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Charles Kelley is driving in a different direction! The Lady Antebellum singer hit the stage minus Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood on Tuesday night for his first televised performance of "The Driver," his debut solo single that features Dierks Bentley and Eris Paslay.
During his The Tonight Show appearance, Charles discussed how he is taking a break from Lady Antebellum after they wrapped their successful "Wheels Up" tour to pursue his dreams as a solo artist. He shared with host Jimmy Fallon, “It’s kind of an homage to all the drivers, all the crew, everyone that helps us you know put on these shows, to do what we love to do.”
WATCH CHARLES PERFORM WITH DIERKS BENTLEY AND ERIC PASLAY
Excited about the new release, he added, “I’ve writtena lot of songs in my nine-10 year career I’ve had and this is definitely inthe top five of my favorite songs that I have ever been a part of.”
Talking about the project with Rolling Stone Country, the34-year-old said: "If I am going to do something outside of Lady Antebellum, it's got to make a statement. Otherwise, why do it?"
The Georgia native continued: “This was, for me, all about the art of it. . . making music without any agenda, for the first time in a long time. With Lady Antebellum, there's always pressure...with this, I can make total art decisions because there are no expectations."
Charles insists Lady Antebellum is not splitting up Photo: Getty Images
However, Lady Antebellum fans don’t fret, Charlesinsists that the Grammy-award winning group are definitely not splitting up andinsists that his passion project is “because we’re so healthy that I’m doing it now.”
The expectant father, raved about his bandmates. "If we were on the rocks, this would be a tough decision because itcould break up the band. But it isn't, because we'd already made the decisionto take time off, and we said everybody can do whatever they want to do," he explained. "IfHillary wants to go act, if Dave wants to go produce, if somebody wants to travel the world,go do it! This is our time."
Catch Charles on the road this winter during "The Driver" tour that kicks off November 28.
