Emerging country artist Breland is teaming up with Mickey Guyton.
Following the massive success of his platinum debut single “My Truck”, the 25-year-old just dropped a new rendition of his autobiographical track “Cross Country” featuring the Grammy and ACM-nominated Guyton.
Speaking with ET Canada’s Roz Weston about landing Guyton on the song, he says, “I wanted Mickey on this song from when I first had it.”
“It just so happens she ended up getting nominated for a Grammy and the timing of it all was pretty serendipitous,” he adds.
Breland also revealed he wanted to put out the version with Guyton as the original, but she was eight months pregnant at the time and filming a music video would have been quite challenging.
“I knew I wanted her to be a part of this song,” he says. “And I just think the more stories we tell from unique perspectives and different types of people, the more diverse and inviting the genre will be as a whole.”
Merging elements of country, hip-hop and R&B, the new song sees Breland reflecting on his eventful journey from New Jersey, to Atlanta, to Hollywood, to his current home in Nashville.
“I won’t stop running / Till I find where I belong / I’m going cross country / K now they might judge me / I ain’t gotta prove them wrong,” he sings in the chorus.
RELATED: Breland Goes Deep With New Track ‘Cross Country’
Breland hopes the song will open a bigger conversation about the cultural divide in the country and within the genre.
“It’s the name of the song, but it’s also a bigger movement,” he explains. “It’s the intersection of country and other genres… it brings new perspectives and brings new audiences in. When you have someone who’s a fan of hip-hop coming to a Breland show and someone who is traditionally a country fan, those two different type of people find common ground in that moment… it kind of kickstarts a conversation.”
He adds: “I think ‘Cross Country’ is a really cool way of bridging that cultural divide that we’ve been seeing in America and across the world.”
On the current state of Black representation in country music, Breland feels there is a conversation and movement happening but “there’s still a lot of ceilings to be broken.”
The singer is gearing up to perform the national anthem ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, while Guyton is preparing to co-host the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 18 alongside Keith Urban.
