Rock, country singers collaborating

As a self-admitted ’80s big hair band music fan, and obvious country music connessiour, imagine my surprise and delight when I heard the latest combination. Country and rock have been collaborating forever, where else do you think Luke Bryan got the inspiration for his skinny jeans? Add some zebra stripes and hair extensions and voila! Outside some singles and TV appearances, the one big thing they all had in common was seriously big hair.

Until now. On the heels of bad boys, um, make that older dudes, Motley Crue recently announcing their last tour ever, comes news of a country inspired Crüe tribute album with some major star power. Florida Georgia Line, Brantley Gilbert, Justin Moore, the Eli Young Band, Cassadee Pope and others will trade in their “twanging” for some “head banging!”

Some other joint ventures of note: Back in 1994, Garth Brooks appeared on a Kiss tribute album, recording a version of “Hard Luck Woman.” Garth and the band then teamed up to perform the song on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, sans the kabuki makeup. My all-time favorite ’80s band, Def Leppard, recorded a tune a few years back with Tim McGraw, “Nine Lives” and followed it up with an episode of CMT: Crossroads with Taylor Swift. Props to the girl for pulling off a rocker version of Lep’s iconic “Photograph.”

At the 2011 ACM Awards show, Carrie Underwood was a good girl gone bad with Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler on her “Undo It” and the band’s “Walk this Way.” Carrie then recorded “Can’t Stop Lovin’ You” on the group’s 2013 album, Another Dimension. “I sang it a little country and western,” Steven Tyler told RollingStone.com. “When it was done, it was discussed that I might have sang it a little too country. And all along we thought, should we get someone in? It was last minute. (Carrie) was in town doing something. I called her up and she said, ‘I’m leaving tomorrow.’ And I said, ‘Can you come over tonight?’ I called (Aerosmith guitarist) Joe (Perry) up and the rest is history. She just did it. It really does work.”

In September, “Red Rocker” Sammy Hagar released “Sammy Hagar and Friends,” with Ronnie Dunn and Toby Keith in the mix. “Some of my best friends are country guys, like Kenny Chesney and even Willie, who I’ve known for a long time. As I get older, you start appreciating the country boys, because rock stars in general can be really competitive and egotistic and self-centered,” Sammy told Country Weekly. “The country guys just aren’t like that.”

Can’t find a rock band who fits that bill better than Motley Crue. So, when Big Machine Records head Scott Borchetta announced last week he was making a country tribute album that’ll come out with the launch of the tour the Crue’s final tour, it brought out the inner “Dr. Feelgood” in this girl! “When you look at the song catalog, the songs are going to be the things that stand the test of time,” he said. “I’m going to match up some of my outlaw artists with some of these great songs and we’re going to go pretty wide.” “Home Sweet Home” indeed.

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