Shenandoah Reveal What Sparked ‘Two Dozen Roses’ Collab With Luke Combs

There has been a resurgence of '80's and '90's country music as of late, including a killer collaboration from Luke Combs and Shenandoah. They teamed to re-record Shenandoah's 1989 hit song, "Two Dozen Roses," which garnered Shenandoah their first No. 1 hit song in more than 30 years.

I recently sat down with Marty Raybon and Mike McGuire of Shenandoah, and I asked how this new version of their hit song with Combs came about. As it turns out, they first met at an awards show, where Combs ended up a big winner.

"We had run into him before, a couple years previous — well, in '19; it was before COVID," Raybon recalls. "I went over to where he was at and I said, 'Bro, you better turn your hat around.'"

Combs was confused by that statement, so Raybon told him, "Man, you ain't gonna know whether you're going or coming here in just a minute."

"I never realized that Male Vocalist was the next award," Raybon adds. "Then they called everybody to get back in their seats, then they called Male Vocalist."

"He probably thought you had already looked into the envelope," McGuire interjects, while Raybon continues, "When he started making his way up there, I just gave him the old thumbs up. Since then, there has been sort of a comradery. Look, I'm a Luke Combs fan."

Fast forward to a couple of years later, at some of his shows, Luke Combs had been covering "Two Dozen Roses," which hit for Shenandoah in 1989. The members of Shenandoah kept seeing those clips online, and finally, everyone agreed that they should get into the studio and rework "Two Dozen Roses."

The rest is history. The song landed at No. 1 on the charts and has amassed millions of streams already, with no stopping in sight. Combs is currently on the road finishing up his 2023 tour dates, as is Shenandoah.

Evan Paul is the host of Taste of Country Nights, a syndicated radio show heard on more than 120 country radio stations nationwide, every night from 7PM to midnight. He plays the best new country music and interviews today's top stars, like Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Dan + Shay, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Lady A, Morgan Wallen, + more!