AJ McLean is "excited" for bandmate Brian Littrell's son Baylee to open for Backstreet Boys on tour.

AJ McLean

AJ McLean

The 41-year-old singer - who is also joined by Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson and Howie Dorough in the chart-topping group - can't wait to have 16-year-old rising country star Baylee, who he praised as "beyond talented", on the road with them for the North American leg of their 'DNA World Tour' this summer.

Speaking to Billboard on the red carpet at the AMC Awards 2019 in Las Vegas on Sunday (07.04.19), he said: "I support anything that [Baylee] does.

"He's beyond talented and he's got a pretty awesome dad, too, who I kind of know pretty well.

"I'm excited to have him opening up for us on the US tour ... He's been with us since he was a kid. He's only known music."

AJ - who recently released solo single 'Boy and a Man' from his upcoming album 'Long Road' - also talked about how country music is starting to knock down barriers with more and more "new takes on country music", whilst he admitted the genre will "always have a very near, dear place" in "his heart".

He said: "I think in time, hopefully, as things keep transcending and walls keep coming down, hopefully they'll embrace new sounds, new takes on country music.

"But country will always have a very near, dear place in my heart ... Some of the production that's on my album may be a little more on the urban/pop side, but the lyrical content and the melodies are definitely country."

Meanwhile, Baylee - who will release his debut album this summer - said it's a "dream come true" to go on tour with his dad.

Recalling how he came to follow in his 'I Want It That Way' hitmaker father's footsteps, he recalled: "Since I was six years old, my dream has always been to go on tour.

"I wanted to do what my dad did.

"One of their shows -- I think it was the tour after their album 'This Is Us' from 2009 -- they went out on the road and I remember right before they went on, I put on one of my dad's jackets from one of his outfits in his dressing room and I stood in front of the mirror. "He comes in and is like, 'Hey Bubs, what are you doing?' and I'm like, 'Well I want to be like you.'

"I asked, 'Can I get up there instead one day?' He was like, 'Well, you never know.'

"And now the opportunity to open for him and the guys is like that six-year-old self standing in front of that mirror in his dressing room with his jacket on. It's a dream come true."

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