Billy Currington photo by Danny Clinch, courtesy of UMG Nashville.
March 19, 2009 — Billy Currington had lots of soulful, R&B swagger in his recent No. 1 hit "Don't." His new single, "People Are Crazy," has a traditional country sound and a quirky lyric, and even Billy recognizes the two songs might be stylistically polar opposites.
They also pretty much sum up his wide-ranging musical tastes.
"It's like those two songs don't belong on the same album," Billy told The Rochester Democrat And Chronicle. "But I thought they were both great songs. That's why I recorded them."
The songs' diversity is part of the reason he titled his current album Little Bit Of Everything. It also defines his musical education. He's an admitted fan of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, but country isn't the only thing he listened to growing up in Georgia.
"I also found, on the radio, stuff like Luther Vandross and Patti LaBelle,"20 he said. "Theirs became some of my favorite songs to sing."
Mixing those two genres, Billy's created a musical niche all his own within country, and it's definitely gotten him attention — both with fans and inside the industry.
"He's one of the best male singers in town without a question," says Jim Beavers, who co-wrote "Don't" with new artist Jonathan Singleton. "The track they cut on it, a lot of times as songwriters, you give birth to songs and you demo 'em and you hear 'em one way, then you hear the cut and you're disappointed. This was as far from that as I've ever been."
"I knew it was a hit," he adds, "when I heard Billy sing it."
Billy appears on this week's edition of Headline Country. It premieres at 9 p.m. ET Thursday on GAC. Host Storme Warren also has news on Taylor Swift, Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert and Sugarland.
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