Lee Brice and Kellie Pickler are longtime friends, and Brice shares how a poignant thought from Pickler inspired him to write a track called "Songs in the Kitchen" on his 2017 self-titled album.

"She's a big part of this record," Brice tells Taste of Country Nights. The "I Drive Your Truck" singer shares the story of how he, Pickler and Randy Houser broke away from the crowd during a party at his house to have an impromptu session in the garage with just a guitar and their voices. "We were just singing just to sing," Brice sets the scene.  "We were just enjoying it. We were like, 'Wow, we're just singing to sing, we're not at work.'"

That's when the "Red High Heels" singer busted out a line that led to the creation of a new song. "Kellie stops and she goes, 'God guys, this is so awesome, don't you just miss the days when you just sat around the kitchen and just sang songs?'" Brice explains. He immediately wrote down the title "Songs in the Kitchen," which would become one of his favorite songs on the album.

What Makes Lee Brice Ugly Cry?

"She talks in song titles all the time," he says of Pickler. "You could write 10 song titles down just from her talking, it's awesome. She's so cool."

And fans who watch Pickler & Ben are no strangers to the country star's bubbly personality, but Brice assures that she's always authentic, just one of the qualities he admires in her. "I've never seen her act, I've just seen her be herself," he says. "Anything she's doing whether it's just us hanging out or whether she's on stage or whether she's in front of cameras on TV, she's always her."

Lee Brice is available now and features the lead single "Boy."

Lee Brice Makes the Top Country Songs of the Century!

More From 97.3 The Dawg