UK duo The Shires are joined by Jimmie Allen on the latest episode of London to Nashville Radio on Apple Music Country to talk about their new single, a reimagined version of ‘On The Day I Die.’ Listen to the full episode on-demand (with an Apple Music subscription) here.
The Shires and Jimmie Allen Discuss Collaborating On ‘On The Day I Die’….
Ben Earle: We’ve recorded a track together with Jimmie Allen. You’re featured on a song of ours. We absolutely love it. Thank you so much. It’s ‘On The Day I Die’. It came about through the pandemic, really, I guess. But what was your feeling when you sort of… Talk us through when you heard the song and how you felt about doing it?
Jimmie Allen: When I got the call about getting on it, I was like, “Hell, yeah. I’m down. Let’s make that happen!” I’ve never been a part of a song like that so it was super cool. That song definitely evokes emotion for sure.
Crissie Rhodes: I love that we jumped on the call together and arranged the music video as well. We spoke about it and our thoughts about it and I loved that we both had the same sort of idea of having this couple looking upon their life from being youngsters to growing old together. And that kind of summed up that whole song.
Jimmie Allen: That visual just about life, because we all grow up. We’re all going to get old one day and at some point we’re all going to die and we don’t know when that is. That’s why I just look at life and try and find ways to make the best out of each moment because you don’t know when it’s your last. Because you never know. People put off stuff all the time and they never make it to that day.
Ben Earle: Yeah, no, definitely. Definitely. And you know what? We love the song already, but genuinely, that energy, that what you’re talking about right now, I feel like you brought that to the song. I’m not just saying it. I really feel this and it took it to a whole other level and I just want to thank you, I’m sure Chrissy does as well, for singing on it because it breathed life into a song.
Jimmie Allen On Winning The Best New Male Artist ACM Award And Wanting To Be A Role Model…
Ben Earle: Jimmy, you recently won Best New Male Artist at the ACMs. Huge congratulations, I was so happy to see that. How wild was the night you won?
Jimmie Allen: Man, not wild at all, man. My problem is, I worked for so long to get to this point. You figure it took me 11 years in Nashville to get a record deal, so I got to the point where I’m used to the struggle, I’m used to boots on the ground, working for something. Typically, once I hit a success point, I’m like, “Oh man, that’s great. I appreciate it,” and I just move on. I never celebrated any number ones, never celebrated records gone gold, records gone platinum, none of that. But with this, my mom was like, “Take the time and just enjoy it.” So I had a couple of friends over, my band, family, just drank and played video games. It was cool. I think this award started in 1960 something, and I found out I was the first black artist to ever win it. I was like, “Wow.” To me, winning this award represents change in country music. Hopefully, there’s young black artists looking up to me one day like I used to look up to Charley Pride.
