Keith Urban (Blue Ain’t Your Color) OC: …of space. :50
“With this record, I think I was also trying to find songs and write songs to what I had done in the past, just that felt different for me. This song called ‘Blue Ain’t Your Color’ came along, and again, it was just one of those that I loved immediately. I loved the lyric. I loved the melody, the feel, and it’s basically a waltz, you know, like a one, two, three, two, two, three, a one, two, three, two, two, three. But I didn’t want it to feel like a waltz, you know? So, when we recorded the song at Starstruck Studios here in Nashville, we kept it a little more robotic sounding, so it wasn’t a straight band. It was a little more machinery, rhythmically, and I think it kept, hopefully for me at least, it kept it in a unique place to allow the story to have a lot of space.”

Brothers Osborne (duo) OC: …in country music. :56
TJ: “[For] most duos it’s built on singing. I mean, John’s an incredible guitar player and to not try to follow in anyone’s footsteps and just kind of do it our own way, it’s really built off of me singing and John playing the guitar. So, I think it is unique and fun and cool, and it kind of gives two kind of parallels that I think work really nicely together. It’s really fun in a live setting too.” JOHN: “It’s kind of an old-school rock approach, you know. In country music, you have two singers that sing a lot of harmonies and stuff together, and we do that as brothers – sing a lot together – but his voice in the band is his voice and my voice is guitar. We look back at a lot of old rock bands like Aerosmith to The Allman Brothers and guys like that, where it’s like a lead singer and the sideman guitar player. That’s the approach that we’re going for, and it seems to be really working for us. It’s kind of carving our path in country music.”

Dierks Bentley (Elle King) OC: …new place. :36
“Well, I love Elle King’s voice. I mean she has such a unique voice, and you never know if her voice is going to blend with your voice. I didn’t found out until I went down to the studio in Austin, and right away it was just a really natural sounding blend. Her voice just lifted up this song. The lyrics of this song are pretty strong and her voice on this particular song really takes the song to a whole other level. I really wanted to find a way for her not to just be background vocals. I wanted to find a way to really get her included in the song, so I gave her the second verse and made the song more of a conversation as opposed to just background vocals. And it really, it just took the song to a whole new place.”

Hillary Scott (leaving a mark) OC: …leaving a mark. 1:20
“I have always really tried to be an open book, you know? And I think everybody can see that. Over the years of being in the public eye, and if you’re a friend in my personal life, ya know outside of work. I think for me, a lot of this record is just about wanting to say something that is real, and authentic and wanting, I feel like I’ve always tried to be truly who I am to people. It doesn’t get more ‘me’ than these songs…and a lot of it is the me I’m trying to be. It’s not the me that I necessarily am right now. It’s the me that I hope to continue to grow into and, I think now as a mother to a beautiful little girl, you think a lot about what you’re gonna leave behind. Even though, I just had a birthday, and I’m not that old [LAUGHS]…but it’s just, like what you want to teach your children, what you want them to teach their friends, and their children, and with my family on it, I think that is an even more a part of the heart of this project. I mean, this isn’t just me leaving a legacy, this is my parents leaving a legacy. And in honor of the life that they’ve lived, and the loss that they’ve had, and the dreams that they’ve had come true, all of it. It’s about leaving a mark.”