Lady Antebellum's Dave Haywood Says New Single 'What I'm Leaving For' 'Just Wrecked Me'

Lady Antebellum has officially announced their new single, "What I'm Leaving For," a song that's all about family. Written by Sam Ellis, Michah Rayan Premnath and Laura Veltz, "What I'm Leaving For" sees Hillary Scott sing about how hard it is to leave her family and making sure they know why she's going.

At an event in Nashville this week, band member Dave Haywood shared that the song immediately hit him when he first heard it and that it ultimately sends a larger message.

"I remember, it just wrecked me and I heard it, but I sent it to my brother-in-law who served a couple tours in Afghanistan and he was like, 'Oh my God.' He's like, 'This is what y'all need to do,'" he recalled. "And it's so present with where we are. I mean we tour a lot, but there are those that serve that really tour for a duration that's way longer than we ever do. So it resonates with that crowd and just get up and going to a nine to five as well. I think it's going to hit a lot of people in that way and we've already heard that."

"We had several songs that we were kind of wrestling between what it was and, I've personally gotten so many just responses from friends and all kinds of different people going, 'Man, that song really speaks to me,'" Charles Kelley added. "We all have that and feel that in some way. And the song just feels like something that could have been our first couple of records."

Scott explained that after seeing the fan response to the song after the release of the group's latest album, Ocean, they knew that it was something special.

"We always pay attention to social media and what was on Instagram and when we released the album, I saw a lot of people hashtagging that song, and I even saw a family, they were going on a road trip or something," she said. "But that song was really speaking to the mom and the dad was driving, and she was in the passenger seat, and they just had the song on and they were filming on their way to a family vacation or a weekend away or something."

"And it was just so neat to see other people put their story, when they relate to it so much that they're putting their life, it becomes the soundtrack of their life. It goes so far beyond just the music. It's just it's their memories."

Photo Credit: Getty / Brett Carlsen