Country Stars Unite On Grammys Stage To Honor Lives Lost In Las Vegas Shooting
on Jan 28, 2018
On January 18, the Grammys announced that plans were in place for a special tribute performance uniting three popular acts in country music. Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne, and Eric Church were named as the participants in the tribute, but most other details were kept secret.
Through the Grammys‘ executive producer Ken Ehrlich, we learned that the artists would be singing a Grammy-winning song in their tribute, but he didn’t name which one. “We wanted something universal,” he said.
Ehrlich said that many songs were considered as they searched for the right one to use in the tribute. The choice was an important one to make, because the purpose of the tribute was to honor the 58 lives lost in the Las Vegas shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival.
Each of the artists who took part in the tribute were selected for a special reason…they all performed at Route 91 in the days prior to the shooting.
Unfortunately, the tragedy that occurred at Route 91 wasn’t the only violent act that happened in the music world in 2017. Because of this, the artists’ tribute was structured “to honor the victims lost to gun violence and terrorism at various live music events over the course of the past year.“
Not only did they honor the lives lost at Route 91, they also paid tribute to the music lovers who lost their lives at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester earlier in 2017.
TJ Osborne, of the Brothers Osborne, began singing Eric Clapton’s “If I Saw You In Heaven,” and the crowd fell silent. Morris took over lead the next verse, followed by Eric Church for a truly chilling performance. The names of all the victims appeared behind the four singers, making the performance even more powerful.
Once the Grammys aired on Sunday (January 28), viewers finally got the chance to see the tribute these artists had been perfecting. As expected, it was quite emotional to witness.
Watch the country stars’ Grammys tribute in the clip below. You may want to grab a few tissues first…
