Brett Eldredge and Meghan Trainor Talk Early Nashville Connections

No matter what they sing together, Brett Eldredge and Meghan Trainor have a natural musical telepathy based on their fast friendship that started in Nashville.

That musical connection is on full display in their CMT Crossroads performance of Trainor’s “Let You Be Right.” The hour-long concert special premieres Sept. 3 at 10 p.m. ET.

Before they were known for their hits, “Beat of the Music,” “All About That Bass” and more, they were rising Music Row singer-songwriters trying to get their songs recorded by other big-name acts. Trainor is a No. 1 country songwriter having co-written Rascal Flatts’ “I Like the Sound of That” and Lauren Alaina’s “Road Less Traveled,” while Eldredge has had his songs recorded by Trace Adkins, Neal McCoy, David Nail and Jake Owen.

Before their Crossroads taping in April, CMT.com caught up with the two artists to talk about their musical connections:

CMT.com: How they met:
Trainor: We first met at a CMA after party in 2014. We both had the best time of our lives. I performed with Miranda Lambert, “All About That Bass,” and he won best new artist and so we were living the dream. And that night we celebrated and raged with my dad. We danced on the dance floor until 4 a.m., and I saw him at a couple other events. We’ve been friends since.

Then my mom was a huge fan after that night. She was like, “You need to write with him. You need to make songs with him. I love his music.” To this day, she believes she knows where his soulmate is. She’s trying to set him up constantly as if he was my brother. I’m like, “You don’t have to do this mom. He’s going to be OK.”

The songs they really wanted to sing:
Trainor: “I Wanna Be That Song” because that’s how I feel about all my songs. No matter where they are in life, I want strangers to relate to them, and make that their favorite song and make it relate to their lives and memories.

Eldredge: We did “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” together, and I was almost in tears. It’s such a powerful song. I was excited to sing it with her, and I was nervous, but it went great.

On what makes them forever fans of each other’s music:
Eldredge: We both rose up in the Nashville songwriting community together. We’re old souls. She loves [Frank] Sinatra. She loves that throwback vibe, and I do, too. I think songwriters in Nashville know a great songwriter for a great songwriter regardless of whether you’re country or not. If you’re as talented as Meghan is, people are going to want to write with you. They’re going to take a shot with you. Maybe it’s not like that in every city, but that’s the kind of shots people give you in Nashville. We both got those shots early on, and now here we are.

Trainor: We relate so much because we grew up in a similar path. Everything happened when it happened really fast, and we were both songwriters in Nashville just trying to get anything going.

The top reasons everyone should watch their CMT Crossroads on Sept. 3:
Eldredge: We’re just going to make everybody feel alive. We’re going to make everybody feel it in their hearts and in their souls, we’re going to do big vocals, and we’re going to have these magic moments.

Trainor: And I’m gonna dance. And it’s going to be a really fun show.