FOREVER COUNTRY: Brett and Martina

As announced this week (September 13th), in celebration of The 50th Annual CMA Awards, the CMA has created the biggest video in Country Music history. Titled “Forever Country,” the single and accompanying music video features 30 CMA Award-winning acts. The single was produced by CMA Award-winning Board member Shane McAnally and the video was directed by Grammy Award-winning director Joseph Kahn. In another historic move, the single will be unveiled to the public Friday, September 16th in a global roadblock across Country radio, premiering on hundreds of radio stations simultaneously at 8:30 AM/ET across the U.S., in addition to premiering in key international markets.

The song and music video weave a medley of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” and Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” together.

“The 50th Annual CMA Awards,” hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, will be broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, November 2nd at 8pm ET/PT on ABC.

For more information on “Forever Country” visit ForeverCountry50.com.

A radio special about the song, hosted by Luke Bryan (as well as an unhosted version), will be made available to download on ForeverCountry50.com. A second radio special about the video will be available in the coming days.

Brett Eldredge (Forever Country) OC: …singing it. :35
“Being on the CMA board has been a life changer for me because CMA just carries so much weight to one of these awards, or everything that they do. They do so many amazing things, and to be a part of the board I got to hear the ideas that maybe they could put this together where they put these classic, iconic songs and iconic artists and put it all together and have, you know, a bunch of artists get together and sing these songs that kind of shaped our genre, and I thought that was the coolest idea in the world and I get to be a decision maker on the fact of pushing this through and saying let’s do it. I think everybody just loved the idea, and I was glad to be a part of getting it here. And now I get to be a part of singing it.”

Brett Eldredge (On the Road Again) OC: …Road Again. :
“‘On The Road Again’ I got to sing a couple parts on that and with some amazing singers, so I’m like okay go in here…I’m so nervous kind of, because these are some of the best people that have ever sang in this genre and in music and I’m going to sing along with them. I’ve got to step my game up! So, I showed up and Shane McAnally was producing it, and he’s a buddy of mine. We’ve written songs together and stuff. So I went and there and just said you know what, there’s a reason I’m here. I got to be here. I’m going to go show them what I’ve got, and I got to sing ‘On The Road Again’ and picture myself rolling down the highway with Willie Nelson in a bus ‘cause that’s like where he lives. He will do that till the day he dies. He loves it. That’s in his blood, and I feel like I’m the same way. I will never lose that road life out of me and that feeling I get when I go out on stage or when I’m singing these lines, I’m riding right down on the highway with Willie Nelson singing ‘On The Road Again.”

Martina McBride (I Will Always Love You) OC: …a kid. :32
“I’m on ‘I Will Always Love You.’ I sing a couple lines in that part of the song and ‘I Will Always Love You’ is special to me because when I first, I was about 15 or 16 years old and I was in a talent contest back in Kansas, where I’m from, and won the opportunity to come to Tennessee, to Nashville, to be at the national level in the contest. And ‘I Will Always Love You’ is the song that I sang for both the regional, or the state, competition and then the national competition. So I don’t know, it’s just you know, it’s always had a special place in my heart, I’ve been singing it since I was a kid.”