Honey County celebrated the resilient country community at Stagecoach 2019 on Saturday (April 27) in the best way possible.
The girls — band members Dani Rose, Devon Jane and Katie Stump — brought their original song, “Country Strong,” to the festival for a special performance to commemorate the victims from the Route 91 and Borderline shootings. Teaming up with over 150 dancers (which included Route 91 and Borderline survivors) inside the Honkytonk Dance Hall, fans were able to learn the song and dance at the hall and then take part in the Saturday evening performance.
“Stagecoach reached out to us and asked us to write a song that would commemorate the victims, survivors and their families of the tragedies that have happened over the last couple years. We were of course honored, but were also really nervous so we wanted to make sure we did it justice,” Dani Rose told CS Country moments after the performance. “It was a lot of pressure. So we got together and got a rough draft going and then we brought in our favorite writer to work with, Kalie Shorr, and she helped us finish out the lyrics and make the song what it is.”
Putting the song together in less than two months, the girls worked closely with Stagecoach dance captain Anne-Marie Dunn to make sure that the song (and its choreography) were uplifting and did not dwell on the sadness each tragic event brought to so many people.
“Katie was just listening to Anne-Marie, taking down notes about what she was saying and speaking about the community rising up. They wanted the song to be uplifting and not dwell on the sadness as the song is about coming together and moving forward,” Rose continued.
“So that’s where we came in as songwriters, melody writers, and all the things that come into play when writing a song to make it epic and something that’s going to make an impact. So we immediately opened up the song and I told Devon, ‘we need like ACDC. I want ‘Sweet Child of Mine’ mixed with Keith Urban. I want this to be a pump up song.’ And it took off from there.”
Next up for Honey County are a string of summer performances at festivals and venues across the country as well as new music.
“We’re playing CMA Fest as well as a show with Carly Pearce coming up that we’re really excited about on Father’s Day in Temecula. We’re also working on new music as much as we can, recording new songs in the studio. The little studio in my apartment, Devon, Dani, and I have had a fun time with that and some production stuff. Just getting all set up for the next thing,” Katie shared.
You can listen to “Country Strong” below and let us know what you think of it by leaving a reaction at the bottom of the post or by sending us a tweet at @CS_Country.
