Lady A is postponing their “Request Line Tour” in solidarity with band member Charles Kelly’s sobriety journey.
“We are a band, but more importantly…we are family,” the country music trio wrote in a joint statement on social media Thursday.
“We are proud to say that Charles has started his journey to peace. So, Lady A will take the time to come together with the support of our family and team of professionals to become the healthiest, strongest and most creative band we can be right now.”
The “Need You Now” group, which includes Kelly, Hilary Scott and Dave Heywood, admitted it was “early” on the road to recovery, but was determined to “do the best we can to keep us together for many more years.” .”
“This update is coming in real time, but in the coming days, your point of purchase will be exposed to the new ticket information,” the trio noted. “We look forward to making 2023 our best year yet!”
The announcement came just days before the band was due to begin their tour.
According to TasteofCountry.com, Lady A — formerly known as Lady Antebellum — was set to kick off her 2022 shows with a two-night run at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on August 13 and 14.
The Request Line tour was scheduled to run through October and hit Atlanta, Dallas, New York, Boston, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale and several other cities.
Kelly, 40, has yet to postpone the tour himself, but hinted at his drinking problems two days ago.
He posted a promotional image of Lady A’s new single, “Told You I Could Drink” on Instagram and captioned it, “Bloody for this @breland @ladya #toldyouicouldrink. Ironic since I quit drinking haha.”
It’s unclear if Kelly fell off the wagon after the photo was posted.
In November 2019, the singer-songwriter opened up about how his history of substance abuse influenced a song called “Be Patient With My Love” from Lady A’s then-album “Oceans.”
“I’ve never been ready to talk about things like that before,” Kelly previously told PopCulture.com. “I would have thought, ‘No, no one needs to know about our struggles.’ It’s just a natural thing, I think we can all go through that, and it feels very therapeutic to actually talk about it and put it in a song.”