See Charles Kelley’s Swaggering ‘Lonely Girl’ on ‘Ellen’
Charles Kelley stopped by Ellen earlier today and sang the song “Lonely Girl” from his solo debut The Driver. Though Kelley has steadily maintained that Lady Antebellum is still his main gig, no one seemed to have informed host Ellen DeGeneres.
“He loved Lady Antebellum so much that he left them to start his own solo career, launch a Number One CD and earn a Grammy nomination,” said host DeGeneres in her introduction.
Dressed in a white T-shirt (the kind that Sam Hunt loves), Kelley finds his comfort zone in the muscular groove of “Lonely Girl,” an R&B-tinted tune that highlights the influence of Michael McDonald and recalls early Lady A hits like “Love Don’t Live Here.” Insistent piano chords push things along as Kelley swaggers around the stage assuring the woman from the title that he’s always going to be there — at least in recorded form — and she doesn’t have to feel so lonely when she can hear his voice. Curiously, his name logo is set up backward on the set.
The Driver was released on February 5th and includes the Grammy-nominated title track, plus a cover of Tom Petty’s “Southern Accents” with Stevie Nicks. Currently, Kelley is slated to embark on a spring tour with his brother Josh beginning April 9th.