Hello, and welcome to another Hodag Country Festival Flashback! As we count down to the 2023 Hodag Country Festival in Rhinelander, let’s look back at the artists who performed at past festivals.
Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley, and Dave Haywood finally made it to the Hodag Country Festival in 2019, over a decade after the trio then called Lady Antebellum made a splash in Country Music with their self-titled album. Lady Antebellum included their first number-one hit, I Run To You. Ten more number-ones would follow, including What If I Never Get Over You, from the album Ocean, which would be released in late 2019. The group was promoting that album during their 2019 tour, which included a stop at the Hodag Country Festival.
Mike Michalak, host of The Morning Hodag in WHDG interviewed Hillary Scott prior to their performance.
About a year later the group shortened its name to Lady A in reaction to the heightened national conversation about racism, and the slavery-related meaning of the word antebellum. However, singer Anita White, who also goes by the name Lady A filed a lawsuit. That legal matter was settled out of court in February of 2022.