Jimmy Butler Plans to Release Debut Country Album When His ‘Other Job’ as NBA Star Is Less Busy

Jimmy Butler is heading from the basketball court to the recording studio.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the Miami Heat player detailed plans to venture into music with his upcoming debut country album and opened up about how he first connected with the genre — as well as why Garth Brooks inspired him to not play guitar.

Butler, 34, told the outlet he’s been “in the lab writing and producing country music” but wants to keep his collaborators a “surprise,” coyly revealing they’re “some real artists and songwriters.”

At the moment, the NBA star has crafted “around 45 tracks” and plans to make more. “Maybe a week before training camp I’ll get down and do some,” he said. “There’s definitely going to be an album. That’s the goal. I just don’t know when.”

Jimmy Butler in Denver in June 2023.

Jamie Schwaberow/NBAE via Getty

“The date I want to do it always gets pushed back because this other job that I have, playing basketball, kind of overshadows everything,” added Butler, teasing that “some of the songs” could end up on a future follow-up album. “I can’t wait to get it to the people.”

He first “fell in love with country music in the fall of 2010” when his fellow athletes at Marquette University wouldn’t stop blasting hip-hop songs in the locker room, so he started playing Tim McGraw’s “Don’t Take the Girl” out of spite.

“I downloaded it, went back into the locker room, and started blaring that song over and over again — because it was the only country song that I had — and everyone was going, ‘Turn that s— down! Ain’t nobody want to hear that!'” recalled Butler.

Jimmy Butler. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

He refused to stop playing the song aloud and soon began appreciating the genre more, becoming a fan of artists including Faith Hill, Brad Paisley, Kenny Chesney, Trisha Yearwood, Brooks and, of course, McGraw.

“It was an ever-winding road of musical talent. Now, you have country music that’s basically like hip hop or R&B. You have Dan + Shay who are singing these incredible notes. Now, in 2023, I’m knee-deep in it and try to see as many concerts as I can,” said Butler.

After joining the NBA in 2011, the first country artist he saw perform live was Brooks at a Las Vegas residency concert. “I got to see him sing and this was at a point in time where I was trying to learn to play guitar,” recalled Butler, noting that he watched the “Callin’ Baton Rouge” musician’s hands more than he listened to the music.

Jimmy Butler. Michael Reaves/Getty Images

Following the show, he met Brooks and Yearwood backstage — “but I wasn’t really paying attention. I was just looking at his hands, which were so calloused from playing guitar.”

“I said, ‘So, if I’m going to get as good as you my hands will have to look like that?’ We said our goodbyes, I went home, and I never touched a guitar again because I didn’t want my hands to look like that,” explained Butler. “Now I’m on the writing side of country music instead of playing guitar.”

Butler’s already found a fellow country musician friend in Morgan Wallen, who happens to have a scheduled concert in Toronto on the basketball player’s Sept. 14 birthday. “I’ve already talked to him and said that I want to come onstage and just sing one line of a song,” he teased. “I mean, I could sing many of his songs, but I just want to sing one line of ”98 Braves.’ Maybe I’ll sing a whole verse!”