Go Behind the Scenes of the Stunning ‘Forever Country’ Music Video [Exclusive]
Thirty country legends jumped at the chance to be a part of the music video for "Forever Country," an all-star collaboration that pays tribute to 50 years of the CMA Awards. In this behind the scenes video exclusive to Taste of Country, key artists join the song producer and music video director to talk about pulling the song and video together.
Carrie Underwood admits she was skeptical when she first heard the idea of mashing up "Take Me Home, Country Roads" by John Denver, "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson and "I Will Always Love You" by Dolly Parton.
“I was like, ‘How is that gonna work?’" she says in this clip before agreeing that it absolutely works. Grammy-winning video director Joseph Kahn had the idea for a mashup, but it was up to Shane McAnally to make it work. The songs are very different from one another, but somehow, incredibly universal. Lady Antebellum's Charles Kelley remarks that it's a perfect representation of country music right now.
“You can tell everybody apart when they sing because they’re so unique and so stylistic,” Tim McGraw says.
Luke Bryan, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, George Strait, Charley Pride, Alabama, Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts and more are among the artists that appear in the song and video. McGraw remarks with amazement that singers he's idolized for 30 or 40 years turned up to be a part of this. It was an opportunity that everyone jumped at the chance to be a part of.
Kahn explains his vision for the music video in this behind-the-scenes clip as well, saying that he did indeed want to make it universal, but for it to always come back to the country. Artists were shot on a green screen, but you see graphics of railroad tracks transform into major cities and back again. It's visually stunning to watch in its entirety — watch the full video here!
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