NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Music awards shows love to mashup songs and artists together, but the Country Music Association took the mashup to a new level for their upcoming 50th anniversary.
“Forever Country” features 30 country singers in a blend of three of the genre’s most beloved tunes and an innovative music video that highlights the breadth and history of country music. The song was released digitally and to radio and a sneak peek of the music video premiered on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” on Tuesday night in advance of the Nov. 2 awards show.
That daunting task of combining all those voices together – including Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert – was given to two Grammy winners: producer and songwriter Shane McAnally, who has crafted songs with Sam Hunt and Kacey Musgraves, and director Joseph Kahn, who has worked with Taylor Swift, Eminem and Britney Spears.
“We had a list of about 40 songs, mostly CMA winners, songs that have won song of the year or at least been nominated, and songs that sort of covered a universal theme that could sound like a love song to our genre,” McAnally said.
The songs chosen were John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” and Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” But McAnally was hesitant to change too much of Parton’s country-pop crossover classic, which was also famously recorded by Whitney Houston.