"Goodbye Town" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

group

Lady A Lady A (formerly known as Lady Antebellum) is an American country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals), Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals, guitar), ...

ntebellum. It was released on May 13, 2013, as the second single from their fifth studio album ''

Golden Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall * Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershi ...

''. The song was written by band members

Hillary Scott Hillary Dawn Scott-Tyrrell (born April 1, 1986) is an American singer and songwriter. She is the co-lead singer of Lady A, previously known as Lady Antebellum, a country music group that was formed in 2006, and is signed to Big Machine Records ...

Charles Kelley Charles Burgess Kelley (born September 11, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter and lead singer and founding member of the country music trio Lady A, which was formed in 2006 and are signed to Big Machine Records. Early life and career Kelle ...

, and

Dave Haywood David Wesley Haywood (born July 5, 1982) is an American country musician and songwriter. He is one-third of the American country music band Lady A, in which he plays guitar, piano and mandolin, and sings backing vocals. Early life Haywood's fat ...

, along with

Josh Kear Josh Kear is a Nashville-based songwriter signed to Sony/ATV Music Publishing. In 2007, he cowrote Carrie Underwood’s hit "Before He Cheats" with Chris Tompkins. The song spent five weeks at the top of the charts. His song " Drinking Class", ...

, and it features lead vocals from Kelley, and a little bit from Scott.

Content

The song is about a breakup, seen mainly from the perspective of the male in the relationship, who sees the sights of his town and expresses desire to leave, because every aspect of the town reminds him of his lover. Co-writer

brought the idea for the song to Lady Antebellum during a writing session, drawing experience from a girlfriend with whom he broke up during his last year of college. He and the three members of Lady Antebellum wrote the song during the group's ''Own The Night Tour''.

Critical reception

Billy Dukes of ''Taste of Country'' gave the song four stars out of five, writing that "the growth of Lady Antebellum — already one of the top groups in country music — is as exciting as this new music." He praised the song's "fresh production" and called the vocals "pleasantly surprising." Joseph Hudak of ''

Country Weekly ''Nash Country Weekly'' was an American lifestyle weekly magazine about country artists and their music. It was in circulation between April 1994 and May 2016. The publisher, Cumulus Media, now maintains the site ''Nash Country Daily''. Overview ...

'' was less favorable, saying that the song has "an air of seriousness that doesn't exactly scream 'summer singalong.' Its pace feels overly deliberate, and the piano breakdown midway through calls to mind everything that weighed down portions of '' Need You Now'' and ''

Own the Night ''Own the Night'' is the third studio album by American country music trio Lady Antebellum. It was released on September 13, 2011 through Capitol Nashville. This is the follow up album to their previous Grammy Award winning album Need You Now. Th ...

''." Hudak praised Kelley's "rough-hewn" voice and "whoa-oh-oh payoff" at the end, ultimately giving the song a C+.

Music video

The music video was directed by

Peter Zavadil Peter Zavadil is an American music video director who works primarily in the field of country music. He has directed many music videos since the late 1990s. He has won the Country Music Association Award for Video of the Year twice from seven nomin ...

and filmed in Nashville. It premiered on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was pro ...

'' on May 13, 2013.

Chart performance

"Goodbye Town" debuted at number 46 on the U.S. '' Billboard'' Country Airplay chart for the week dated May 25, 2013, and at number 36 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart for the week dated June 1, 2013. It also debuted at number 98 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 95 on the Canadian Hot 100.

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 2013 singles Lady A songs Capitol Records Nashville singles Songs written by Hillary Scott Songs written by Charles Kelley Songs written by Dave Haywood Songs written by Josh Kear Song recordings produced by Paul Worley Music videos directed by Peter Zavadil Country ballads 2013 songs