Ne-Yo spent plenty of time in Nashville working on his country project, Highway 79, and wants to make sure that everyone knows he considers it a country-inspired album… not a country album. The R&B artist is one of many that have decided to try their hand at the country genre in recent years. Post Malone came over from pop and hip-hop and was welcomed with open arms when he released F-1 Trillion in 2024. And one could say that Beyoncé paved the way for Ne-Yo to make the move from R&B to country with her Cowboy Carter album, which won Album of the Year at the 2025 Grammys. Ne-Yo’s aspirations for his venture into country music might not be that high, but he’s still doing everything he can to do it right. (He’s actually spent a ton of time working and performing in Nashville, which is a step up from what Beyoncé did). And in an interview with TODAY, he made sure to clarify that in no way, shape or form is he going to be disrespectful and call what he did with Highway 79 a country album: “I am not a country artist, and I think it would be disrespectful to jump into the genre and say, ‘Hey I’m doing country now’ when there’s people that eat, sleep and breathe country music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This music is all the things I love about country music. It’s inspired by all the things I love about country music.” Yeah… you can tell he spent a lot of time in Music City with a comment like that. And if you are wondering what inspired Ne-Yo to put together some country-inspired music, he says that he’s been a fan of the genre his entire life. In fact, there’s one country legend that he credits with getting him to fall in love with country music: “Reba McEntire’s ‘Fancy’ was the first country song I ever heard in my life. I did a lot of my growing up in Las Vegas. My mom worked in every casino doing every job humanly possible. I would sit up and wait for her to come home every night. She would bring home a different genre of music for us to listen to every night. She brought home Reba’s ‘Fancy,’ and that song had me in a headlock for like a week. I couldn’t get enough of this record. From there, it was Reba, then Garth Brooks, then Clint Black and so on. I’ve been a fan of country music for a really long time. Matter of fact, I feel like some of my biggest songs are that big because I’ve taken elements of country and added it to whatever the other genre was. Beyonce’s ‘Irreplaceable,’ if you take the drums off that, it’s a country song.” Who doesn’t love Reba? Ne-Yo went on to say that it would be a dream come true to work with the “Fancy” singer, and decided that he’d try to manifest it by saying “when” he works with Reba instead of “if” he works with her: “When I work with Reba… Reba, call me.” Very respectful of Ne-Yo to clarify that he didn’t put together a country album… he put together a “country inspired” project. That’s a move that was undoubtedly influenced by spending time in Nashville, which ended up being very productive. He released his “country inspired” album earlier in July, and songs like “Up Out & Gone” and “Simple Things” have already landed well with his fans. Admittedly, there’s nothing really that country about it at all, but what else would you really expect from an artist like Ne-Yo? Now he’s just got to get together with Reba and his country music story will come full circle. “Simple Things” “Up Out & Gone” The post Ne-Yo Is Adamant ‘Highway 79’ Is Country-Inspired… Not A Country Album: “Would Be Disrespectful To Jump Into The Genre” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.