After causing a stir at the CMT Awards, the “Black Like Me” singer and soul psychedelic band teamed up for a one-hour CMT special that will air on Wednesday.
Mickey Guyton and the Black Cougars performed at the CMT Awards in April, but that was just their warm-up. On Wednesday, country artists and psychedelic soul bands will play together for an hour in the latest installment in the CMT Crossroads series.
Before the show began shooting in the Nashville area in late April. Gayton explained that he took the opportunity to work with the Austin-based duo of vocalist Eric Burton and guitarist Adrian Quesada when CMT called. The band first appeared on husband Grant Savoy’s radar in 2020. When Guyton and his crew were nominated for a Grammy. “He just listens to them all the time,” Guyton, 38, told “news,” so we started with Listening to its entire catalog, and I liked it. “
Guyton and Black Pumas first performed together at a concert in Arkansas about a year ago.
Then national audiences got to test the chemistry between Guyton and Burton at CMT. When they collaborated on the Black Pumas hit “Colors.”
“I almost feel like family,” Burton, 32, told news about his relationship with Gayton. “When Mickey came in, he felt like part of the band. Their “Crossroads” episodes are split almost evenly between each act’s music. The first half featured Guyton’s “Lay It on Me” and “Black Like Me,” both from his 2021 debut album, Remember Her Name; her debut single “Better Than You Left Me” from 2015; and a new song, “I Still Pray. Which he co-wrote with Tyler Hubbard of the Florida Georgia Line and songwriters Steph Jones and Ryan Daly. (Look for “I Still Pray” on Guyton’s next album, which is expected to be released later this year.)
Gaiton says practice has given him the thrill of hearing Burton sing his music. “They are roots, blues and folk, and when you hear them interpret. You can hear the soul in the music,” he said. I’ve always known that I had a soul, but when I hear it from other people, you hear it more often in my music, which is really amazing.”