The trio returns to Christmas music with “On This Winter’s Night (Vol. 2)”. This faith-filled album celebrates family and the spirit of the holidays.
Lady A returns to Christmas music with a fresh album and tour that blends family, faith and festive harmony.
NASHVILLE – In a festive conference room, the sounds of “Silent Night” fill the air.
Surrounded by twinkling lights and half-empty coffee cups, the three members of Lady A – Hillary Scott, Charles Kelly and Dave Haywood – harmonize. Their voices meld seamlessly together with harmonies and slowly settle into a single breath, as if the Christmas spirit itself had asked for a soundcheck.
They sing, “Sleep in heavenly peace,” their riff on the sacred carol making the venue devotional and offering a preview of the trio’s Christmas album “On This Winter’s Night (Vol. 2),” which follows 13 years later.
“Volume 1” was released in 2012 and went platinum.
“I was like, God, a lot of people have this thing,” Kelly told the Nashville Tennessean, part of the USA TODAY Network, about the first album. “I look forward to continuing that story with them and hopefully it becomes one of those acts that people can count on to be a part of their holiday season every year… We’re looking forward to doing that as well.”
A live show “This Winter’s Night Tour” to accompany the album will launch on December 5 in Atlanta and conclude with a three-night homecoming tour in Nashville. The new record blends the country group’s signature harmonies with every imaginable holiday instrument: sleigh bells. Chimes. and winter piano ballads that evoke cozy pajamas worn by the fire.
“We were talking like, if we’re going to do a Christmas tour, obviously we’re going to have to learn more Christmas songs,” Kelly told The Tennessean. “And then it was like, okay, if we’re doing this, might as well record a new record. It felt like the right time to generate some excitement and let the fans hear something new live.”
The project revisits timeless favorites like “Winter Wonderland,” “Last Christmas” and “O Holy Night,” but also features original songs that feel like instant classics.
“Wouldn’t It Be Christmas” has the snow-dusted sparkle of a Hallmark movie theme song and “Christmas Through Your Eyes” is an ode to rediscovering wonder through parenthood.
The band’s family has grown significantly since the first album. Scott, Kelly and Haywood now have nine children, including two newborns.
“My youngest is 2 months old right now,” Kelly told The Tennessean. “We have a 9-year-old boy and a 2-month-old baby.”
Scott’s home is just as lively.
“I have four daughters,” she says. “My oldest is 12, then I have twin girls who are almost 8 and a 3-month-old little girl. We have a busy but loving home right now.”
“My 11-year-old doesn’t sleep either. We have an 11-year-old boy, a 7-year-old girl, and a 1.5-year-old who are running everywhere,” says Haywood. “The first Christmas record was before any of these kids. So the second one has become a kind of time stamp.”
Lady A’s Christmas album takes notes from scripture
The band says that as their family grew, so did the meaning of the season. One tradition Scott passed down to her girls is reading scriptures such as Luke 2, which describes the birth of Jesus. Those same verses guided Lady A to “Why We Sing Noel”, a track from fellow Opry member Ricky Skaggs’ album.
“It was our first writing appointment together where we opened up about the Bible,” says Scott. “And I was pregnant with my daughter when we wrote it. It brought a whole new depth of meaning to me when writing about Mary carrying the Savior, that I was carrying my child.”
Kelly screams: “I came into the room like, ‘What does Noel mean again?’ And we started talking about its true meaning. We’ve always been a band that likes to express our spiritual side. This was a way to do that, to tell the story again in my own way.”
The second collaboration includes Chris Tomlin on “Silent Night”, on which Scott reads a scripture snippet of Luke 2 in the middle of the song to close the album.
Lady A will bring her families on a Christmas tour
Their families will also join them when the band hits the road for tour in December.
Haywood said the band could “call them up on stage and sing or do something in the show.” But they plan to stay home on Christmas Eve to continue some beloved traditions. Haywood says he reads scriptures and then connects with his wife’s Texas roots over a Tex-Mex dinner.
“We always wear pajamas on Christmas Eve,” Scott explains.
Meanwhile, Kelly insists on a less sacred tradition. “I show ‘A Christmas Story’ to my kid and wife,” he says. “They’re not thrilled, but I think it’s the nostalgia of it. I’ve even asked Hillary to see it first.”
“Of course, he made me watch it,” she says, laughing.
Lady A’s live Christmas show is a family affair
As “This Winter’s Night Tour” comes to a close, the live show will balance big, joyous moments with intimate singing and storytelling.
“I want this to be a show that everyone, from grandma to the youngest child, can experience together,” says Kelly. “Some big, fun moments and some very special, no clothes.”
Scott says, “And let it be as chaotic as it is when we have nine kids between us.” “It’s kind of an issue: family, faith and a little bit of joyful chaos.”
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