The song “Forever Country” brings together thirty of country music’s biggest names to help celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the CMA Awards. The video was released this week and features country star Brad Paisley kicking things off and finishes perfectly with the camera closing in on Dolly Parton for the final line of the song and a smile.
The video is actually a blending of three songs, “Country Roads Take Me Home” by John Denver, “On The Road Again” by Willie Nelson and “I Will Always Love You” by Parton. The song was written by Mac MacAnally, but director, Joseph Kahn, actually came up with the idea “I didn’t think one song could encapsulate all of country music, so I pitched the idea of doing a mashup of a couple songs and blending them together,” Kahn explained in a recent interview with CNN. “I was told that’s never going to work. I pitched something crazy and Shane [McAnally] made it reality.”
The video was shot in a studio, but with the help of green screens the artists travel around the world, visiting England, the Eiffel Tower and the CMA stage before ending in a country field. The video is a perfect tribute for the 5oth Annual CMA Awards and all of the country acts featured are CMA Award winners. In addition, MacAnnally is a CMA Award winner and Kahn has won a Grammy.
“Forever Country” Cast: Alabama, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Brooks & Dunn, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Brett Eldredge, Vince Gill, Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Ronnie Milsap, Kacey Musgraves, Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, Dolly Parton, Charley Pride, Rascal Flatts, Reba, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, George Strait, Randy Travis, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and Trisha Yearwood.
You can watch “Forever Country” video below, and you can watch the 50th Annual CMA Awards hosted by Paisley and Underwood on November 2 on ABC.
