It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since Buddy Jewell captivated fans across the country, when he appeared on the inaugural season of Nashville Star. Jewell won the show, taking a commanding lead over John Arthur Martinez, who came in second, and Miranda Lambert, who came in third.

“It’s been crazy,” Jewell tells Everything Nash with a laugh of his time since Nashville Star. “God’s blessed me so much. I’ve just stayed so busy. I tell people all the time, 20 years later I’m still sticking a cowboy hat on, running around the world and people are paying me for it. It’s nuts.”

It was Jewell’s wife, Tené, who convinced him to audition for Nashville Star, when all his dreams for himself seemed to have been left unfulfilled. Little did he know that the one TV show would change everything for him.

“It’s a dream come true,” Jewell admits. “it’s more than I could have ever imagined. I spent ten years in Nashville, trying to get a record deal. Nobody wanted me, and everybody passed on me several times. All of them did. And then I win a television show, and they had to give me a record deal. So I tell people all the time, ‘I think God loves me enough that He created a TV show just to get me a record deal. He can do that.'”

Jewell released “Help Pour Out The Rain (Lacey’s Song)” right after winning Nashville Star, followed by “Sweet Southern Comfort.” To celebrate the milestone anniversary, Jewell released a new version of “Sweet Southern Comfort,” this one with Clint Black, Shenandoah‘s Marty Raybon, and the Bellamy Brothers. It’s a collaboration that may not have happened without a nudge from his manager, Brandyn Steen.

“I knew the 20-year anniversary coming up for the show and the songs,” the Arkansas native reflects. “I knew I wanted to do something, and Brandyn said, ‘Why don’t we do a remix of ‘Sweet Southern Comfort?’ because that was the biggest radio song for me. And Clint Black produced the first record, so he was my first call. And then, to get the Bellamy Brothers and Marty Raybon on it, I still don’t know how I did it.”

Jewell released Bluebonnet Highway in 2020, and has a lot more music he is ready and eager to share with the world in the near future as well.

“I’m trying to decide what I’m gonna do with all this, I’ve got a few songs in the can. I’m trying to decide if I want to do a whole album of all new music, or if I wanna go back and recut some of my other one-and-a-half hits,” Jewell says with a chuckle. “There are a lot of options on the table. I thought about doing a Bud’s Best or something like that. And there are a lot of songs I really love that nobody’s heard. We’ll see what happens. One thing at a time. Right now we’re gonna celebrate Sweet Southern Comfort, and I’m still trying to write new stuff. I really slowed down on that over the past several years. But I’m getting the bug again.”

Two decades after setting foot on the Nashville Star stage, Jewell is still overwhelmed with gratitude for his life and career were forever changed by appearing on the reality TV talent show.

“It’s been phenomenal,” says the singer. “I’ve been all over the world. I counted up a while back, and I think I’ve been to 30 countries or something like that, and have tons of friends all over the place. And I’m still getting to go to cool places. I’m in Ireland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Germany, and the Faroe Islands this year. … I’m about as busy as I want to be. I go out and play on the weekends. I’m home on Sunday, and I don’t have to worry about leaving again until Thursday or Friday.”

All of Jewell’s music, including the 20th anniversary edition of “Sweet Southern Comfort,” can be found at BuddyJewell.com.