Charlie Worsham‘s star-studded Compadres album is out. The five-track project features collaborations with Lainey Wilson, Kip Moore, Luke Combs, Elle King, and Dierks Bentley, giving Worsham a chance to collaborate with some of his closest friends, who happen to also inspire him musically.
“The gifts of 2020 were for me that with touring gone, something I’d always done as a moonlight gig is play on sessions,” Worsham tells Everything Nash. “Sessions could still happen. So all of a sudden, I was playing on more and more sessions, and a lot of those were produced by Jaren Johnston, who I was already a songwriting buddy with, and just loved.”
Worsham was driving to a session, at the height of the COVID pandemic, when he had an epiphany, one that became the unlikely impetus for Compadres.
“13-year-old me just wanted to play music all day long with my friends, and the better the music, the better the day,” the Mississippi native says. “And I was thinking, ‘Man, I’m looking forward to the day. The only thing that could make it better is if this was my record.’ And I think that’s when, even though I didn’t realize that, in that moment was when the seed for Compadres was planted. I realized that I was playing on my favorite records in country music that were coming out: Luke Combs and Dierks Bentley and Lainey Wilson.
“And with Luke and Lainey in particular, I didn’t know that they were fans of mine back in the day when I was first putting music out, with my debut record, Rubberband,” he continues. “And then getting to know them, whether it’s in the writing room, or on a break between sessions, that that record had an impact on them back in at that time … I got history with these folks, and I realized at some point that I’ve been a part of their story. Why don’t I invite them to be a part of mine?”
Worsham’s debut Rubberband album was released in 2013. In the years since, he has released plenty of his own music, while also playing on sessions, and touring in Bentley’s band. His varied journey in country music becomes full-circle with the release of Compadres.
“I think a lot these days about, if I could go back in time and tell my younger self something, one of the biggest things I would go back and say is, ‘Man, this first draft you have of your dreams, it’s great. But let me play this song called ‘Things I Can’t Control.’… That’s kind of where I am now,” Worsham acknowledges. “Learning not to worry about those things I can’t control, and telling younger me, ‘Dude, there’s something even better than what you can imagine coming to you, and that’s the respect and admiration of your peers, and the people that you respect and admire the most.’
“And I would tell my younger self to check in with an even younger version of me, which is 13-year-old me, who all I wanted to do when I set out on this odyssey of music was play music, as much music as I could with the best players I could,” he adds..
See a track list for Compadres below. Find the album, and all of Worsham’s music and upcoming shows at CharlieWorsham.com.
Compadres Track List:
1. Handful of Dust feat. Lainey Wilson (Tony Arata)
2. Kiss Like You Dance feat. Kip Moore (Jon Nite, Andrew DeRoberts, Andy Albert)
3. How I Learned To Pray feat. Luke Combs (Charlie Worsham, Jeremy Spillman, Ryan Tyndell)
4. Creekwater Clear feat. Elle King (Charlie Worsham, Brent Cobb, Jaren Johnston)
5. Things I Can’t Control feat. Dierks Bentley (Ross Copperman, David Lee Murphy, Ashley Gorley)
