Kentucky’s Never Been This Far From Tennessee from Kristy Cox with Marty Raybon

Billy Blue Records has a new single for Kristy Cox, featuring her in a duet with label mate Marty Raybon.

It’s a song from Cox’s current album, Shades of Blue, called Kentucky’s Never Been This Far From Tennessee, written by Kristy’s long time producer and Billy Blue A&R man Jerry Salley, along with Aaron Wilburn and Kristi Miller. It had been recorded once previously by acoustic country/Americana group Steel Blossoms, and it finds a nice home as a bluegrass ballad with Cox and Raybon.

Salley shared why this one is so special to him.

“Aaron Wilburn and I have written a lot of bluegrass songs over the years, including Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver’s Saving Grace, and my single, I Miss My Miss In Mississippi. We were booked to write one day a few years ago, and the minute Aaron walked in my house, with excitement in his voice, he told me he had been writing recently with a young lady from Kentucky named Kristi Miller. While the two of them were writing they came up with this title, ‘Kentucky’s Never Been This Far From Tennessee!!!

Then Aaron said, ‘We think you’re the perfect guy to write this with us!’ Well, I immediately loved the title, and although Kristi wasn’t with us that day, Aaron and I sat down and wrote the song in a few hours, which was probably one of the fastest songs we had ever co-written. Kristi approved of our work, and we all knew we had something very special!!

Kristy Cox and Marty Raybon are the perfect pair of voices to deliver this song.

I lost one of my best friends in life when Aaron passed away after a short illness in the fall of 2020. I sure wish he was still here with us to celebrate the release of this very special bluegrass version of our song.”

Raybon is also fond of this number, saying, “This is one of those tunes that’s nice on the ears. Kristy is one of best vocalist in this business. It was an honor to be part of this record.”

Have a listen…

Kentucky’s Never Been This Far From Tennessee, and the full Shades of Blue album, are available from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers will find the tracks at AirPlay Direct.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.