By now youâve probably seen and heard that 30 of country musicâs biggest starsâboth past and presentâhave come together to record a new song and video, âForever Country,â for the CMA Awardsâ 50-year anniversary.
The star-studded mashup features a fresh take on three of countryâs most classic songs: John Denverâs âTake Me Home,â Willie Nelsonâs âOn the Road Againâ and Dolly Partonâs âI Will Always Love You.â The new tune, which was produced by Shane McAnally, features vocals from Willie, Dolly, George Strait, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Faith Hill, Keith Urban, Miranda Lambert and many more.
âForever Countryâ producer Shane McAnally, who also co-arranged the song, sat down with Nash Country Daily this morning (Sept. 21) to answer five questions about the new mashup. Shane has won multiple Grammys, CMAs and ACMs as a producer and songwriter, and he has penned multiple No. 1 hits, including âAmerican Kidsâ (Kenny Chesney), âSay You Doâ (Dierks Bentley) and âTake Your Timeâ (Sam Hunt), among others.
NCD: What was your role in selecting the three songs that made the final mashup?
A big role. Luckily the CMA board had an idea of a group of songs that would be in contention. There were about 40 songs on the list, most of which were previous CMA Song of the Year winners. Ultimately, they respected the fact that melodically and quarterly speaking, not every song can be mashed up with every other song. Josh Osborne, who I arranged the song with, had messed with some different versions. There were some other songs that we tried in different forms before we settled on the three. In fact, I envisioned one song being the focus, it was director Joseph Kahn who suggested the mashup.
Can you mention a couple of the songs that were in contention and what ultimately led you to selecting âTake Me Home,â âOn the Road Againâ and âI Will Always Love You?â
We had Glen Campbellâs âGentle on My Mindâ with âOn the Road Againâ at one point. We also tried Kenny Rogersâ âThe Gambler.â Ultimately, everyone felt like âI Will Always Love Youâ was the centerpiece that we needed. I was having a hard time figuring out how that song could sing with any other song because itâs such a personal song. Itâs a song to one person. When itâs sung over âTake Me Home,â it takes on a new life. It feels like youâre singing to the music. That was just insight others had that I couldnât see because I was too in the middle of it. They kept saying just try âI Will Always Love You,â and Iâm glad I did, clearly, because being able to end on Dolly singing âI Will Always Love Youâ feels like you are looking back over the history of country music. I was literally laying in bed thinking about these songs and how to make it work and got up and sang the idea into my phone one night.
There were 30 artists involved. How did you get so many stars to commit to the project?
It started with previous CMA winners, which helped to at least narrow it down. We said weâre going to do a mashup like âWe Are the World,â and people were like âWhat?â After Dolly and George Strait agreed to do it, it felt like everyone took a step back and were like, âWait, what is this?â Then we were able to put all of those asks out to the stars. You had to be available twice. One to sing. One to shoot the video. And it was in the summertime when they are all touring heavily. So I think we got very lucky. It was an act of God. They shot the video during CMA Fest so the artists were just running through. I think we were very lucky. There were just a handful of people who we just couldnât get their schedules to work.
You must like huge projects. After co-writing Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical with Brandy Clark last year, you jumped right into this.
Weirdly, Iâve recently discovered about myself that I am a person who thrives in chaos, and I think that a lot of times we donât think that about ourselves, but for different people, Iâm much calmer moving around that way. Maybe itâs a creative ADD. I like to be a part of as many things as I can because I feel like Iâm striking while the iron is hot. I want to do as much as I can while I can, and right now people are listening. So I just want to say âYes.â
Did âForever Countryâ sound like too big of an undertaking?
I certainly thought that âForever Countryâ was [too big]. When we presented it to the board with a demo and a budget, it was a lot of money to make this video. Joseph Kahn, the director, is a world-renowned Grammy-winning director, and it was going to be a lot of money. The way he does things is expensive. When they first heard the demo version of the mashup as it is now, they approved it. And I was sitting there half elated and the other half was âOh sh*t, what have I gotten myself into?â I donât know that any of us know what we are capable of until we try. Looking back over this project, it seems near impossible. It just came together with such an amazing group of people. The CMA is just the greatest group of people and everyone helped. Everyone got their artists involved and made this a big deal. Iâm really proud of it.
Check out the âForever Countryâ video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2pAslx5az8
photo courtesy Kelly Christine Musgraves/EB Media