One of the most thrilling performances I’ve had the good fortune to attend was a New York City based CMT Crossroads, the first filmed outside of Nashville, featuring Rosanne Cash and Steve Earle.
The premise of the show is to pair country music artists with musicians from other music genres, often covering the other one’s songs and performing duets. Over it’s decade-long existence CMT Crossroads the pairings have ranged from the aforementioned Earle and Cash show, also Lucinda Williams with Elvis Costello and Travis Tritt with Ray Charles. Some are less inspired, like Sugarland with Bon Jovi and Sara Evans and Maroon 5.
I would put the upcoming collaboration of the Avett Brothers with country music legend Randy Travis in the inspired category. The Avetts are riding high in their new release , The Carpenter. The album threads with themes of mortality and personal trials. These are themes the recently troubled Travis can certainly identify with.
Check this excellent video Travis’ “Three Wooden Crosses.†I hope the rest of the programs reached this level.
Tune in and find out – CMT Crossroads Nov. 23 at 11 p.m. ET/PT.