JOE PERRY On STEVEN TYLER’s Move To Country Music “He’s got a fucking rhinestone cowboy hat going ‘Yippee ki yay.’ I don’t know what else to say about that.”
AEROSMITH lead guitarist Joe Perry has dismissed his longtime bandmate Steven Tyler‘s decision to record a country album.
In May 2015, Tyler released his first country single, “Love Is Your Name”, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country Streaming Songs chart. He followed it up with “Red White & You”, which came out last month.
“Hey, if I didn’t know him when I heard the song I’d go, ‘It’s okay, next.'” Perry told USA Today. “I’m not going to say anything else about that.”
He added: “Steven is in Nashville doing whatever he’s doing. He’s got a fucking rhinestone cowboy hat going ‘Yippee ki yay.’ I don’t know what else to say about that.”
Tyler‘s full-length country debut is tentatively due later in the year. The effort will be released via Dot Records, the legendary label that Scott Borchetta and his Big Machine Label Group revived in 2014.
The AEROSMITH singer’s country album will feature songs that he has written and recorded in Nashville with writers like Paslay, Hillary Lindsey, Cary Barlowe and THE CADILLAC THREE‘s Jaren Johnston.
“My earliest influences put me somewhere between THE EVERLY BROTHERS and the CARTER FAMILY, and this project is all about me paying homage to my country roots,” Tyler told Rolling Stone. “I’ve been working with some fucking epic Nashville songwriters, getting my feet wet with the style and groove.”
AEROSMITH guitarist Brad Whitford said last year that he was less than thrilled with Tyler‘s plans to devote most of 2016 to his country-tinged debut solo album. He said: “I guess he seems to think his solo career is going to go great guns and he doesn’t seem to realize — in my opinion — that his fans around the globe want to see him in the context of AEROSMITH and don’t really care for whatever he thinks he’s going to do. I don’t know if he gets that, but, hey — that’s what he wants to do. I can’t put a gun to his head.”
