Pat Boone Is Line Dancing at 89! Check Him Out in the Music Video for Country Single 'Grits' (Exclusive)

"I grew up in the country, so to not really be thought of as a country performer has always rankled me," the legendary performer jokes

In a world that seems to have become increasingly more complicated through the years, legendary artist Pat Boone says that some things in life are still rather simple.

Take, for example, the recipe for grits.

"It's corn," Boone, 89, tells PEOPLE of the Southern staple. "It's just like mashed potatoes. It's like cream of wheat. And it's very nutritious. I grew up eating grits and now its popularity is spreading across the country."

It's this popularity that inspired Boone to record his new single "Grits," a song that serves as an ode to the delicacy and a song whose lyrics came to him in a dream.

"I dreamed I was having a big country hit record," recalls Boone. "People were congratulating me, and even in my dream, I was singing some of it. I came out of the dream with the first verse."

Collaborating with the likes of Ray Stevens, The Gatlin Brothers, Lorrie Morgan, Deborah Allen, and country legend Roger Miller's son Dean Miller, Boone shows off some impressive moves in the music video premiering exclusively on PEOPLE.

"[Filming that music video] wore me out," admits Boone with a laugh of the music video shot against the backdrop of the historic Capitol Theatre in Lebanon, Tennessee. "I'm not a gifted dancer by any means. I'm 89, so trying to learn that peppy line dance which was created for 'Grits' was a lot!"

Related: Pat Boone Explains Why Elton John Thought He 'Was Going to Sue' Him over 'Crocodile Rock'

Of course, while the wildly popular teen idol during the '50s and '60s is best known for hits such as "Ain’t That a Shame" and "April Love," Boone has also recorded "a couple hundred country songs" throughout his career. "I grew up in the country, so to not really be thought of as a country performer has always rankled me," he says with a slight smile.

Boone still considers himself a "country guy," having grown up in Nashville. In fact, members of his close-knit family still live in the very same home Boone and his siblings grew up in.

"Before I went to school every day, I would milk Rosemary the cow," Boone remembers with a chuckle. "My brother and two sisters and I were big milk drinkers."

And yes, it was in that country that he would ultimately meet his wife, Shirley. "We'd been in love since we were 16," Boone recalls quietly. "We've been married now 67 years."

Of course, Boone's dear wife Shirley died in 2019 after a battle with vasculitis. She was 84 at the time of her death. But the way Boone speaks of her in the present tense illuminates the everlasting connection between the two.

"I read a letter from her from heaven at her memorial service," Boone recalls. "I wrote what I felt she was saying to me. Basically, don't cry for me. I'm happier than I've ever been, and I'm where I want you to be."

Related: Pat Boone's Wife of 65 Years, Shirley, Dies: 'I've Parted with My Better Half for a Little While'

His late wife has also made her presence known to Boone in several other ways.

"She was bed bound for the last six months of her life," Boone explains. "I had bought her this chairlift and we were going to be doing the memorial service the next morning at church. My four daughters were upstairs rehearsing a song and this chair lift hadn't been used for months. All of a sudden, they heard this clamor coming from the stairs and the chair lift was coming up the stairs by itself. Mechanically, that's not possible."

But for Boone, it served as a sign.

"I live in the same house where we lived for 65 years out in Beverly Hills," says Boone, who still swims, plays tennis and rides his bike as much as he can. "I talk to her all the time. I do not hear her talking back to me except sort of in my mind. I hear answers that I kind of recognize. I don't believe in ghosts, but the spiritual realm is just as real as the physical."

And heck, Shirley could cook up a mean plate of grits too.

"She just put 'em in and boiled it and then added a little salt or some pepper or butter," he remembers. "Really, she could add whatever she wanted, and it would have been good."

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