He’s more than a little bit country.
Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler — who’s playing in the Eastern Conference Finals — has made a guest playlist for SiriusXM and Pandora of his favorite tunes, all of which are country songs. He’ll be a guest DJ for SiriusXM’s The Highway channel on Friday.
Butler recorded the modern country playlist while in the NBA “bubble” as part of the “Uninterrupted” series of athlete-curated music. Previous “Uninterrupted” participants have included LeBron James, Rob Gronkowski and Odell Beckham Jr. But while the other star athletes’ playlists have been hip hop heavy, with picks by Young Thug, Drake and Travis Scott, Butler’s playlist features Sam Hunt, Luke Bryan, Kane Brown and Tim McGraw.
(The others’ playlists also had amped up titles such as “Revenge SZN,” but Butler calls his set, “Chores,” as a soundtrack for housework. “Because, even though I don’t have too many chores nowadays, I feel like as a kid you’ve always gotta do your chores no matter what, or you’re gonna get in trouble,” he said.)
The Texan has previously defended his unpopular love of country in NBA locker rooms: When he played for the Timberwolves, teammate Karl-Anthony Towns said of Butler blaring the tunes, “It’s terrible. It’s so bad,” to which Butler fired back after a standout performance in a game against the Thunder, “I can listen to whatever (bleeping) music I want.”
Maybe “Revenge” would have been a good title after all for his latest ode to the genre?
Butler even starred in a video for Bryan’s tune, “Light It Up.”