With the announcement that Justin Timberlake will be joining Chris Stapleton at the CMA’s on Wednesday night, it got me thinking about what the best country crossover’s were. The first that came to mind was really one of the first in recent times from Tim McGraw doing some background for Nelly with “Over and Over”:
This one never really crossed over to the country charts, but it is one that people point to as the beginning of the country/rap fusion.
Nelly seems to have an affinity for country collabs because almost 10 years later he teamed up with Florida Georgia Line for “Cruise (Remix)”
To be honest, I never really cared for the song, but Nelly being added to it made a lot of sense to me. It seemed more natural with the rapper inserted in and played on pop stations and a few country stations.
Rap isn’t the only genre that’s trickled over into country music, there’s also been a bit of an influx of rock into country over the years. Of course the Eagles are rock legends, but they’ve always had a country soul to them. Zac Brown Band is one of the top country bands today and have had an album produced by modern rock deity Dave Grohl (Nirvana and the Foo Fighters.) There new album “Jekyll & Hyde” has a song that features Chris Cornell from the rock band Audioslave. It’s definitely more on the rock side:
Hunter Hayes has also dipped his toe into collabs. Back in 2011 he and pop star Jason Mraz “Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me.” The song perfectly blends the two stars voices and styles:
I look forward to seeing what JT and Stapleton have in store for the CMA’s (and beyond?) Timberlake may have started out in a boy ban, but over the last 15 years he’s really established himself as a true artist capable of doing pretty much anything he sets his mind to. He’s very talented and has a true respect for country music. This is probably the collaboration I’ll hold in high esteem. What about you? Any great mashups that I missed out on? Do you have a favorite star that has teamed up with someone from another genre? Let me know! – Drake