Trisha Yearwood offered the story behind her soon-to-debut duet with Charles Kelley.

Yearwood teamed up with the Lady A star on “The Record Plays On,” one of 15 tracks appearing on her upcoming record, The Mirror. She wrote the hopeful anthem with Chad Carlson and Melissa Fuller, and took it to the next level when Kelley agreed to add an “amazing, standout harmony,” Yearwood said. She reflected as she shared the story behind the song:

“Chad Carlson is my co-writer on this song, along with Melissa Fuller, and we were talking about the state of the world, like everybody’s doing, and we wanted to write something about that. But we didn’t want to be preachy. We want to give people hope because if you can dream of a better day, you can make it happen. I really do believe that. And so, ‘The Record Plays On’ is really like, it’s just going to keep coming back around and everything’s going to be OK. And we have to keep telling ourselves that. Charles Kelley from Lady A is so incredible. And we just asked if he’d come sing, and he came in and did this amazing, standout harmony on this song. I can’t wait for everybody to hear it. And I loved the song before he sang on it, and then once he put his vocal on there, it was like, “OK, this is the benchmark.’”

Kelley, who recently released his own solo record (Songs For A New Moon), said he was “so proud to be invited” to sing on the track with Yearwood. The “She’s In Love With The Boy” icon previously said The Mirror is a chapter that’s “different from all the others” in her career, “in that I co-wrote every single song on this record. I’ve never done that before in my whole life. …I think adds a layer that most people haven’t seen from me.”

So far, Yearwood has released the title track, “Bringing The Angels,” “The Wall Or The Way Over,” and “Girls Night In” from the album. She said when she first announced The Mirror earlier this ear that she’s “so proud of this record and hope you love it as much as I loved creating it.” The album — including Yearwood’s collaboration with Kelley — will arrive on Friday (July 18).

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