“Forever Country” made its international premiere on radio stations across the world Friday morning (September 16th). The star-studded single is now available for download.
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the CMA Awards, the song and biggest music video in Country Music history includes the following CMA Award winners: 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.
“Forever Country” is a fresh take on three Country classics: John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” and Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.”
As part of the U.S. radio roadblock, CMA’s radio partners (except for CBS) launched a “Forever Country” sweepstakes allowing fans to enter for their chance to win the “Ultimate CMA Awards Experience.”
The winner of the sweepstakes will be granted two tickets to “The 50th Annual CMA Awards,” round trip coach airfare to Nashville, two nights of hotel accommodations, the opportunity to walk the CMA Awards Red Carpet, sit in the Red Carpet fan section, present an official CMA Broadcast Award at the pre-broadcast Awards ceremony, and more. Fans can get additional information and enter to win at ForeverCountry50.com.
In other news, a portion of the video will premiere in an exclusive sneak peek during ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” Tuesday, September 20th. “Good Morning America” debuted a 90 second behind-the-scenes video teaser that will live exclusively on GoodMorningAmerica.com on Yahoo for 24 hours.
Immediately following the sneak peek on “Dancing with the Stars,” fans will be directed to ForeverCountry50.com to see the full-length YouTube version of the music video.
“Forever Country,” the single was produced by CMA Award winner and CMA Board member Shane McAnally and the video was directed by Grammy Award-winning director Joseph Kahn.
The 50th Annual CMA Awards will be hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and broadcast live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Wednesday, November 2nd (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) 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), is available to download on ForeverCountry50.com. A second radio special about the video will be available in the coming days.
Audio / Dierks Bentley talks about the video for "Forever Country."
DownloadDierks Bentley (Forever Country video) OC: …mind blown. :27
“You can tell Joseph’s a real pro. I mean the guy’s awesome so I put my faith in him and the green screen stuff’s always a little weird, but he just really seems like he knows what he’s doing. Plus there’s like 80 people out there so someone must know what they’re doing. So, yeah, I would just do what I was told to do and sing along to the lines that I already sung in the studio and I’m excited to see the results. Man, it’s gonna be crazy. I mean, I kinda don’t wanna see anything until I see the final product and just have my mind blown.”
Audio / Darius Rucker talks about the video for "Forever Country."
DownloadDarius Rucker (Forever Country video) OC: …cool video. :09
We had a great crew and I got to see some after we finished I got to see some of the stuff on the green screen and stuff and it’s gonna be a really cool video.
Audio / Kix Brooks talks about the origin of the “Forever Country” video.
DownloadBrooks & Dunn (Forever Country) 1 OC: …something cool. :40
“You know, I think this was kind of patterned after the Brian Wilson song that the BBC did a video on as well, and it was inspirational, so…that was the pop guys doing that, you know? This isn’t copying that at all, but the 50th Anniversary of the CMA, which was kind of the creation, certainly in our world, you know? An association and a TV show that led to everything else we’re at now. Fiftieth anniversary is a big deal. You need to figure out a way to celebrate it and uh, it seems like a pretty cool way to get a handful of artists together and try and do something cool.”
Audio / Jason Aldean, won the trophy for Album of the Year at the 2011 CMA Awards, says his kids and someday his grandchildren will think he’s cool because he is in the video for “Forever Country.”
DownloadJason Aldean (Forever Country video) OC: …down the road. :38
I love it you know I mean getting to be in a video and on a song with all those people, I mean Ronny Milsap’s one of my favorite singers ever. It’s cool to have these little videos like this and even things I do on my own but especially things like this for down the road to be able to show like your kids and your grandkids one day, I mean right now they’re kinda they’re like whatever they don’t really care but at some point it’s cool to have these things where you can show it to them and be like hey I wasn’t always like old and weird you know I was cool and somewhat young at one point so it’ll be nice for them to go back and to have these things to see down the road.
Audio / The video’s director, Joseph Kahn, has been at the helm of some pretty mind-blowing videos for such artists as Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson and more. He feels the clip for “Forever Country” is basically a time capsule for the last 50 years of country music.
DownloadJoseph Kahn (Forever Country time capsule) OC: …thing ever. :35
“This is a time capsule. This is a 50th Anniversary of Country Music time capsule. And to have the responsibility of putting that together, it was exciting. And I feel honored and I’m just so into it. I just can’t wait to do something amazing. I mean look, you may look at it and go it’s not…but that’s what I want. I want something really spectacular, something awesome, something that feels like a time capsule that can last for, you know, forever. And that’s the ambition. And I’m having such a blast seeing everyone and working on it and being a part of it. It’s just the coolest thing ever.”
