Mickey Guyton and Darius Rucker are among the all-star list of artists who contributed to Metallica’s recently released The Metallica Blacklist, an expansive project celebrating the metal band’s influence. Both country artists offered covers of “Nothing Else Matters,” each putting their own spin on the song.
Guyton’s “Nothing Else Matters” beautifully showcases the lower register of her voice and demonstrates her versatility as an artist. Get a listen below.
“This was so much fun to be a part of,” Guyton writes on Twitter of the experience.
Rucker’s version of “Nothing Else Matters,” meanwhile, is a bit more haunting than Guyton’s, and offers more focus on the guitar. Press play to listen:
“Nothing Else Matters” was the third single from Metallica’s self-titled fifth studio album, often called The Black Album. The song peaked just outside the Top 10 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts, but remains one of the band’s best-known tracks.
Guyton and Rucker are not the only country stars included on The Metallica Blacklist; in fact, they’re not even the only country stars to cover “Nothing Else Matters.” Chris Stapleton, too, covers the song, while Jason Isbell and Jon Pardi, perform “Sad But True” and “Wherever I May Roam,” respectively. Also featured on the album are the folk-rock band Goodnight, Texas, Miley Cyrus, Weezer, J Balvin and Rodrigo y Gabriela, among many others.
All profits from sales of The Metallica Blacklist will be split between Metallica’s All Within My Hands Foundation and a charity selected by each artist. Guyton chose for proceeds from her cover to go to UNCF — an organization that focuses on minority education, supporting historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and their students — while Rucker opted to donate to MUSC Children’s Health, a network of children’s hospitals.
The Black Album is Metallica’s fifth studio album, and saw the band adopt a slight change in style. The critically acclaimed record is Metallica’s best-selling project to date: It’s been certified a whopping 16-times platinum and spent four consecutive weeks atop the all-genre Billboard 200 — Metallica’s first No. 1 album on that chart. Its five singles — “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven,” “Nothing Else Matters,” “Wherever I May Roam” and “Sad But True” — are among the band’s best-known songs.
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