By recording an album that mixes what we loved best about that album and their self-titled Capitol Records debut. Lead singles “Just A Kiss” and “Own The Night” proved as much but it’s the other 10 tracks on the record that showcase a band completely in a groove. “Friday Night” (one of only two tracks not written by the band) mixes a bouzouki and a melodic and arena-ready concert opener which comes off as a sort of country Black Eyed Peas type of song, with verses that have a sing-song-y feel with soaring choruses. It’s a big song which may ‘not go anywhere’ lyrically but it’s not meant to take over the world lyrically the way “I Run To You” or “Hello World” did. It’s just a song about having a good time and is a strong partner for “We Owned The Night” and will be a single from this album.
“Cold As Stone,” “As You Turn Away” and “Heart Of The World” are the only straight-up ballads on Own The Night and the latter is penned by “I Run To You” and “Hello World” co-writer Tom Douglas (with Scooter Carusoe) and it is another poetic and pretty lyric from one of the top songwriters in Nashville. The song chronicles the treasures of being married to your soulmate and everything that entangles. There are some cascading and epic strings on the track but it’s the kind of song that deserves to get such a treatment. It reminds me of the kind of classic duet from Trisha and Garth or Clint and Lisa Hartman Black. Meanwhile, the acoustic-leaning “Cold As Stone” is a song about an entirely different kind of relationship with Celtic-like melodies backing up the heartbreaking story laid out in the lyrics. “As You Turn Away” is another tune of heartbreak with this time Hillary takes the lead on a torch ballad of epic scale with real nuanced pain showing the very real feelings that happen when going through a break-up.
If you’re looking for a modern country song that retains the twang and fiddles of yesterday, “Love I’ve Found In You” certainly should bring back memories with a 50’s rockabilly melody mixed with tasty fiddle fills. “Dancing Away With My Heart” (one of two tunes leaked to iTunes before album release) is certainly a pop-leaning track but it retains twang-y lead guitars and a chorus sung by both Charles and Hillary that retains country’s heart and the lyrics of the song certainly work well with “Heart Of The World.” "Singing Me Home" mixes a jovial country lyric with a Motown-like vibe to great affect and sounds like a potential hit to this writer.
“Wanted You More” has a big Fleetwood Mac-like chorus but given the band’s recent string of hits, I’d expect nothing less, though I do like the variety of songs more on the rest of Own The Night. While the band certainly has been recording more middle of the road, please-the-masses type of album oriented rock type of songs, I still find myself really liking what I hear on Own The Night. This is an album full of strings and epic statements about love, both won lost and something in between with a few ‘good time’ songs thrown in for good measure.
Will Lady Antebellum win-over traditional-leaning country fans with Own The Night? Probably not. But they were always going to have a hard time trying to impress those fans and they instead stay true to who they are, which is a genre-bending band who is country music because that’s the genre that allows for the kind of music they are making.
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