Forever Country is a 2016 medley performed by Artists of Then, Now & Forever, a collective of 30 country music stars created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Country Music Association (CMA) Awards. The song cleverly mashes up three classic 1970s hits—John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads", Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again", and Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You"—an idea pitched by music video director Joseph Kahn after he was approached by the CMA. Recorded in Nashville in June 2016 with producer Shane McAnally, the track was released on September 16, 2016, with its video premiering four days later on Dancing with the Stars. It debuted at number one on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, making it only the third song in history to do so and granting every featured artist a number-one hit, while all profits support music education via the CMA Foundation. Notably, Randy Travis, who was incapacitated by a stroke, makes a silent cameo in the video, and the song earned a rare Video of the Year award from the rival Academy of Country Music in 2017.