Lady A: Agreement announcement with country band premature

A blues singer who has long used the stage name Lady A says an agreement announced between herself and the country-music trio Lady A, formerly Lady Antebellum, was premature and a breach of good faith.

"I received a draft agreement from the Antebellum camp," Seattle-based blues/gospel singer Anita White, 61, told Newsday in an email Tuesday. "I'm not happy about [it] yet again after talking in good faith. … Their camp is trying to erase me and I'll have more to say tomorrow. Trust is important and I no longer trust them."

A representative for the band Lady A did not immediately respond to a Newsday request for comment.

Lady Antebellum had announced on Thursday that it was changing its name to Lady A to avoid the old word's Confederate connotations. On Monday, the trio said it had reached an undisclosed agreement with White, who had castigated the band for appropriating her decades-old stage name without notice.

"Today, we connected privately with the artist Lady A," the band wrote on social media Monday, alongside a videoconferencing four-way split screen with themselves, the singer and two other individuals presumed to be management representatives. "Transparent, honest, and authentic conversations were had," the band continued. "We are excited to share we are moving forward with positive solutions and common ground. The hurt is turning into hope. More to come."

White posted the same message on her Instagram page, and has not commented further on social media.

No details of the arrangement were given, but trademark law recognizes "trademark coexistence," wherein parties may share a trademark under specific conditions, such as regional use.

White, a Seattle Public Utilities worker, performs throughout the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere, hosts two internet-radio shows, produces three annual multiartist concerts, and has released at least one album, with another, "Lady A: Live in New Orleans," set to drop July 18.

A day after the band made its announcement, she had written on Instagram, "How can you say Black Lives Matter and put your knee on the neck of another Black artist? I'm not mad..I am however not giving up my name, my brand I worked hard for," followed by the hashtags "#GodWillFightMyBattle #TheRealLadyA #LadyABluesSoulFunkGospelArtist #TheTruthIsLoud" — that last is the name of a two-part race-relations virtual panel she is co-producing, set for June 27 and June 30, titled "The Truth Is Loud — White Ally Roles in 2020 & Beyond."

She told The Seattle Times in a statement that she and the band had spoken on Monday afternoon and had a "great meeting," adding, "We are in the process of trying to work things out on a positive note for both parties."

A rapper named Lady A has some sparse credits at AllMusic.com, most recently in 2015 as the remix engineer on the 2015 album "Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)" by Rich Homie Quan.