Lady Antebellum will soon hit the road for their co-headlining Summer Plays On Tour with Darius Rucker. The trio, made up of Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood and Hillary Scott, have six children between them, a marked difference from their early years when the bandmates were single and child-free.
Although they appreciate their roles as parents, Kelley admits it poses a challenge when it comes to prioritizing their time.
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“[The biggest challenge] is balance between family and then certain opportunities that come up that sometimes you have to say no to because you’ve gotta take time to have family time and kind of reset the compass,” Kelley tells American Country Countdown (quote via Nash Country Daily). “If there’s a challenge, it’s balance, you know, and then the travel, obviously, is like — you don’t get paid to be up onstage, you get paid to travel. That’s all it is.
“I would do that for free,” he continues. “I love being up onstage. We’ve been really lucky. I mean, we really have found that balance, and it’s just kind of come naturally over the years. With each year that goes by, I think we understand each other and when to push and pull each other.”
Lady A will have one big difference in their band this year – drummer Chris Tyrrell, husband to Scott, is staying off the road to spend time with their three children, four-year-old Eisele, and five-month-old twins, Betsy and Emory.
“We’re both equipping each other to do exactly what we’re supposed to be doing right now,” Scott tells PEOPLE. “We just came to that agreement together. It was one of the easiest decisions we’ve ever made and the peace that we’ve felt since we made it has just been continual proof of it being the right call.”
“[I’m] looking forward to it. I’ve been a bandmate, employee, husband and dad, so I’m okay removing a hat,” adds Tyrell. “Besides, when you looked at whether the band could do without me or her, there wasn’t much question!”
The children of Lady Antebellum, which also includes Kelley’s two-year-old son, Ward, and Haywood’s son, Cash, three, and six-month-old daughter, Lillie, are already accustomed to life on the road.
“It’s part of it,” Kelley says about taking their children on tour. “We always want to put family first. We adjust. We always have. It’s like a traveling road family out there, and yeah, they almost are like little siblings already, so it’ll be interesting.”
“The [older] kids have been out a lot on tour, so they play together great,” adds Haywood. “It’s super cute. Eisele’s the leader of the bunch, and Cash and Ward are following her around, which is super cute to watch. But to think about the fact that there will be six is just really weird to even say.”
Find a list of all of Lady Antebellum’s upcoming shows by visiting their website.
Photo Credit: Getty images/Ethan Miller
