Lionel Richie

Richie says he feels he's known Bryan from way, way back in time!

A photo gallery of artists who have unexpectedly released country albums.

Just one of the perks of being Luke Bryan is you get to sing with your musical heroes -- on more than one occasion.

Luke Bryan joined in as part of an all-star tribute to pop icon Lionel Richie at the 2016 Grammy Awards on Monday night (Feb. 15).

The list of artists who would not be defined as "country" by any mainstream country fan, but have had country hits, is pretty substantial. Several rock and pop stars have either tried their hand at a country song or album over the years, while a few kind of had "accidental" country hits. Here are some of them:

With a long and mega-successful career, you would think that Lionel Richie would have been nominated for practically every music award there is by now. But in the short time since he crossed over into the country side of things, Richie hasn't been formally honored for his work -- until now, that is. This year, the 'Just for You' hitmaker received his first ever CMA Awards nomination.