When Jimmie Allen dreamed of releasing his Bettie James EP, pairing him with some of his favorite artists, he never imagined that much of the album would need to be recorded during the coronavirus pandemic. But while it’s not the way he planned on working on his new music, he does admit that it could be somewhat of a blessing in disguise.
“I actually feel like, in a way, this is an advantage,” Jimmie told CMT. “It’s a a time when people are needing some sort of entertainment to take them away from everything going on, just for a while. And also it helps to have songs that will remind everyone to use this time and make the best of it. And, I also feel like there’s not a lot of commotion going on that would take people’s attention away from the music. People are just looking for something to listen to.”
Bettie James includes guest vocals by an eclectic list of artists, including Tim McGraw, Darius Rucker, Rita Wilson, Charley Pride, the Oak Ridge Boys and more. While it might seem the hard part would be deciding which song went to which artist, the Delaware native said that was actually the easiest part.
“The crazy thing is, I could hear their voices on it,” Jimmie recalled. “Like when I wrote “Days Made For These,” it was like I could hear Tim McGraw’s voice on it. When I wrote ‘Freedom Was A Highway,’ it just screamed Brad Paisley to me. And then ‘Drunk and I Miss You’ sounded like Mickey Guyton. And ‘Why Things Happen’ was the Darius Rucker and Charley Pride song I’d been waiting on. Then when I listened to ‘When This Is Over,’ I heard all these voices in my heard. I could hear all of them on that one: The Oak Ridge Boys, Rita Wilson, and Tauren Wells.”
“It was like an internal speaker box talking to me and pointing me in right direction with which artist,” he added. “It kind of worked itself out.”
The father of two is filling his days while off the road, but he admits he has needed to get out of town, mostly for his mental health.
“I’ve been quarantining in Nashville, which is fine, but I try to take the tour bus down to Florida or to Delaware every three weeks to go fishing,” Jimmie revealed. “That’s helped me a lot.”
Bettie James is out now. It is available for purchase via Amazon