Any vinyl collector knows that an album found in your favorite record store or in a dusty discount bin can might just end up being a cherished lifelong treasure. For Karley Scott Collins, that record was a Willie Nelson Greatest Hits album gifted to her by her nana. Nelson's "Always On My Mind," a song first made popular by Elvis Presley and released by the Red Headed Stranger in 1982, became a touchstone for Collins and her nana and became the soundtrack to a full circle moment when the Florida-born artist later shared the stage with the man himself.
"When I first started collecting vinyl records, one of the first I ever got was a Willie Nelson Greatest Hits record that my nana bough me because she's a huge fan of his," Collins tells Wide Open Country. "This song was on it and we'd always listen to it while we'd cook together and we'd dance in the kitchen. I got to open for him a couple years ago and I got to sing with him at the end of his set, so this song just has a lot of really special memories for me. I think it's such a beautiful song."
Collins, who released the breezy love song "Petty in the '80s" earlier this year, recently shared her debut EP Hands on the Wheel. Collins is a co-writer on all five songs on the EP and co-produced the title track with Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Keith Urban).
"These songs are pieces of my heart that I'm putting back together in a collection of songs, and I hope that everyone who listens can find a piece of their heart in it too," Collins said of the EP in a press statement. "Love, heartbreak and everything in between is such a rollercoaster, it feels like sometimes all you can do is keep your hands on the wheel."
Collins will make her CMA Fest debut this June.
