If you are a big fan of country songs and you love all country music artists, then this one is for you. In June 2016, the Country Music Academy decided to create one of the biggest performances called “Forever Country.” The performance consists of a mash-up of three country hits “I Will Always Love You,” “Take Me Home Country Roads” and “On the Road Again.” The performance is to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the CMA.
Forever Country, The Performance of the Decade
The CMA made a brilliant choice in bringing together classic and contemporary music icons. The song featured Alan Jackson, King of Country Music George Strait, Vince Gill, Reba, Alabama, Charley Pride, and other classic country artists. The classic country artists are joined by the newer generation of musicians such as Little Big Town, Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, and Brad Paisley.
The song was recorded for over three days in Nashville and was released on September 2016. The video has now reached more than 39 million views on YouTube. The song debuted at #1 on the country chart and it also won Video of the Year at the 2017 ACM Awards because of the beautiful transitions from one artist to the other. The money earned from the sales and streaming went to music education and this caused is supported by the CMA Foundation.
Since “Forever Country” featured a lot of country music icons, they had limited screen time. Since they are all artists on their own, they managed to use their time well singing their part and not trying to overshadow other artists featured in the music video. The song featured Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson, the original artists of the song. Unfortunately, Denver passed away in 1997, so he was not able to be a part of this massive mash-up.
The song ended with Dolly’s breathtaking line, taking us back to her original rendition of the song back in 1974. It really is one of the best country mash-ups to ever be performed and we only wish that the other country legends were alive to see this.
Watch “Forever Country” here:
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Dolly Parton, John Denver, Willie Nelson