So even from that perspective, going into “Over and Over,” I had a love and respect for country music. Louis boys, and it was amazing, all the love we were getting. When you’re just getting on, you don’t give a damn who’s out in the audience - you’re just happy that somebody is listening to you! We were looking around like, “This is interesting,” because I’m standing in the middle of a bull ring or some s–t! We were St. We were getting booked at fairs, at rodeos, and functions within the country world.
But the only reason I even thought that I could have success with “Over and Over” was because, even when we dropped Country Grammar, we were getting so much love from this community. The idea of the project has been ever since “Over and Over” - so since 2004, 2005, after seeing that success. When did you start thinking about and collecting these songs? You’ve been talking about releasing a project like this for a minute. (This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.) 1.Īhead of the album release, Nelly discussed the inspiration of Heartland, amplifying nonwhite country artists and where he expects to go from here. The release precedes an episode of CMT’s Crossroads billed to “Nelly & Friends,” premiering on Sept. as a “country-inspired” project, and he’s invited some guests along for the detour - including a reunion with Florida Georgia Line on “Lil Bit,” and further collaborations with Blanco Brown, Breland, Kane Brown and Darius Rucker across the nine-track LP. Nelly describes his first album since 2013’s M.O. 27) on RECORDS/Columbia, that longstanding interest takes center stage. On Heartland, Nelly’s new album out Friday (Aug.