Crowell takes flight with "Airline Highway"

The 10-song set was produced by Tyler Bryant and recorded and mixed by Trina Shoemaker in New Orleans. The record follows Crowell's 2023 Grammy Award-nominated "The Chicago Sessions."

Ashley McBryde co-wrote and sings on "Taking Flight," the first single. Lukas Nelson co-wrote and sings the opener "Rainy Days in California," Blackberry Smoke guitarist Charlie Starr sings on "Heaven Can You Help," while Rebecca and Megan Lovell from Larkin Poe add harmonies and slide guitar throughout.

"This record is a document of me falling in love with these musicians," said Crowell. "That's one of the great perks of this job — falling in love with the people you're playing with. And we caught that on tape."

Talking about "Taking Flight," Crowell said, "Ashley came over to the house to take a swing at writing a song together. 'Flight' is a fictional account of a discussion we had about stardom and driving at night in the south. With the exception of the Allman Brothers, I can't say I was ever a fan of 'Southern Rock.' Tyler Bryant's off the cuff solo at the end of the song made me reconsider."

McBryde said, "Simply sitting across from Rodney is magical. Writing a song with an icon is such an honor and being able to call him my friend is one of the great joys of my life. 'Taking Flight' explored heartache on a plane I hadn't been on before. For Rodney to choose me as a co-writer and a singer is something that only existed in dreams. This record speaks for itself and I am so happy I get to be a part of its journey."

"Airline Highwa"y began when Crowell met Bryant, a young guitarist and producer whose band The Shakedown have toured with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Guns n' Roses, AC/DC, among others. Crowell said, "He's one of the most impressive young men I've met in a long time. As soon as I met him, I thought, 'let's go.' We immediately started going back and forth between my home studio and his, making demos and talking about what we wanted to do."

A few months later, they packed up a truckload of gear to make the journey down to Shoemaker's remote Dockside Studio, in Maurice, La.. "It's right at the place where nowhere becomes now here," Crowell said. "It's got a great vibe, and the band all lived under the same roof. The beautiful Vermilion River is nearby. We thought with any luck we'd get eaten by alligators."

The band rarely did more than two or three takes of any particular song.

"There's a romance to the swamp, the semi-tropical climate. We put it to good use, even if it was just me romanticizing my connection to Louisiana."

"You could buy beer in Louisiana without a license, so as soon as we could get away from our parents, my friends and I would drive over the line and go to this club called The Big Oaks Club, where this band called The Boogie Kings played blue-eyed soul. Or swamp pop, as it was called later. In fact, the first recording I ever did was when my buddy and I went over to Crowley, La., to record at JD Miller's studio above a beauty shop. But it never came out because the songs we wrote weren't any good."

"At a basic level there are a lot more years behind me than there are ahead of me," Crowell said. "I'm up in my seventieth decade of my life, and I'm glad that I'm still looking forward to certain things I want to do. My ambition isn't to be a household name anymore. My ambition is to be satisfied with the work that I do. I'm at a place where it really is about having fun."

Crowell moved to Nashville in the early 1970s, coming to prominence first as a writer before establishing himself as a critically acclaimed solo artist in his own right. With 15 number one songs on the country music charts throughout his career, along with two GRAMMY Awards, he has written hits for such country legends as Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and George Strait, as well as for current chart toppers like Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. He's been covered by R&B icons (Etta James) and rock legends (Van Morrison, Bob Seger). Last month, the legendary Willie Nelson released his 77th solo studio album, "Oh What A Beautiful World," which featured new interpretations of 12 classic songs written or co-written by Crowell and features a duet between Nelson and Crowell on its title track.

The track list is:
1. Rainy Days In California (Featuring Lukas Nelson)
2. Louisiana Sunshine Feeling Okay (Featuring Larkin Poe)
3. Sometime Thang
4. Some Kind Of Woman
5. Taking Flight (Featuring Ashley McBryde)
6. Simple (You Wouldn't Call It Simple)
7. The Twenty-One Song Salute (Owed to G.G. Shinn and Cléoma Falcon) (Featuring Tyler Bryant)
8. Don't Give Up On Me
9. Heaven Can You Help (Featuring Charlie Starr)
10. Maybe Somewhere Down The Road

Tour dates are:
May 30 - Fayetteville, AR - Walton Arts Center
June 4 - Nashville, TN - Cheekwood Estate and Gardens
June 6 - Houston, TX - The Heights Theatre
June 7 - Stephenville, TX - Birdsong Amphitheater
June 8 - Saint Jo, TX - Red River Station
June 12 - Brownfield, ME - Stone Mountain Arts Center w/ Shawn Colvin
June 13 - Groton, MA - Groton Hill Music Center w/ Shawn Colvin
June 14 - Somerville, MA -Arts at the Armory w/ Shawn Colvin
June 17 - Old Saybrook, CT - The Kate w/ Shawn Colvin
June 19 - Portsmouth, NH - Portsmouth Music Hall w/ Shawn Colvin
June 20 - Rutland, VT - Paramount Theatre w/ Shawn Colvin
June 21 - Great Barrington, MA - Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center w/ Shawn Colvin
Sept. 9-13 - Nashville, TN - Americanafest 2025