K. Michelle Wanted More R&B On Her Country Debut

K. Michelle said a song she badly wanted on her first country album, “Jesus & Whiskey,” missed the cut.

In an Entertainment Focus interview, she recalled trying to add R&B records late in the process. “I threw a fit because they didn’t want me to put those on the new album,” she said. One song she wanted was left off because it came late and was not necessarily a fit.

She praised her label for backing the record, with both sides learning how Nashville works. Throughout the process, the label had seen it as a country album.

The nine-song album came out last week through Real Outlawz Records and BBR Music Group. Sugarland’s Kristian Bush produced it, drawing on ties with the singer that go back more than a decade.

Bush told The Tennessean that the music was played live, with everyone in the same room. He kept it simple to give her voice room to lead. That sound includes steel guitar and Nashville player Justin Schipper’s banjo on “Yodel.”

The singer said she chose Bush for his loyalty to her voice and his willingness to give her room to create. Their work together dates to her “Love & Hip Hop” years.

Bush said her clear point of view mattered to the songs. He noted that women who listen to country often want to hear the thoughts they may not say out loud.

The title track puts faith next to human flaws, arguing that belief does not require a spotless life. K. Michelle wrote it with ERNEST, Jordan Dozzi and Rocky Block. Its themes contrast with the harder-edged “Jack Daniel’s,” another early single.

The debate over her country roots is not new. AllHipHop reported in June 2025 that she corrected a host who said she had not grown up with the genre. She pointed to Memphis and her yodeling scholarship.

She told The Tennessean that fans had heard her honor The Judds and Dolly Parton at her shows. Now she hopes new fans will hear the link with her older R&B records. She pushed back on placing artists in one genre, saying the writer and singer behind both styles had not changed.

She said she is already thinking about the next record.