By Madeline O'Connor

It may not sound like the most obvious choice in the world, but smooth operator Lionel Richie has paired with some of country biggest names for his new album 'Tuskegee,' – revisiting and reinterpreting some of his biggest hits.

As an unexpected bonus, he made a lot of new friends inNashville. He told The Boot at a party at his LA home recently: "We started off not knowing anybody at the beginning of recording… This is the best bunch of brand-new old friends I've made in my life."

During the three-hour party, Richie sat on the steps of his atrium and proceded to play the entire album, including hilarious anmecdotes about the nine-month recording session in between each song.

He said of Blake Shelton, with whom he sang 'You Are,' "I'd never seen a plaid shirt on someone that big." Richie spoke of expecting Kenny Chesney to pick 'All Night Long' to cover, so was shocked when the country star expressed his admiration for the ballad 'My Love.'  He said, "He drunk dialled me at2:00 amand said he was going to sing the song to me!”

Both Rascal Flatts' picked 'Dancing on the Ceiling,' a tune Lionel joked "is about as country as 'Mona Lisa'." "Every time I'd think I was kicking ass,Garywould go four octaves higher. Richie also told a touching story about recording 'Endless Love' with Shania Twain at his house in theBahamas, as they worked through her fears about singing again after such a long break

Speaking following the impromptu album taster, he said: "What I've found in artists sometimes is there's an ego that happens [where you think] 'I have to out-sing you or out-perform you.' That's if you're purely a singer. I'm purely a writer. My ego is the fact that Darius Rucker said to me, 'I'm singing your part.'

“Can you imagine telling Frank Sinatra, 'I'm singing your part?' You're out of here. So immediately, I had to stop and go and say, 'OK guys, come in and make this song yours and I'll scat in between. I'll be around'."

'Tuskegee,' which also features duets with Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Currington, Tim McGraw and Jason Aldean, will be out in March.