5 on the Soul Chart in 1965 on Billboard. IвЂ™ve done contemporary, country, the blues, soul. What do you say when someone asks if youвЂ™re a country singer or soul singer? There was a friend of mine, my assistantвЂ™s son, he told me all about Kacey and said, вЂњYou need to listen to her songs.вЂќ I love her stuff. She knows her audience, and sheвЂ™s very hot right now. It seems like sheвЂ™s got her head straight. Has she been on your radar for some time? You cut вЂњNo Getting Over MeвЂќ with Kacey Musgraves on this record. I said, вЂњHell, thatвЂ™s gonna be good, and it was.вЂќ Of course, I took it one time to Joe Bellati and he said, вЂњI love the way you sing on it, but I donвЂ™t do a niche record.вЂќ I thought, вЂњWell, are we dead on that song?вЂќ Then Billy Gibbons said he wanted to sing it with me. He said, вЂњThe writers say this might be a good song for you, вЂSouthern Boys And Detroit Wheels.вЂ™вЂќ They ought to play it at every Nascar event. How did you hook up with Billy Gibbons? Do you two have a history together? Some of the choices were more surprising than others. He said, вЂњRonnie, IвЂ™m not used to being out here in the fast lane.вЂќ I said, вЂњYou are the fast lane. I sang вЂњMisery Loves CompanyвЂќ with him, a song written by Jerry Reed and IвЂ™d recorded it years ago, and I wanted to cut that with Leon. The biggest surprise on there was Leon Russell.

We got in touch with him, he came in the studio and he was really on. I canвЂ™t do that, so my producer and I were talking about wanting to do this with duets of songs that had been big for me. So youвЂ™d come out every so often with a Greatest Hits package.

I knew I loved Little Big Town, so I called them and they said, вЂњYeah, weвЂ™d love to do it.вЂќ Most of the time when I was at RCA, they wanted a Greatest Hits Vol. Well, you kind of pick the ones you like the best out of all these new country stars. How did you decide on which artists to collaborate with for Duets ? We chatted with the North Carolina native about the new album, his gift for interpreting songs, and how Music CityвЂ™s changed since his heyday. Country music luminary Ronnie Milsap returned January 18 with Duets, an album of old classics and new tunes the piano man cut with some of NashvilleвЂ™s brightest stars, among them Kacey Musgraves, George Strait, and Luke Bryan.

Ronnie milsap songs on guitar