Flashback: “Forever Country” Released To Honor 50 Years Of CMA History
CMA Country Music Music Association/Facebook
To celebrate the 50th Annual CMA Awards in 2016, the Country Music Association wanted to celebrate this monumental occasion in a way that has never been done before.
They recruited 30 past CMA Award winners to perform an epic mashup of three of country music’s most beloved songs:
John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,”
Willie Nelson’s “On The Road Again,”
And Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”
Classic and modern country artists joined forces to deliver a chilling medley that has been viewed a whopping 29 million times on YouTube alone.
The song, which is titled “Forever Country,” features legends such as Vince Gill, Alabama, Charley Pride, Ronnie Milsap, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Reba McEntire, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton who all sang snippets, as well as some of modern country’s biggest stars like Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Brad Paisley. Randy Travis even made an appearance, although he did not sing.
The person responsible for this tremendous success is Shane McAnally, one of the foremost country songwriters and producers in Nashville, who opened up about the difficulty of melding three stunning hits and 30 unique voices.
“Everybody kept coming back to ‘I Will Always Love You,’ saying that was sort of the quintessential song. And I kept resisting, saying, ‘How in the world am I going to get that song to work with these other songs?’ I presented another demo that everyone loved, but they kept saying, ‘We need “I Will Always Love You.’” I didn’t disagree with that, but I didn’t know how I was going to get it in there without making the whole thing a ballad. They wanted movement, but they wanted that song!”
Fortunately, he and his co-arranger, Josh Osborne, had an epiphany one day that allowed them to weave the three songs together into a medley, but after the music and artists were set in place – there was still the masterful feat of getting them all together for the video.
Can you spot all the country stars? Let us know in the comments, and make sure to watch the incredible music video below.
