“After talking to my management and label…they decided that the collaborations shouldn’t stop!” So after a cryptic-sounding Sunday evening Instagram post, Delaware native country star Jimmie Allen has announced nine additional duets will be added to a retooled “Gold Edition” of his July 2020-released Bettie James album. Promising “cool and different” songs from his usual output, plus duets with artists he “can’t believe would work with him this early in his career,” the deluxe album version of his nearly year-old LP is due on June 25.
“I want to thank you so much for the support. Country music has been great to me. I’m never leaving country music. I grew up on it, [because] my daddy listened to it,” Allen added via Instagram. Also related to Bettie James — a title inspired by and named after his late father, James Allen, and late grandmother, Bettie Snead, who passed away in September 2019 and February 2014, respectively — his recently-announced Bettie James Fest will be occurring Aug. 7, 2021, in his home of Milton, Delaware. Allen himself will headline but is scheduled to join special guests DJ Jazzy Jeff, Neon Union, Hero the Band, Chuck Wicks, and Chase Martin.
Brad Paisley’s Bettie James duet with Allen for “Freedom Was A Highway” is the album’s current single and one of the artist’s sentimental favorites. He recently noted, “I love my small town, where I am from. I love the people there. Life is simple…The highlight of our day, you know, once I got older, was just hoping in a truck, going fishing during the day, cruising down our favorite roads, and going to the Moose Lodge and getting a pitcher of beer for $1.25,” he says.