♪ Stand on the bar ♪
♪ Stomp your feet ♪ - That's bad ass!
♪ Start clapping ♪
That's so bad ass.
[acoustic guitar music]
This is "Coal Miner's Daughter" from 2010
with Cheryl Crow and Loretta Lynn.
♪ Well, I was borned a coal miner's daughter ♪
This song is about the hardships of being
in a coal mining family.
I got the call from my manager
that Loretta was doing a duets record
and wanted me to sing with Cheryl Crow and Loretta,
and I was ecstatic, obviously, but also terrified,
because it's two heroes, and it's scary to
sort of be thrown in that environment.
And I love the fact that it was Cheryl,
who's this rock goddess,
and Loretta, who's a country queen, you know?
And you just mix the two,
and I just got to hang out for a while.
I'm like "I don't know what I'm doing here,
"but I'm glad to be here."
[laughs]
Loretta's just saying "Oh, honey, just sing wherever,"
which is no clarity at all, and I was still terrified,
but, I mean, I've sang along with that song so long,
and so many times, that I feel like it came natural.
It wasn't complicated.
I had chills the whole day.
It was one of those days I'll never forget.
It was really a point in my career,
and I think I cried seventy times,
I was just overwhelmed.
♪ Was you, ♪
♪ Money was gas, ♪
♪ Dreams were dust, ♪
♪ Love was fast ♪
♪ And we were us. ♪
This is "We Were Us", from 2013, with Keith Urban.
This song is reminiscing about the good old days.
Keith intimidates me, I mean, he's a pal,
and we've sang together so many times
and went on tour together,
but I respect him so much that I am intimidated by him
because he's a different level.
He's just good at everything, you know what I mean?
So, you pay attention when he says something.
Keith took me on my very first tour in 2005,
my first big tour.
I'd just been playing honky-tonks in Texas,
and he was always so kind and so supportive of new artists,
and so, of course, I considered him a friend,
and I was like, "Any song he wants me to sing,
"I'll do it," but especially...
This is a great song.
Usually, you just go in and have a beer and sing.
Well, I do.
Recording with Keith, he was really intense about the tone,
and the actual notes to hit,
and to make sure that we were in sync,
and he was pretty tough on me, to be honest.
He was really knew what he wanted,
and he wanted my best performance,
and, so, I spent a lot of time.
We probably spent six or seven hours
recording the song, and making sure
everything was right.
Keith was trying to get a real good blend
between the two of our tones and timbres.
♪ Back when a song was a song, ♪
♪ I could sing along ♪
♪ Without thinking about you every time it came on. ♪
When we cut this song, he was playing piano
to find notes in different places for ad libs.
He's famous for his ad libs, too.
If you listen to his records, you'll hear,
♪ "Well, I love you baby," ♪
That's his thing, so he was hard on me about the ad libs.
We had to get those right for sure,
but he was playing notes on the guitar and on the piano,
to make sure that we found the right pocket.
It was really cool, actually.
I learned a lot that day.
♪ Whoa, somethin' bad ♪
♪ Stand on the bar ♪
♪ Stomp your feet ♪
♪ Start clapping ♪ That's bad-ass.
♪ Got a real good feeling ♪ It's so bad-ass.
♪ Something bad about to happen ♪
This song is about two girls that are up to no good.
So, I emailed her, and asked her
if she'd want to sing on a song,
and I sent it to her,
and then I didn't hear from her for a couple days.
I was like "Well, she hates it."
[laughing]
I thought, "Oh, she's not,"
and then she wrote me back
with this really long, elaborate email
about how she thought it was a great idea,
and I'm a different kind of singer than Carrie.
I mean, she's kind of unstoppable.
There's no note that she can't hit.
That's part of the reason I wanted to sing with her.
I feel like, you surround yourself
with people better than you, then maybe you'll get better.
The song was on my record, so we rent a studio,
and Carrie came in, and again, I mean,
I'm such a fan of hers.
I respect her so much, and so when she came in,
all of us, my producer and everybody,
we were a little nervous,
because here comes this powerhouse singer, you know?
And we were in two separate booths,
but of course she walks in and opens her mouth
and nails it first take,
and we're like, "Okay, that's fine,"
then I have to spend two more hours doing my part.
[laughing]
But she's just a total pro.
One of the most epic voices
in country music history, I think.
We decided to go out to dinner,
and decide on a video, because I thought
that would be such an important part of a collaboration
with two female country singers.
We've got to do a video, obviously.
