Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton Tried To Channel Their “Inner Kenny & Dolly” While Recording New Duet, “A Song To Sing”

Channeling their inner Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers.

If you listened to Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton‘s duet “A Song To Sing,” and got hints of the Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ classic “Islands in the Stream,” with its groovy throwback sound, then you heard it just as Chris and Miranda hoped.

Earlier this month, Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton released a 70s-inspired duet titled “A Song To Sing.” The tune that was sent to country music radio.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Miranda Lambert (@mirandalambert)

Just like any song that Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton release, you know it’s going to be good. The two powerhouses are consistent with sharing music that resonates among their fan base, and when they team up to write, the same thing happens. Stapleton and Lambert wrote the opening track on Stapleton’s last studio record, Higher, “What Am I Gonna Do” together, and have been sitting on another unreleased gem co-written together titled  “Somebody Winds Up Pregnant.”

Magic was rekindled when the two collaborated to write “A Song To Sing.” The single features relatively simple lyrics that depict the depth of love one can feel for someone. And at the end of the day, everyone says that love should be easy- so shouldn’t a great love song be straightforward?

“You are a part of me
Baby, you’re the heart of me
Together, we can write a song to sing
And in that melody
Baby, you’re the harmony
That you just can’t find anywhere.”

In a recent conversation with Cody Alan on SiriusXM’s The Highway, Lambert details how she and Stapleton penned the tune alongside Jesse Frasure and Jenee Fleenor.

“I had a date with Jesse Frazier, and he randomly reached out to Chris kind of last minute and was like, ‘Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be around today? Me and Miranda are just writing for kind of fun.’ And Chris was available, so he came over, and he actually, Jenee Fleenor, who is an amazing fiddle player, sort of her and Jesse had worked on this track and sort of got this groovy kind of ’70s thing going.

So she wasn’t in the room that day, but her parts really drove this beat, and we wrote two songs that day, but it’s been around for like a couple of years. It just wasn’t time, I guess we couldn’t really figure out what project it fit on or where it should go.”

While they sat on the tune for a while, the duo finally made their way to Savannah, Georgia, in 2024, and cut the track with the help of legendary producer Dave Cobb.

“I mean, I got to just hang in Savannah for a couple of days with the Stapletons and drink some wine and cut a record to channel our inner Kenny and Dolly, you know what I mean.”

The “Island In The Stream” vibe was alive and well with the finished product of “A Song To Sing,” paying homage to one of the best country music duets of all time. After recording it, Lambert and Stapleton both agreed that it was time to release the tune and not sit on it any longer.

“When we finished it, we both knew we wanted to release it. To share it with everyone.”

Thank goodness they found the right time to release it, because it follows in the footsteps of other great duets. Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers would give this “Island In The Stream” inspired track their stamp of approval, I’m sure.

And just for fun, fire up “Island In The Stream” too.

The post Miranda Lambert & Chris Stapleton Tried To Channel Their “Inner Kenny & Dolly” While Recording New Duet, “A Song To Sing” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.