Charlie Worsham‘s Compadres album, out now, includes a collaboration with Luke Combs, on “How I Learned To Pray.” The song, which Worsham wrote with Jeremy Spillman and Ryan Tyndell, was first released by Worsham a decade ago, on his debut record.

“I feel like the longer I’m in Nashville, the more things come full circle for me,” Worsham tells Everything Nash. “And that song is a big full circle moment, because talking about when I had that first record out, Rubberband, ‘How I Learned To Pray’ was on it. I didn’t know Luke at the time, but Luke had just moved to town, and that record had an impact on him.”

Although they didn’t personally know each other ten years ago, Worsham and Combs are now good friends, and have a lot of parallels in their own lives.

“We’re like dad buddies,” Worsham says with a laugh. “We’ve got kids around the same age, which is a whole other thing. Talk about ‘How I Learned To Pray,’ when you got a toddler you’re trying to chase around, you just want to keep the toddler alive. You wake up saying that prayer,

“It was just the perfect song to sort of tell this story of my 17 years and counting in Nashville, where I am now, and where I’m headed. And I love the way Luke sings it. It’s such a gift for a song to have a Lazarus moment, where it’s reimagined.  I’m grateful for that being a part of this project,”

Lainey Wilson, Kip Moore,  Elle King, and Dierks Bentley are also featured on Compadres. It was while Worsham was driving to a session, at the height of the pandemic when touring was canceled, that the idea for Compadres was born.

“13-year-old me just wanted to play music all day long with my friends, and the better the music, the better the day,” Worsham reflects. “And I was thinking, ‘Man, I’m looking forward to the day. The only thing that could make it better is if this was my record.’ And I think that’s when, even though I didn’t realize that, in that moment was when the seed for Compadres was planted. I realized that I was playing on my favorite records in country music that were coming out: Luke Combs and Dierks Bentley and Lainey Wilson.

“And with Luke and Lainey in particular, I didn’t know that they were fans of mine back in the day when I was first putting music out, with my debut record, Rubberband,” he continues. “And then getting to know them, whether it’s in the writing room, or on a break between sessions, that that record had an impact on them back in at that time … I got history with these folks, and I realized at some point that I’ve been a part of their story. Why don’t I invite them to be a part of mine?”

See a track list for Compadres below. The album, and all of Worsham’s music and upcoming shows, can be found at CharlieWorsham.com.

Compadres Track List:

1. Handful of Dust feat. Lainey Wilson (Tony Arata)
2. Kiss Like You Dance feat. Kip Moore (Jon Nite, Andrew DeRoberts, Andy Albert)
3. How I Learned To Pray feat. Luke Combs (Charlie Worsham, Jeremy Spillman, Ryan Tyndell)
4. Creekwater Clear feat. Elle King (Charlie Worsham, Brent Cobb, Jaren Johnston)
5. Things I Can’t Control feat. Dierks Bentley (Ross Copperman, David Lee Murphy, Ashley Gorley)