Joseph Hudak
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R&B singer Ne-Yo has been in Nashville working on a country-influenced project. Tomas Herold* 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.”
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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.
