Mickey Guyton Honored to Open for Brad Paisley

Mickey Guyton scored one of this year's most coveted summer tour slots when she was invited to serve as the opening act on Brad Paisley's 2015 Crushin' It World Tour. But although Guyton has been out with Paisley for more than a month now, she admits that she still can't believe her good fortune.

"I was at St. Jude, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’d be so freakin’ stoked,'" Guyton tells The Boot of the moment she was invited to join the tour. "And then at the ACM Awards, I went to formerly introduce myself, and he goes, ‘So, I’ve been thinking? "Whiskey Lullaby" every night?’ and I was like, ‘Um, yes! Do I have a pulse?'"

The duet, which Alison Krauss originally performed with Paisley for his 2003 Mud on the Tires album, has been one of the highlights of the show each night, thanks in part to Guyton's hard work.

"It’s cool that people like our version," she says. "I studied his version for hours and hours and hours because I wanted to do it justice the way that Alison sings her part. So it’s really cool that people respond to it."

While Guyton and Paisley share an undeniable musical chemistry on stage, the 31-year-old says that they are equally close off the stage as well.

"It’s amazing. I feel like I’ve known him since I was a little girl," Guyton gushes. "He’s like my big brother or something. He’s such a kind person. And it makes me want to do better as an artist. It makes me want to, if I’m ever in the position to have my own tour, to treat people the way that he treats people."

Guyton's eponymous EP was released last month. The debut single from the project, "Better Than You Left Me," is available for download on iTunes.

Paisley's 2015 Crushin' It World Tour, which also includes Justin Moore, heads to Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York later this month. All of the upcoming shows are listed on Guyton's website.

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