Lee Greenwood performed his classic hit, “God Bless The USA” alongside country music acapella group Home Free and members of the United States Air Force.
The Singing Sergeants’ YouTube account posted the video on Tuesday (June 30). The entire performance is all a capella, all in all, a first for Greenwood.
Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, each artist recorded their portion of the song at various locations in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Nashville, and Minneapolis. In the video, you could see the recording engineers and producers were distant and donning masks.
“After singing ‘God Bless The USA’ for 30 years the same way, it’s like I kind of sat back and relied on listening,” Greenwood told American Songwriter. “You know, what can I sing different here? And I was encouraged by their tech at the board, who said, ‘Just do a couple passes. And do something like you’ve never done before.’ This is ‘God Bless The U.S.A.’ like you’ve never heard it before.”
Home Free member Austin Brown shared that the group has previously closed their concert with a cover of the song for fifteen years. “Now we save it for special occasions or if we do a function for veterans or that sort of thing,” Brown told the outlet. “It’s almost like a secondary national anthem for this country. When we sing this song, everyone in the audience, no matter where we are in this country, everyone stands up. It’s one of those songs that’s gonna be here forever. It’s going to be in the American culture forever.”
Watch the performance, below.
All About the Iconic Song
On May 21, 1984, the legendary song was released. Above all, it originally appeared on Greenwood’s album, You’ve Got a Good Love Comin’. The song sold over a million copies and even had a spin-off, “God Bless You Canada.”
Firstly, in 1984, it reached No. 7 on Billboard’s Hot Country Singles Chart. Finally, in 2001 after the terrorism attacks on 9/11, it reached No.16 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. Furthermore, Beyoncé later covered the song, giving proceeds to the 9/11 charities.
