When it comes to contemporary country music, much of it has been modernized to the point that it appeals to young fans across various genres. Several artists have taken it up a notch by collaborating with mainstream pop, rap, or R&B acts. Either way, the hits often end up performing well on radio stations for both genres, and can even end up winning major awards along the way. From Keith Urban and Pink to Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles, we’ve rounded up seven favorites from recent years that you may have forgotten about.
Country fans have long known Keith Urban isn’t afraid of having a pop sound in his music, so this 2020 collaboration about over-boozing it up with Pink was unsurprisingly an instant favorite.
Hip-hop and country together, say what? Rapper Nelly has admitted that the idea for this 2004 collaboration was a hard sell to his record label, but the two ultimately proved that merging the two genres could be a success.
This song was originally a solo track on Beyoncé’s highly acclaimed Lemonade album, and fans and critics alike immediately recognized it as a country song. A remix featuring fellow Texas-bred trio The Chicks was released in November 2016, after the artists joined forces to perform it together at the 2016 CMA Awards, which won “Collaboration of the Year.”
Once fans confirmed their suspicions that fellow The Voice judges Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani were really an item, this 2019 duet seemed inevitable. It was actually their third collaboration to date, but arguably their best one yet.
