Collin Raye‘s long-awaited album, SCARS, is finally out. The ambitious 14-track record includes not only a duet with Miranda Lambert, on the title track, but one with Vince Gill as well. The two stunning vocalists join their talents on “Rodeo Girl,” a song Collin wrote with Pat McLaughlin and his producer, David Ferguson, and remains one of the highlights on his latest record.
“That was kind of a full-circle moment for me because the first time I met Vince Gill was in 1990,” Collin tells Everything Nash. “And he came in to sing on my first single, ‘All I Can Be (Is a Sweet Memory).’ A lot of people think ‘Love, Me’ was my first one, but that was actually my second single. The first single to radio was ‘All I Can Be (Is a Sweet Memory).’ It was written by Harlan Howard, and Vince sang the demo to that, so I learned that song from listening to Vince’s demo. We cut it, and my producer, John Hobbs was good friends with Vince. He says, ‘You know, I bet Vince would come in and sing on this.'”
Collin never imagined that Vince, who already had several hit singles to his own credit, would agree to sing on a new artist’s debut record.
“We’re at the Bennett House in Franklin, [Tennessee], cutting the album,” Collin recalls. “I’m a nobody; I didn’t even know who I was. I had no idea this was going to be my first release. He calls him, and about 45 minutes later, Vince shows up, comes in, lays that vocal down. It was just wonderful. And that got me started, and it really helped break that song to radio because he was on it. So here we are, going on 30 years later, and he comes in here, and he’s singing with me again.
“Vince is so special,” he continues. “I don’t think there’s any singer in history that has lent their voice to more records than he has. He always says yes. And his answer usually is, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’ A lot of times someone says, ‘Well, let me hear the song first.’ He just says yes. And he comes down and does it. It was a real cool moment to circle back around to where he is.”
Both Collin and Vince have had plenty of success in the three decades since Collin’s first single came out, but in many ways, the 60-year-old says both of them are still very much the same person that they were in the beginning of his career.
“Almost 30 years later, we both look a lot different than we used to,” Collin says with a laugh. “But we sound the same. That was the amazing part of it because we’re both tenors. I always felt like we both blended together really, really well. He’s one of the few me and on the face of the earth that can sing above me.”
Purchase SCARS at CollinRaye.com.
