Back in 2012, Ne-Yo teamed up with Tim McGraw for the country/R&B collaboration “She Is.” Now, the R&B singer is returning to Nashville to work on his own country-influenced project. But he says before arriving in Music City, he was cautioned by some who’ve been there about what to expect.
“It came with all these warnings and all this fear that people were trying to put on me. ‘They’re not real accepting of anything outside of what they do over there, in Nashville. It’s cliquey, and if you don’t know this person or haven’t done this, they’re not gonna…,’” Ne-Yo tells Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast. “I hate to admit it, but I came out here kind of expecting something like that.”
What he has found so far, however, has been decidedly not that. “My experience has been the exact opposite. Every single person I’ve worked with has embraced what I’m trying to do with open arms. Everybody’s interested and intrigued about how I’m going to take what I do and what country music is and fuse them together,” Ne-Yo says.
According to the “Sexy Love” singer, he’s even navigated the notoriously rowdy strip of honky-tonks and bars on Lower Broadway without incident. “I’ve yet to meet the drunk racist guy. He hasn’t showed up yet,” Ne-Yo says. “I’m waiting to meet whoever the hell it is that’s going to be the bane of my Nashville existence. This person has not reared their head yet.”
Ne-Yo, who has been collaborating with Nashville heavyweights like Luke Laird, Rhett Akins, and Charles Kelley of Lady A, has been slowly releasing some of the music he’s recorded in Nashville. “Simple Things” dropped last year, and he recently issued the buoyant “Up Out & Gone.” Watch Ne-Yo’s full interview on Nashville Now below.
Currently based in Atlanta, Ne-Yo broke out in 2006 with his debut album In My Own Words, which featured the quadruple-platinum certified hit “So Sick.” At this month’s Coachella, Justin Bieber made the song a key part of his set.
Download and subscribe to Rolling Stone’s weekly country-music podcast, Nashville Now, hosted by senior music editor Joseph Hudak, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you get your podcasts). New episodes drop every Wednesday and feature interviews with artists and personalities like Vince Gill, Lainey Wilson, Hardy, Charley Crockett, Kings of Leon, the Black Crowes, Carly Pearce, Brandon Lake, Breland, Bryan Andrews, Noeline Hofmann, Devon Gilfillian, Gavin Adcock, Amanda Shires, Shooter Jennings, Margo Price, Ink, Rival Sons’ Jay Buchanan, Halestorm, Dusty Slay, Lukas Nelson, Ashley Monroe, Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor, Clever, and authors Marissa R. Moss, Josh Crutchmer, Mark Gray, and Jonathan Bernstein.
