When Motley Crue announced their retirement last month after almost 35 years together, the country music community rallied to give them a huge farewell gift, in the form of a Motley Crue tribute album featuring some of country music's biggest stars.

But it turns out the group's lead singer, Vince Neil, wasn't so sure about the idea at first.

“I was like, ‘Eh, I don’t know. Let me think about this one for a minute,’” he tells Nashville's Tennessean. “The more I thought about it, the cooler it got, especially after Carrie Underwood did ‘Home Sweet Home,’ and that was so good. I’m thinking to myself, ‘How cool would it be to hear these other acts’ renditions of the songs?’

Rascal Flatts, LeAnn Rimes, Eli Young Band, Cassadee Pope, Brantley Gilbert and several others will all lend their talent to the project. It's an impressive list of country music stars -- but Neil admits he didn't know who any of them were until recently.

“It’s fun because my girlfriend is a country girl,” he says. “She’s a barrel rider in the rodeo. When I showed her the names, she was like, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.’ I’m like, ‘Tell me, tell me. Fill me in.’”

The California native says that ultimately he believes the album will invite an entirely new audience to the music of Motley Crue.

“The really cool thing is I think a lot of people have heard of the name Motley Crue, but don’t put the music to the face," he adds. "I think it’s going to bring a lot of fans that aren’t Motley fans in. It will make them go, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve heard that song before.’”

More artists are expected to be added to the project, which will be released on Big Machine Records in the near future. “Everybody that I brought this up to has been so excited,” label head Scott Borchetta says. “We’re intentionally leaving a few slots open because now that we’ve announced this I know there’s going to be people who want to be on this record.”

Motley Crue will kick off their 72-city farewell tour on July 2 in Grand Rapids, Mich. See a list of all of their upcoming shows here.

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