Neal McCoy paid homage to country singer Charlie Pride on his 2013 tribute album.
Next up: an homage to folks like Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and other notable vocalists behind some of the greatest pop songs ever composed.
“I have a brand new one that is my most favorite album I have ever recorded, and I know country people aren’t going to be happy to hear that,” the 57-year-old Texas native said of “You Don’t Know Me,” a collection of songs from the Great American Songbook.
“I’m an old soul. I love the songs from the Great American Songbook, that era of music, and I just finished an album of that music. And it’s just fantastic,” he said.
McCoy has finished the album but hasn’t released it yet. He’s shopping it to labels. But he will have a few copies for sale at his Rialto Theatre show on Thursday, Dec. 3. He also might sing one or two of those songs during the show.
We caught up with McCoy the week of Thanksgiving as he wrapped up a six-show stay in Branson, Missouri, to chat about his Tucson show and the new music.
You and I had a conversation years ago about doing this album. You finally did it!
“It’s taken me 57 years, but by God I’ve done it now. And I can’t tell you how good it is. It’s just fantastic. It’s got strings and horns and it’s music that ... back when they were writing those songs, I think singers and musicians, different chord progressions, you just had to know what you were singing about and how to phrase and interpret. And I’ve always fancied myself as being able to do that and I wanted to, while I’m still singing good, record an album of this stuff because I just think it’s timeless music. Some of it is just so romantic. It’s just great, great music.”
What are some of the songs you cover?
“‘Unforgettable,’ ‘In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning,’ ‘I Get a Kick Out of You,’ ‘Long, Long Time,’ which is a song that mother used to sing to me as a kid: ‘Kiss me once then kiss me twice or kiss me once again; it’s been a long, long time.’ There’s a beautiful song in there called ‘That’s All.’ ‘I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,’ which I, 35 years ago when me and my wife got married, I used to sing that song out at dinner clubs before I got into country music. And I would always send it out to her. Some of those great, great songs that mean a lot to me.”
When do you anticipate it being released?
“We’d like to have it out sooner than later. We probably are going to send it out to a couple labels and we’re toying with the idea of promoting it ourselves.”
That’s some heavy lifting vocally. You have to have pretty sharp chops to pull that off successfully.
“Mainly (those who aren’t successful at the genre) they just don’t know what they’re singing about. They hear a song, they learn it and they go and sing it. They don’t know the sentiment behind it, what the writer is trying to say or what the artist is trying to say through the song. And our arrangements are all mine. We have the greatest, coolest cut of ‘Don’t Get Around Anymore.’ I bet we changed the attitudes four or five times. It goes from swamp beat to ragtime to rock. It’s got kind of an old slide guitar in it. We’ve taken some of these things and done it our own way but not so far that it’s just so abstract people won’t get it.”
Will you slip in a couple at your Rialto show?
“Yeah. You know, what the heck. We’ll probably stick one or two of them in. We’re using this time to tell people the album is out there and we sell them at our shows. That’s the only place that it’s available and on our website. ... The cover is me in a tuxedo and a fedora.”
How will it mix with your country songs?
“We shine in those moments where people listen to you and pay attention to you. We’re still able to get through our same party atmosphere, and yet we can stop and do one of these and hit people upside the head to where they go, ‘Oh, wow!’ But then right behind that we’re liable to go right into ‘Billy’s Got his Beer Goggles On.’ It keeps them so confused, but that’s good.”
“It is, not unlike many of our shows. We think that when you leave our show we want you to feel like you’ve walked out of a great movie. You’ve laughed, you’ve cried. ... That’s how we’ve tried to make them be for 30 years.”
