Considering the collaborative successes of Mitch Rossell with Garth Brooks, it's really not surprising that Brooks' wife, Trisha Yearwood, would want a share of that action.
Yearwood told People magazine last week that she's been "waiting patiently" for Rossell to ask her to sing on one of his records.
Her wait is over. "Ran Into You," Rossell's new duet with Yearwood, was released on streaming media on March 30. On March 31, the song was already No. 34 out of the top 36 in sales on iTunes country chart. Rossell co-wrote the single with Dave Turnbull and Tommy Karlas.
Rossell, a graduate of Silverdale Baptist Academy, is an independent country singer-songwriter with an innate genius for a good hook, a good turn of phrase. He wrote "Ask Me How I Know," which Brooks released in 2017. It reached No. 1 on Billboard Country Airplay and on MediaBase and was Brooks' first chart-topper since "More Than a Memory" in 2007. Rossell also co-wrote Brooks' hits "Dive Bar" and "All Day Long."
Brooks asked Rossell to open his world tour in 2016.
"I watched this kid go out with a guitar in front of a crowd that's there to see somebody else - that's a hard gig right there," Brooks said in a previous radio interview with Chuck Wickes that can be found on YouTube. "I watched him win them over and get a standing ovation and chanting his name. That's rare to do in arenas or stadiums."
"I've always dreamed of asking Trisha to sing one of my songs, but I knew it had to be something special. She's not gonna sing on something that she doesn't love," Rossell said in a phone interview last week.
"I love this song and I knew it was special. I was hanging out with Garth (social distancing outdoors, he clarifies), played him 'Ran Into You' and asked if he thought she'd sing on it."
"I do," the country superstar responded. "But I'm not going to ask her - you are."
"I emailed her the song, she loved it and said OK," Rossell recalls.
"Ran Into You" is an emotional ballad that Rossell says is "about my restlessness through my 20s. I could never seem to settle down, never make commitments. Anytime anyone got close, I moved on. I had things to work through. I had to grow and learn from experience. Then I met someone I could see sharing my life with." (He and wife Whitney will be married three years in May.)
Rossell sings lead on "Ran Into You" with Yearwood harmonizing.
"The harmony is so unique, what brought it alive. It's really the part of the track that stands out," he says.
The release of "Ran Into You" builds on the momentum generated by Rossell's single "2020," which hit No. 1 on iTunes' country chart the first week of January. That song, a prayerful request for God's help in healing the division in America, was propelled solely by fan support into the top spot for almost two weeks before being bumped by Morgan Wallen after the release of Wallen's double album, "Dangerous." But two days later, "2020" returned to the top spot for two more days before starting to descend the chart.
Rossell said the new single's video will be out in about two weeks "and Trisha does make an appearance."
Email Susan Pierce at beagleluvr126@yahoo.com.