Rachel Bradshawis chasing her dreams.
The Bradshaw Bunchstar released the music video for “If I Needed You,” her duet with Jamey Johnson, and checked off a “bucket list” item she’s had for “quite some time.”
The song is a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s version, and her idea to collaborate with Johnson on it came in 2019 when she was “sitting at an old pub in North Texas with some friends.”
“There was an older gentleman singing ‘In Color,’ and an idea popped in my head. I thought ‘I’m just gonna see if Jamey still has the same number,’ so I texted him and to ask if he would be interested in singing ‘If I Needed You’ with me,” the country singer, 34, tells PEOPLE. “I wanted to do a duet with someone on that song, but I knew that it needed to be someone truly spectacular since that song held such a special place in my heart since I was a little girl.”
Luckily, Johnson, 46, messaged her right back and “the rest is history.”
Rachel Bradshaw and Jamey Johnson.Ford Fairchild
Bradshaw also noted that having Johnson work with her on the track “meant the world” to her.
Johnson says he considered Bradshaw’s late husband Rob Bironas a “friend” and they “truly valued the times we got to spend together.” Therefore, after he died, Johnson didn’t hesitate to say yes when Bradshaw asked him to collaborate.
“When she asked if I would record this song with her, it felt a lot like she was asking what the song asks: ‘If I needed you, would you be there for me?’ he says. “There’s just something about her that stays with me so I reckon the answer is, ‘Hell yes, always.'”
Johnson says he met Bradshaw in 2007 and he had an encounter with her he’s never forgotten since.
He continued, “I admired her for her natural proclivity to find so much enjoyment in an exercise that made me wish I were anywhere else doing anything else. The first time I heard her sing I knew that she was naturally gifted with a beautiful voice and that she was passionate and serious about music.”
Rachel Bradshaw.Eric McCandless/getty
Meanwhile, Bradshaw says it was “truly an honor” to work with Johnson.
“It was truly an honor working with him. I have known Jamey since I was 19 years old and we have had a very long friendship so to finally get to create something beautiful together was such a full-circle moment, and a reminder that those people you truly connect with will always be there to support you.”
Bradshaw released herself-titled debut EPlast week, a project that holds “a very special place in her heart.”
source: people.com
