Superstar Nashville collaborations are often hashed out in long songwriting sessions, behind boardroom doors, or even at an afterparty of an awards show. However, things were a bit different for Lady A, Thomas Rhett, Darius Rucker, and Carly Pearce. The sextet is behind Lady A’s latest collaborative single, “Friends Don’t Let Friends,” and its creation took on a more relaxed plan of action.
At iHeartCountry’s album release party for Lady A, the trio’s Charles Kelley broke down the process behind the new single.
“It was so funny, Thomas Rhett and I, and Dave and Hillary, we kind of all have these vacation homes in Florida. There’s so much songwriting going on down there. TR and I were sitting there, our kids were running around playing, and we each had a beer in our hand, and, I don’t know if TR said he wanted to write this, or threw up his beer, and said ’Friends don’t let friends drink alone.’ And we were like: ’Write that.’”
From there, within 30 minutes, the start of more lyrics, including “Got a buddy living out in Jacksonville,” were born. Kelley continues, “I was out on the golf course with Darius Rucker and I played it for him and I was like, ’Wouldn’t it be cool if you were on this?’ And then we said the same to Carly in the car like, ’Wouldn’t this be cool if you were on this?’”
The track is from What A Song Can Do, the trio’s eighth studio album, just released on Oct. 22. It is the follow-up to their What A Song Can Do EP released four months ago.