title and lead track from the band’s new album set to be released on January 26. The song was at No. 1 for five consecutive weeks and is also certified platinum.

Lady Antebellum is scheduled to perform in this year’s Grammy Awards show that will be televised on January 31 live. They have also received two Grammy nominations. “I Run To You” has been nominated for Best Country Song and Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals.