"Long Stretch of Love" 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 and serves as the third and final single from the group's sixth studio album, ''
747'' (2014). It was released to radio in the UK on February 6, 2015 and then to American country radio on March 23, 2015, and it features lead vocals from both
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 ...
and
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 ...
, who wrote the song with
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 ...
and
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", ...
.
Content
The song is an upbeat
country rock song with "brash kick drum, thumping bass, and crunchy electric guitar riffs".
Lyrically, it is about "commitment to love and sticking with it through the ups and downs".
All three members of Lady Antebellum co-wrote the song 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 co-produced it with
Nathan Chapman.
Kear told ''
Nash 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 ...
'' magazine that he had a track started for a writing session with the band, and when he presented it to them, co-lead singer
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 ...
"hit on the verse melody pretty quickly, and the verses were all four of us throwing in ideas until the lyric matched the intensity of the track."
The main riff is played on a Woodrow, an Appalachian instrument manufactured only in
Asheville, North Carolina, which is described as having a sound "halfway between a dulcimer and a banjo."
Kear chose to use the instrument in the song after buying one in Asheville. Dan Williams, who invented the Woodrow, played the instrument with Lady Antebellum when they performed the song at the
Country Music Association telecast on April 19, 2015.
Critical reception
Giving the song a "B", Tammy Ragusa of ''Nash Country Weekly'' (then ''Country Weekly'') wrote that the song was "driving, edgy, and electric…occasionally to the detriment of the band's thick and beautiful harmonies" but added that "the combination does add to the aggressive nature of the lyrics".
An uncredited review from
Taste of Country
Townsquare Media, Inc. (formerly Regent Communications until 2010) is an American radio network and media company based in Purchase, New York. The company started in radio and expanded into digital media toward the end of the 2000s, starting wi ...
was also favorable, saying that "A forgotten tension between Charles Kelley and Hillary Scott reappears during this uptempo love song. It's the same chemistry that always left fans wondering 'Are they?' before it became obvious they weren’t." and "Scott mostly plays lead on the chorus, but unlike many of Lady A's most recent singles, the song feels like a true three-part collaboration."
Commercial performance
"Long Stretch of Love" debuted at number fifty-seven on the
''Billboard'' Country Airplay chart for the week ending April 4, 2015. It has since reached a peak of sixteen. The song debuted at number forty on the
Hot Country Songs chart for the week ending July 11, 2015.
Music video
A music video was directed by Justin Key and premiered in April 2015. This video was shot during their sold-out show at
The O2 Arena in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. At the beginning of the video you can hear Charles, Hillary, and Dave talking about performing live, selling out a show at The O
2 and playing in one of their favorite cities, London. The video also shows backstage footage of the band.
A second music video was directed by
TK McKamy
TK McKamy is an American film director, screenwriter, and editor known for directing music videos.
Thomas Knox McKamy III was born in Stone Mountain, Georgia and raised in the small town of Nicholasville, Kentucky
Nicholasville is a home r ...
and premiered in July 2015.
Chart performance
Year-end charts
Release history
References
{{authority control
2014 songs
2015 singles
Capitol Records Nashville singles
Lady A songs
Songs written by Hillary Scott
Songs written by Dave Haywood
Songs written by Charles Kelley
Songs written by Josh Kear
Song recordings produced by Nathan Chapman (record producer)
Music videos directed by TK McKamy