{"id":1306944,"date":"2019-03-26T13:00:12","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T19:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1804394"},"modified":"2019-03-26T13:00:12","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T19:00:12","slug":"cmt-crossroads-boyz-ii-men-talk-country-debut-with-brett-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/cmt-crossroads-boyz-ii-men-talk-country-debut-with-brett-young\/","title":{"rendered":"CMT Crossroads: Boyz II Men Talk Country Debut with Brett Young"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:ao:image:cmt.com:669698?width=1200&amp;height=675&amp;.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/tinglel\/\" title=\"Posts by Lauren Tingle\" rel=\"author\">Lauren Tingle<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">11m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>The struggle was real for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/artists\/brett-young\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Brett Young<\/a> in his attempt to narrow down his dream setlist for the latest <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/shows\/cmt-crossroads\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">CMT Crossroads<\/a><\/em> with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mtv.com\/artists\/boyz-ii-men\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Boyz II Men<\/a>\u2019s Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman. Young loves every song they\u2019ve ever recorded, and his first concert experience ever was a Montel Jordan show with Boyz II Men at Irvine, Calif.\u2019s Irvine Meadows in 1995.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been so informed as an artist by their music,\u201d Young told CMT\u2019s Cody Alan backstage with the group at their <em>CMT Crossroads<\/em> concert. \u201cWhen I went back to learn the songs we were going to do \u2026 I just put their albums on, and I thought, \u2018There\u2019s like 700 singles here.\u2019 They have never put out a bad record.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"http:\/\/media.mtvnservices.com\/embed\/mgid:arc:video:cmt.com:48673b4c-f51f-414c-a3e0-d5115dfca79c\">media.mtvnservices.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"> <\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Boyz II Men have been together since high school, and after 27 years of making hit music, they have become the best-selling R&amp;B act of all time. When artists have been together for that long, they form an unshakable bond that\u2019s evident in the music they make. But Young\u2019s smoky vocals fit right in with their tight harmonies as if he\u2019d been a member since Boyz II Men\u2019s inception. <em>CMT Crossroads<\/em> is the group\u2019s first country collaboration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBrett fell right in and wasn\u2019t afraid to do things that were at first might have been uncomfortable vocal wise,\u201d Stockman said.<\/p>\n<p>Both acts agreed that country and R&amp;B music share similar connections in their respective times in music. In the \u201890s, no genres were more popular than country music and R&amp;B. Boyz II Men dominated the charts with a series of hits including \u201cI\u2019ll Make Love to You\u201d and the Mariah Carey collaboration, \u201cOne Sweet Day.\u201d And R&amp;B continues to revitalize nearly every genre of modern music; especially today\u2019s country music. Young\u2019s heartfelt ballads could easily share the same playlist including Boyz II Men\u2019s biggest hits, and Thomas Rhett\u2019s flashiest songs could do the same with Bruno Mars\u2019 music.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe always talk about how country music and R&amp;B are parallel [genres],\u201d Nathan Morris said. \u201cIt\u2019s one of those things where you can tell a great story, and if you\u2019ve got a great voice behind it, you win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>CMT Crossroads<\/em> will feature new live arrangements of Boyz II Men songs, \u201cEnd of the Road,\u201d \u201cMotownphilly\u201d and \u201cWater Runs Dry\u201d among others, as well as Young\u2019s \u201cMercy\u201d and \u201cIn Case You Didn\u2019t Know.\u201d The hour-long concert special premieres Wednesday (March 27) at 10 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s more from CMT.com\u2019s backstage interview with Boyz II Men and Young:<\/p>\n<p><strong>CMT.com: Brett, how much has Boyz II Men influenced your sound?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Young: Their music was so present and prevalent in my life when I started writing songs \u2014 the soul and the unique way that you all sing together. Every once in a while, when you guys sing your solos, I can tell who\u2019s who, but when you\u2019re singing together, it\u2019s like who\u2019s doing what right now? It\u2019s incredible \u2026 It pushed me as a singer before I even knew it was doing that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>As the best-selling R&amp;B group of all time and after being together for nearly 30 years, how do you account for Boyz II Men\u2019s longevity?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wanya Morris: I think in music, definitely there were times where we thought we weren\u2019t going to do this much longer. But we thought about the music and the people who took our music into their lives, it actually felt like it would be doing a disservice to stop. And at the same time, we love each other, and we\u2019re brothers. Just like brothers, we go through things, and we argue. But the respect level of what we mean to each other and how we feel about each other is always there. There\u2019s a need for each other in each others\u2019 lives to do what we do.<\/p>\n<p><strong>With Babyface having written some of your biggest hits, what do you look for when recording new material?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nathan Morris: Melody is always first and lyric is second. Then after that, it\u2019s up to us to where we want to take the song. Melody and lyric are important. They\u2019re the key to making the song what it is \u2026 There have been quite a few R&amp;B records that have been covered by country artists and vice versa.<\/p>\n<p>Wanya Morris: A lot of songs we sing have country intonations and basically has a vibe that if they\u2019re sung by a country artist, it would be country. Who\u2019s to say \u201cWater Runs Dry\u201d couldn\u2019t be a country record? When Brett sings it, it sure sounds country to me.<\/p>\n<p>Young: When you get a good melody, a hit is a hit, is a hit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I can\u2019t think of any genres that were hotter in the \u201890s than country and R&amp;B. And R&amp;B continues to revitalize different genres of music today. What does it mean to you for Boyz II Men to be part of that conversation, and what makes it timeless?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Wanya Morris: We\u2019re just happy that we\u2019re still around and guys like Brett still get inspired by it. That\u2019s what it\u2019s all about at the end of the day. We want to leave music that people can use long after we\u2019re gone. That\u2019s what good country and good R&amp;B is supposed to do. It\u2019s supposed to inspire the next generation of stars. Just having this mashup is a testament to what good music does. And [Brett\u2019s] a guy that has made a lot of great music for a lot of people. As far as I\u2019m concerned, we\u2019re on the same train riding the same ride.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Brett, \u201cWater Runs Dry\u201d is a regular cover in your set. What is it about that song that feels good to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Young: Aside from the obvious being it\u2019s one of my favorite records they\u2019ve ever put out, you\u2019re trying to make your show fresh every time you go out on a new tour, and you don\u2019t want to play the same covers. I knew I wanted to play one of their songs, and it had all the elements of a hit country record already. All the people in my band are such huge fans and great singers as well so I was going to give them an opportunity to sing with me. We\u2019ve been doing that for a couple months now. It\u2019s crazy I get to sing it with [Boyz II Men] tonight.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\">Lauren Tingle is a Tennessean and storyteller who eats music for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When she\u2019s not writing or rocking out, she enjoys yoga and getting lost in the great outdoors.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1804394\/cmt-crossroads-boyz-ii-men-talk-country-debut-with-brett-young\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Lauren Tingle 11m ago The struggle was real for Brett Young in his attempt to narrow down his dream setlist for the latest CMT Crossroads with Boyz II Men\u2019s Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman. Young loves every song they\u2019ve ever recorded, and his first concert experience ever was a Montel Jordan show [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1306944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 00:40:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1306944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1306944\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1306944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1306944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1306944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}