Dustin Lynch | Superstar Power Hour

Country music is having a global moment and Tullahoma, Tennessee native, Dustin Lynch, could not be more proud. During his time as a guest on Audacy’s Superstar Power Hour with Katie Neal, Lynch opened up about the current state of Country music and the excitement he feels seeing others embrace the genre he’s known his entire life. “With the success of Morgan [Wallen] worldwide and Luke Combs and then the album that HARDY made [Quit!] that was rippin’ and rockin’, it's really opened to a lot of these, ‘I hate Country. I'm a Rock fan. I'm a Rap fan’ people,” Dustin shared of the current expansion of the Country music fanbase. “It’s opened the genre up… some guys and girls that probably had always written Country music off as a whole and dip their toe in it. They go, ‘Oh, maybe I like this.’” While there’s clearly been a major shift in the acceptance from once-skeptical fans, there’s also been a shift on the artist side as mainstream artists are also taking a dip in the Country pool. With unexpected Country albums from Beyoncè and Post Malone this year, Country music is gaining appeal to more artists and Lynch says he’s witnessed the impact first hand with pal and Alternative Rocker/Rapper, Machine Gun Kelly. Dustin shared he and MGK have been friends for a few years as they’re both part of an annual group trip to Lake Powell, and the the change in his attitude surrounding Country from their first meeting has been monumental. “The first year that I was on that trip, you couldn't get Kells [MGK] to even give Country the time of day,” Dustin said. “Really, he hated it… Since then, it's evolved. I think the genre has, you know, probably in a way made him respect and recognize.” It’s been quite the evolution for MGK as he went from not giving Country music the time of day to now having his own Country collaboration with one of modern-day Country’s biggest artists, Jelly Roll. In July, the pair gave one of the genre’s most iconic songs the crossover treatment with the release of “Lonely Road,” which samples John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” from 1971. Mainstream artists like Machine Gun Kelly aren’t the only ones having fun with the shake-up — longtime Country artists like Dustin himself are also enjoying pushing the boundaries of what Country music has always been and that’s exactly what Lynch did with his most-recent single, “Chevrolet,” featuring Jelly Roll. “I was scared to death of it.” Lynch admitted when he first heard the song which interpolates Dobie Gray's "Drift Away" from 1973. “Interpolation of a classic song that’s been around forever — it's like, ‘Okay, can we do this again?’” <p data-uri="www.audacy.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cm10wfolq00143b7f7nz2dn2f@published" data-edi ...