Year in Review: 10 Best Country Collaborations of 2020

Singer-songwriter Breland followed the “Old Town Road” model of country-chart crashing early in 2020 with “My Truck,” skrrt-skrrting his way into the land of dirt roads and tailgates as an outsider with his TikTok-approved trap-country tune. By mid-year, he got a big boost from the establishment with a remix featuring fellow stylistic maverick Sam Hunt, who dropped lines like “Pull up on you at the red light home/Throw some Bone Thugs on and make your loose change jump” with his convincing nonchalance. A sign of where things are heading, and a surefire way to enhance your turn up on a Friday night.

Forty-three years after he satirized country-western on “Rider in the Rain,” Randy Newman appeared on this bona fide country duet with Brandy Clark. If it refuses to point fingers, the bouncy, tongue-in-cheek allegory about political gridlock (“we can’t agree on who should be captain/so we can’t keep this thing afloat”) still serves as the perfect meeting point for the two distinctive vocalists.

In 2019, Amanda Shires played fiddle for Luke Combs during his ACM Awards performance of “Beautiful Crazy.” For this homage to the folks who made Combs the star he is today, he once again called upon the Americana songwriter-musician, who connects his verses about sacrifice and support with her graceful riffs. It’s a gorgeous listen, and proof that successful collaborations don’t always have to mean duets.

Though it was originally part of a Cracker Barrel 50th anniversary campaign, Ingrid Andress’ collaborative version of “More Hearts Than Mine” with Kimberly Schlapman and Karen Fairchild eventually wound up on a deluxe version of her album Lady Like. Stripped down to just piano and acoustic guitar, the Grammy Best New Artist nominee’s powerful story about the inherent risks of coupling stands out, along with the sublime backing harmonies from Schlapman and Fairchild. It’s a powerful statement of solidarity between two generations of performers on top of being a killer song.

The highlight of Jimmie Allen’s collaborative Bettie James EP is this questioning ballad, which features vocals from Darius Rucker and Country Music Hall of Fame member Charley Pride. There’s nothing outwardly political about the song’s pious searching for higher meaning amidst tragedy, but released during nationwide protests against police brutality in a surging pandemic, “Why Things Happen” perfectly captured a broken nation in mourning. “It’s hard not to question circumstances,” Pride sings, “that leave you with nothin’ to say.”

Pink’s no stranger to singing with country stars (see her collabs with Chris Stapleton and Kenny Chesney), but this funky, mid-tempo ballad with Keith Urban puts the pop star front and center. Her solo verse is all tortured soul, as she both recalls past fights and predicts new ones with her lover. The quarrels may be loud and angry, but in the end, they’re always worth it.

It’s a collaboration made in gay country heaven: masked troubadour Orville Peck and Canadian superstar Shania Twain are bizarrely great singing companions in “Legends Never Die,” from Peck’s 2020 Show Pony EP. Eschewing Peck’s typical gothic, reverb-drenched production, “Legends Never Die” comes across more like a big, campy take on one of those Tim McGraw and Faith Hill ballads from the Nineties. With its message of individualism and resilience — “Don’t worry ‘bout making sure they won’t forget,” they sing — it’s also fantastic theme music for two modern iconoclasts.

Caylee Hammack recruited Ashley McBryde and Tenille Townes for a rousing anthem of growth and change in “Mean Something,” an album cut from Hammack’s excellent debut If It Wasn’t for You. With a production that slowly builds to a cathartic finish, the three women look at the costs of chasing a dream along with the universal desire to do something that matters. “The world’s begging for change/And we get carried away helping ourselves,” they sing in harmony, a potent reminder to keep our eyes open to the world around us and not just on our own problems.

Kelsea Ballerini took a major step into pop-star territory with this mesmerizing collab with Halsey. They performed it on CMT a few times, but it’s the original version, off the country singer’s Kelsea album, that ironically displayed the most chemistry between the two vocalists. Projecting all of the things the “other girl” probably does — from drinking her martinis dry to being promiscuous — it’s ethereal, haunting, and moody.

On paper, rising country star Gabby Barrett’s breakout hit doesn’t really lend itself to a duet: it’s a woman’s diatribe about her cheating ex, after all. But the pop singer Charlie Puth ably offers the guy’s point of view in this remix, essentially saying, hey, forgive and try to forget. No hard feelings?