Party season is just around the corner and with it comes the party tunes.
We're not talking about Slade, Mariah Carey, or even that absolutely banging one by The Darkness - we're talking about the new song from GBX.
George Bowie has teamed up with Scots country singer Kevin McGuire to create the ultimate Christmas party song – a GBX dance cover of Wagon Wheel.
The hit song – written by Bob Dylan and renowned in the USA thanks to Old Crow Medicine Show – is known by many generations but the latest cover set to bring it to a whole new audience.
George said: “The idea for Wagon Wheel was Kev's. We were talking about doing a track like Jesse Bloch's Life Is A Highway and Kevin came up with some possible covers.
"When he mentioned Wagon Wheel I remembered how big it was when I played in Benbecula back in July and one of the acts covered it, so it was a no-brainer for me. I think it will be perfect for the party season too because it's a big singalong anthem. The reaction to it so far on the show and on social media has been off the scale so I'm very excited.”
Kevin added: “Country music is what I've always done. It's the world I'm in and I've been so desperate to bring it to a wider audience in Scotland. George is the DJ King of Scotland, and I've been a huge admirer of him both on radio and his records for GBX.”
George is full of praise for Kevin, believing he’s an absolute star in the making – and this is the first of many collaborations for the pair.
The DJ stumbled across Kevin on YouTube and figured he was American before realising not only was he from Glasgow, but he was a long-term collaborator of one of George’s oldest friends, songwriter, producer and artist John McLaughlin aka Johnny Mac.
And George is convinced Kevin can be massive across mainstream, country, and dance worlds.
He added: "I came across one of Kevin's tunes on YouTube and loved his voice. I actually thought he was from Nashville or Texas or something like that, turns out he's fae Govan! I had wanted to do a kind of Avicii-style Country EDM tune for a while because no one has done that since tragically he died a few years back.
“I'd played live on a few of the Avicii gigs, including Bellahouston Park and I knew how well that sound went down at gigs and on the radio so it made a lot of sense to me to take that influence and put a 2022 twist on it.
"Turned out my pal John McLaughlin of Johnny Mac And The Faithful had been writing and working with Kevin so he brought us together. So myself Kevin, Sparkos and my wife Ellene all got down to work and this is the end result.
“We want to maybe do an album together because Kevin and John are great songwriters so it makes sense that we all team up. I think it's easier to start with a song that people recognise and then you can start introducing new songs.
"Wagon Wheel is well known in America but was not a massive hit here, so hopefully we can rectify that. I only found out when we applied for the license to release it that it was written by Bob Dylan.”
Wagon Wheel on Apple Music now and will be on all stream and sales platforms from this week.
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