Lady Antebellum’s ‘What I’m Leaving For’ Takes On New Meaning During COVID-19

Lady Antebellum's “What I’m Leaving For,” is a song the band related to immediately when they first heard it; as touring musicians, they understand how hard it is to say goodbye to family and friends and leave for a few weeks or months.

Since its release, the song has been embraced by military families, other parents who travel for work, as well as parents who go to work every day and can’t stay home with their kids. And since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Lady A’s song has taken on even greater significance for the men and women who are working in healthcare on the frontlines of fighting the virus.

Dave Haywood told us, “Now living in this pandemic, we’ve really dedicated this song to the doctors and nurses and all the health care workers that are out there on the frontlines really risking it, walking into these hospitals, walking into the E.R., and really taking a huge risk to protect us … Getting up, looking at your beautiful family and then walking out that door. That’s what they’re leaving for.”

The band is self-isolating with their families, and in some cases, trying to home school their older children. Dave adds, “We’ve got a five-year-old and a two-year-old. So, the worksheets and the homework are not too terribly long. I mean, we do like 30 minutes of stuff and then everyone’s hit their quota. But we’re doing the best we can.”

Like many parents, Haywood is grateful for Disney movies during this time. He says, “It ends up being a lot of Frozen 2 and Trolls movies … we have watched every movie that Disney has ever put out, I can tell you that.”

Lady Antebellum will be our first "Superstar Mini Concert" today (4/21) at 4 pm (and it will be rebroadcast at 8 pm, all times local).