Country stars LeAnn Rimes and Mickey Guyton were in New York Wednesday for Paramount’s upfront presentation to celebrate the 20th anniversary of CMT Crossroads. Each episode of the series pairs a country star with an unlikely musician. Rimes recently made her second appearance on the series in April, while Guyton will headline her first episode in June.
Rimesย told PopCulture.com at the upfronts red carpet she watched Crossroads for years and “never thought” she would have her own Crossroads episode. Although Rimes was already an established star by the time Crossroads launched in 2002, she didn’t get her own episode until 2007, when she was paired with rock singer Joss Stone. Rimes returned to Crossroads in April with Guyton, Ashley McBryde, Brandy Clark, and Carly Pearce.
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“That was my favorite. So great,” Rimes said of her second Crossroads episode. “But then, you know, to be able to celebrate 25 years of my own music with these beautiful women, it was special and it was, there was so much love on that episode.”
Guyton agreed it was a “special episode” for the show’s history. Rimes addedย that she did feel some pressure to make a great episode for the series’ 20th anniversary. “They’ve had so many incredible performances over those 20 years. I mean, it’s such a unique format in that they bring all different styles of genres of music,” Rimes said. “And look, I’ve dabbled in every genre known to man basically, except polka.”
Guyton chimed in that it is “important to pay respect” to the show’s format. She will do just that when she makes her second appearance on Crossroadsย on June 15. The soul duo Black Pumas, made up of Eric Burton and Adrian Quesada, will join Guyton following their performance of “Colors” at the 2022 CMT Music Awards in April. “They’re amazing,” Rimes said of Guyton and Black Pumas.
This year also marked the first time Guyton was nominated for the CMT Music Awards. “Remember Her Name” was nominated for Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year. Her performance of “Friendship Train” with Gladys Knight and Breland at the 2021 CMT Music Awards was nominated for CMT Performance of the Year. “Remember Her Name” also earned Guyton Grammy nominations for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance. She was also nominated for Best Country Album.
In another interview with PopCulture.com, Guyton spoke about her partnership with 3M for its School Zone Safety initiative, which hopes to improve safety for children in school zones. “It really resonated with me having a son and going through the stresses of being a parent,” Guyton said. “We don’t even realize how stressful and beautifully heartbreaking parenthood is.”ย
