Kelley on going solo: 'It's given me my confidence back as a songwriter'

When you're a member of one of the biggest country bands of the past decade, you're on top of the world - and simultaneously under tons of pressure. Every choice is magnified; with the smallest misstep, it feels like everything could just disappear.

Charles Kelley knows this all too well as a member of Lady Antebellum, the Nashville trio that broke out in 2008 with a hit album and swept up Grammy awards four years later after smash "Need You Know," the second highest-selling digital country song in history. While riding high on the accolades, keeping the momentum was a challenge. Eventually, album sales slowed, and several singles struggled to crack the Top 20.

So this fall, the band decided it was time for a break - to clarify, not a breakup. That's why you've seen Kelley without his bandmates this week on "The Tonight Show," performing his new single "The Driver" with country singer pals Dierks Bentley and Eric Paslay. He's exploring the country world as a solo artist, complete with his own tour starting in November and an album next year.

Kelley says that one motivating factor (besides the fact that the band has been going nonstop for years) is the relief to flee the sky-high expectations of a successful group, from choosing a single to making decisions about tours.

"After a little while, you start getting a little bit of self-doubt because there's so much riding on every decision," Kelley said, in Washington recently for a National Association of Music Publishers event. "It's hard to make great art when you've got too much pressure."

Now, since Kelley and bandmates Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood decided to take a breather, Kelley wants to try his solo act. He said Scott and Haywood are fully supportive and recently showed up at an industry showcase to cheer him on. Plus, "The Driver" - a quiet ballad about life on the road that he co-wrote with Paslay and Abe Stoklasa - is already garnering positive reviews, which is helping Kelley's own state of mind.

"Honestly, the greatest thing about it for me is it's given me my confidence back as a songwriter," Kelley said. "When (Lady Antebellum) put out songs that I thought were going to be big hits, like 'Goodbye Town,' and it didn't work ... you're like, 'Have I just lost my songwriting mojo?'"

"So to see the response of this song has already given me a little faith of like, I just have to stick with what I think is good. And, I don't know, trust your gut a little more," Kelley said. "Maybe I've lost a little bit of that edge to trust myself over the past four or five years. I want to make sure I kind of get back to that."

Kelley said he's also looking forward to the "grittiness" returning to his voice, something that naturally faded over the years as he worked to blend his harmonies together with Scott and Haywood. Overall, he says his solo venture will give him a new shot of energy when Lady Antebellum decides to tour again. In the meantime, he's enjoying the low-risk factor of a new project while he has his band waiting in the wings.

"There's always expectation with a Lady A single. There's no expectation if this fails," Kelley said, joking that people would simply say, "Stick with what you do best, buddy. Stay in that group."