Kelly Clarkson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson paid tribute to the late Loretta Lynn with a duet on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Monday (Oct. 17).
The unlikely pair joined forces to perform “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind),” a song co-written by Lynn alongside her sister, Peggy Sue Wright. The iconic country hit became the first of many No.1s for Lynn, who passed away at the age of 90 on October 4.
This “extra special” Kellyoke segment is the second time Clarkson and Johnson have teamed up to honor a country music icon.
In early 2021, Johnson visited The Kelly Clarkson Show in support of his NBC sitcom, Young Rock. In the midst of the segment, they duetted Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers’ iconic hit “Islands In The Stream.”
During the show, Johnson detailed his one-time desire to pursue country music.
“You had country music star like ambitions, you wanted to be a country singer and I had no idea,” Clarkson admitted.
“I did! As wild as that sounds, and you’ll appreciate this obviously cause your love for music and certainly country music too,” Johnson revealed. “I grew up loving blues, hip-hop of course but then country but traditional like that three chords and the truth, steel guitar kind of country.”
Johnson went on to recall a time he was living in Nashville and immersed himself in the music along lower Broadway. He even admitted to belting out country songs in some unexpected places.
“I was at a grocery store and I was shopping and when I say shopping I was doing a little five-finger discount at that time because I couldn’t afford anything and I was in the middle of the row in a shopping aisle and I was belting out this song, not caring who was listening to me,” Johnson explained. “Then, a woman comes around the corner and she sticks her head around the corner, she looks and I stopped singing, she looks at me, her eyes go wide and she’s like ‘wow I did not expect to see someone who looks like you singing that song.’ And I said ‘oh, thank you,’ then we had this chat and she was like ‘so clearly you should go down to Broadway cause that’s where all the country singers are.’ I didn’t tell her I was 15 and had no business being in a bar at that time, but then I went down there to Broadway and I used to hang out down there and listen to all the acts and I did have it in my mind that I was gonna become a country music singer.”
Later that year, Johnson shared his hopes to one day collaborate with a country music outlaw.
“My love for hip-hop goes back to day one, and I love traditional and outlaw country music,” he shared in an interview with Billboard. “I may collaborate with some artists in that genre as well. Some of those guys are my friends – like, for example, Jamey Johnson, Mickey Lamantia, Gethen Jenkins. There’s a real authenticity there… Maybe I could pick up my guitar.”
The Kelly Clarkson Show recently returned to television for its fourth season. This season has featured several musical guests, including Garth Brooks, and Kelsea Ballerini. Sam Smith recently joined her for a duet of her chart-topping hit, “Breakaway.”
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