Caylee Hammack Shares the Story Behind Alan Jackson Collaboration ‘Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good’ (Exclusive)

When Caylee Hammack was talking to her team about the music that has brought her comfort during the coronavirus pandemic, she mentioned listening to Alan Jackson‘s gospel record. But She also mentioned loving Don Williams’ music, specifically his song “Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good,” and a collaboration was born.

“I love Don Williams,” Hammack told PopCulture.com for our series, PopCulture @ Home. “I remember crying when he passed away because he’s one of those guys that I would have just died to have met and when that happened, I remember just going back through his catalog over and over again. Then COVID hit and I started going back to Alan Jackson’s gospel record over and over again. That gospel record is what my childhood sounded like in church — that’s the type of hymns, Southern Baptist hymns that we would sing along to and it brought me peace.”

“So I was talking with my team and telling them kind of about that, like where I was finding comfort in this time,” she continued, sharing that her team suggested she collaborate with an artist she really loved. “They were like, ‘We think that it would be a beautiful thing if you do it with someone that you love. Who would you like to do that with?’” she recalled. “And the three names I gave was Alan Jackson, George Strait, or Jesus, I would love to sing with all three of these people one day. They said ‘Well, Alan’s first on the list, let’s ask them.’ And they asked him.”

Hammack and Jackson ended up recording a duet of “Lord, I Hope This Day Is Good,” turning in a soothing rendition of the song, which is a request to God for a good day. Hammack joked that she wasn’t sure Jackson would be up for working with her after her team sent him her song “Small Town Hypocrite,” which is “the one song with the most curse words.”

“Just for venting, it’s literally three minutes of me venting,” she explained, adding that Jackson’s response to the song was, “I love her voice but man, she says s— a lot.” “I sat there and I was like, ‘Can I quote that forever? Can I just have that quote for the rest of my life? Can I just write that on a piece of paper and frame it?’” the 26-year-old said. “So when I’m having a bad day, it’s like, yes, I may curse too much but Jesus and Alan Jackson love me. So I’m alright with that.”