She emailed me a couple days later
with this entire treatment that was so elaborate.
I was like, "I can't believe this."
And Trey Fanjoy is a long time friend of mine,
trusted video director.
She's done every one of my videos,
and she had worked with Carrie, so her and Carrie
sort of honed in on this treatment.
I was like, "I'm just here
"for the make-up and the helicopters.
"Y'all go ahead."
I mean, it was incredible,
one of the most epic videos I've ever been a part of.
♪ You cost more than ♪
♪ He wanted to lose ♪
This song is about an engagement gone wrong.
Patty Loveless is a country music legend.
Gosh, now I sound cool.
I get to sing with all these legends on the center view.
I love this.
She and I did a show together in Switzerland,
and I was starstruck to talk to her,
but I went up and talked to her on our sound check night.
We had a couple nights off,
and we all went to rehearse,
and I just kind of told her what a fan I was,
and how much I loved her, and...
Well anyways, we hit it off,
and that night, we ended up,
all her whole band and my whole band,
in my hotel room with all of our instruments,
and just had this epic jam,
and I was literally requesting Patty Loveless songs
to Patty Loveless.
It was so surreal,
and we became really good friends after that.
I wrote the song "Dear Diamond".
I think it was 2010, and I was in a hotel room by myself,
and I wrote it on hotel paper,
and right then I knew, I was like,
"This is gonna be a special song for me, I think."
You kind of know with some songs.
They stand out right away,
and as it was kind of finishing, I just heard her on it,
'cause I think she's one of the only artists
that you actually feel every emotion she's singing.
Not necessarily just on sad songs,
even on her upbeat fun songs.
I just believe her.
So, I asked her to sing on it, and she said, "Yes,"
and Patty recorded her part in Georgia,
at her studio with her husband.
Man, I was so nervous,
because I knew she was singing it,
and I was waiting, like,
"I can't wait to get it back,"
and when I heard her voice on it,
I just burst out in tears,
I mean, 'cause it was so powerful,
and just sitting in a room with your guitar
in a hotel room, somewhere in California,
from that, to making it a record,
then to getting the little thought of,
"Maybe Patty Loveless will sing on this,"
to actually happening and hearing it.
It was pretty incredible.
♪ The secret I have ♪
♪ While he's holding me ♪
Whew, so good.
I can't.
I can't handle it.
It's so good.
Makes me teary-eyed.
See, I told you, I mean, I'm very affected by Patty.
I'm gonna text her when we get in our party bus.
[laughing]
♪ Baby, run ♪
♪ Cut a path across the blue sky ♪
This is "Run", with George Strait from 2019.
This song is about hoping your loved one
will get in a pick-up truck and come home to you.
I've had George Strait in my household
my entire life, basically.
I can't even describe what he's done for country music,
and the kind of artist that he is,
and being from Texas, we're extra proud of him,
because we claim him,
but, I don't know, I'm such a super fan of George Strait.
"Run" was always one of my favorites,
and I think it's just because I felt like home
when I hear that song, and more than that,
I felt like that, the emotion that that song gives me,
moving to Nashville, or moving to Oklahoma.
I lived there for a while.
Just being gone from our roots, and home.
When I'd hear "Run", I would think about
how I wanted to get in a Chevy pick-up and drive home.
George took me on my second tour.
I went from Keith to George Strait.
And I, again, was completely in awe
that I was even on tour with George Strait.
I was, I think, 22 or three at the time,
and I got to sing four songs,
and I just remember walking out in that arena.
It just felt so huge to me,
and watching him walk out on the stage,
people just couldn't sit down.
You just come out of your seat,
because it's like the king just walked in the room.
So getting from that journey
to singing this song with him several times now,
it never gets old.
I get teary-eyed and chills and butterflies in my stomach
thinking about it.
Anytime I get to sing with him,
I just kind of soak in every second of it that I can.
I'm seriously just in pure joy mode
when I'm singing with George.
I'm just damn glad to be there.
I truly am such a fan girl, and he knows it.
He won't think this is creepy,
'cause he's already very well aware.
[laughing]
♪ Baby, run ♪
♪ Run, baby, run ♪
I've done duets that were a little more stressful
because it was very directed, and very, I don't know.
Sometimes I left there going,
"Why'd you ask me to sing, then?"
You know what I mean?
'Cause, I just feel like if you ask Patty Loveless
to sing on something, you just take
whatever Patty gives you, cause it's gonna be great.
When I ask someone to sing,
I want them to come in and do what they do,
but all the duets we've discussed were that way for me.