Ne-Yo Opens Up About His Country Debut

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Rolling Stone

Music, Music Interviews, Music Commentary

4.0 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2026

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Back in 2012, Ne-Yo teamed up with Tim McGraw for the country/R&B collaboration “She Is.” Now, Ne-Yo is returning to Nashville to work on his own country-influenced project. We welcome the singer to the Nashville Now cabin to talk about going country, his love of Reba McEntire, and the time Tim and Faith Hill had him over for fried chicken. He also opens up about his personal experience so far in Music City and on the rowdy blocks of Lower Broadway, and how it may be different than what some fans might expect. It’s a sit-down with an R&B great, only on Nashville Now. Country is Here… Nashville is Now. Check out our Hear Now playlist on Spotify, updated weekly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:25.7	Welcome to Rolling Stones Nashville now.
0:32.3	It is a new episode this week.
0:34.2	I'm your host, Senior Music Editor, Joseph Hudak.
0:37.1	It's a new episode every week.
0:38.4	We drop every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcast, here in the National Now Cabin.
0:43.6	This week, we have Neo.
0:46.4	Yeah, Neo, you know who he is.
0:48.3	He put out his debut album, in my own words, 20 years ago, that hits on it like sexy love and so sick. So sick
0:56.7	was recently certified quadruple platinum. Massive song, massive song. And now, Neo is putting
1:04.2	out a country record. He's been here in Nashville, writing and recording. Some of you country fans know
1:09.6	back in 2012, he teamed up with Tim
1:11.4	McGraw for a song called She Is. So Neo's really been kind of at the forefront of the pop
1:18.5	R&B crossover in country music. Tim McGraw back in the day, 2012, man. It feels like just
1:25.5	yesterday. And so now Neo is going all in and he's
1:29.5	doing an album of, I think what he really said was country inspired music. We have a tremendous
1:35.4	conversation with him. He was so kind and forthcoming and want to just talk about all his
1:41.7	experiences here in Nashville, Tennessee.
1:45.3	So without further ado, let's just start it.
	...

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