Jeffrey Steele has teamed up with some of the finest musicians in Nashville for his new album, and he's sharing an exclusive duet with Jamey Johnson titled "Whiskey Years" in advance of the release.

Steele began his career as the singer and frontman in Boy Howdy, but made his reputation as one of the most successful songwriters in Music City whose hits include Tim McGraw's "The Cowboy in Me," Rascal Flatts "These Days," "What Hurts the Most" and "My Wish," Steve Holy's "Brand New Girlfriend," Keith Urban’s "Raise Em Up" and more.

He invited stars including Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, John Anderson, Gretchen Wilson and John Rich to take part in tracks for his debut album with his new band, Sons of the Palomino, which takes its name from the Palomino Club where Steele cut his teeth in the '80s and '90s as the bass player in the house band for eight years.

"We never knew what was going to happen," Steele recalls. "Maybe Mick Fleetwood or Rodney Crowell would show up. Buck Owens or Dwight Yoakam might sit in. One night Eddie Van Halen walked through the crowd and got up onstage. Somebody would say, 'Hey, can you play 'My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It?'' And we’d learn it on the fly! It was great training, like eight years of college."

Steele wrote or co-wrote every track on the album to pay homage to the traditional country music that the venue championed.

That's certainly true of "Whiskey Years," which features Johnson and Steele on a piano and acoustic guitar-driven hardcore country ballad about a man who's looking forward to the day when he'll get past his wild ways enough not to push away true love. "But who am I trying to fool / I'm still going through my whiskey years," the narrator admits.

Some of the top musicians in Nashville join Steele in Sons of the Palomino, including steel guitar legend Paul Franklin, fiddle player Larry Franklin, Jerry Roe on drums, pianist Tony Harrell, guitar player James Mitchell and bassist Brad Albin. The group's debut album is set for release on Friday (June 30) via Steele's 3 Ring Circus label. For more information, visit the group's website, or follow them online via Facebook and Instagram.

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