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90s country star Rhett Akins is making a bit of a comeback, and he's enlisting some high-powered help. Talking to "Country Now," Akins said, “It’s been over 20 years since I released anything officially, like record wise." He has, of course, segued from performing to songwriting, as part of the Peach Pickers songwriting collective (with Ben Hayslip and Dallas Davidson). The trio of writers is responsible for such huge hits as Blake Shelton’s "All About Tonight" and "Honey Bee," Luke Bryan’s "I Don’t Want This Night to End," "Rain Is a Good Thing," and Joe Nichols’ "Gimme That Girl." As Akins prepares to release new music, he's getting help from a superstar talent: his son Thomas Rhett. “Well, we’ve been working on songs since he’s five years old, but we’ve been working on some songs in the studio,” he shared. “When we can, he’s busy all the time going on tour, going to Africa for charity and stuff like that...But yeah, we’ve written some songs this year.” No word on when the fruits of their labor will be available to the public.
Zach Top's star has risen to the point that he can probably send out a collab invite to just about anyone and not get turned down. So who's on his radar? In a recent interview with the UK's "Absolute Radio Country," Top said he doesn't think he's written a song worthy of a superstar collaboration, but he has someone in mind when he does. Looking back on the history of duets and collabs, Zach said “I feel like I need to find the right song or write the right song. You know, I’m a big fan of all the old duets people would do. They’d do whole duet albums and stuff back in the day. George (Jones) and Tammy (Wynette), Conway (Twitty) and Loretta (Lynn), and Vince Gill-Patty Loveless [are] all great examples.” It's from that list that he picks his dream collab. “Patty Loveless...I love Patty; she’s awesome. I feel like we’d sing good together. I just need to find the right song and cut a little duet like that.”