American Honey

"American Honey" is a song written by Cary Barlowe, Hillary Lindsey and Shane Stevens, and recorded by American country music group Lady Antebellum. It was released on January 11, 2010, as the second single from their second album Need You Now. The group's fifth single overall, it debuted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts dated for January 2, 2010, and it features lead vocals from Scott. Content The song's female narrator, lead singer Hillary Scott, states a desire to escape her adult lifestyle and return to her childhood, which is described in the lyrics as "American honey." It is in D-flat major, with an approximate tempo of 84 beats per minute. The guitars use DADGAD or Celtic tuning decreased by a semitone, and the chords are in a pattern of D  - B m7 - G  - E m - D  on the verses, and G  - D  - B m7 - A  three times on the chorus. Critical reception The song received mainly negative reviews. Matt Bjorke of Roughstock stated that "after one listen [he doesn't] see how this single can fail," but criticized the production by saying that he thought the drum machine was too loud. Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe gave the song a D rating, saying that the "song isn't sung well" and "certainly not interesting enough to warrant suffering through the painful mediocrity of the lead vocal." Engine 145 reviewer Blake Boldt gave it a thumbs-down, referring to the lyric as "a lazy depiction of a chaste young lass chasing after a fuzzy memory" and calling Scott's vocal "sad and pensive and the slightest bit off-pitch against a distracting drumbeat." Music video The video was directed by Trey Fanjoy and was filmed at Disney's Golden Oak Ranch.