Postponed tour helps inspire country duo Dan + Shay to write, record new single

NASHVILLE -- Grammy-winning country duo Dan + Shay are out with their first new music in 2020. It's a single they recorded by themselves at home while quarantining during this pandemic. Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney were supposed to spend their spring and summer on a big headlining concert tour. Covid-19 put an abrupt stop to that.

To stay creative... and busy... the two longtime friends completed a song they'd started earlier; but they still needed a way to finish the recording at home. The studios in Nashville weren't open, so Smyers turned his home into a studio and recorded all the instruments himself and recorded Mooney's vocals at home. That new single is titled "I Should Probably Go to Bed."

"We all need to get back in those studios. Like, those are essential for our business. But when we made this record like they weren't open. You know, the musicians weren't able to work, unfortunately. So it's like, all right. We've got to just figure this out on our own," said Smyers. "And I think sometimes greatness can come with that. You know, especially with unlimited time, access to time to just figure it out and, you know, tinker and experiment until we thought it was right."

The two artists behind such hits as "Speechless" and "Tequila" have been working together for seven years. So the stay-at-home orders this past spring proved to be a long stretch of time for them to be apart.

"Getting to see him. In person... dude! Cuz I see him every day of my life, and then that's taken away from you," said Mooney. "It's like, you know, your best friend is just, you know... We felt like that awesome, cute video of the kids running and hugging on the sidewalk. That was kind of Dan and I. We were so excited."