The 2018 Grammys are set to dedicate a performance to the 58 people killed at the Route 91 Harvest Festival last fall. Maren Morris, Eric Church, and Brothers Osborne all performed at the Las Vegas festival on October 1, 2017 just before a gunman opened fire, leading to the wounding of over 500 concertgoers and becoming one of the deadliest shootings in American history.
The country artists have been open about the impact the shooting had on them. Speaking to the Associated Press, Church said, “In all honesty, there’s not a day that goes by since that day that I have not thought of it and thought of the people and the victims.” Morris voiced similar sentiments, arguing the importance of having performers from the Route 91 Harvest Festival lead the tribute: “It reinforces even more the strength of music and the community that we all share together, artists and fans alike.”
The collaboration will take place on January 28 and will also pay tribute to another music tragedy: the bomb that went off last May at Ariana Grande’s Manchester, England performance. The award show’s executive producer Ken Ehrlich announced that the country artists will perform a classic Grammy-winning song, but further details are yet to be revealed. “We considered a number of songs. We wanted something that is universal,” he explained. “We wanted something that spoke to the subject, which certainly this song does.”
The 60th Annual Grammy Awards air live January 28 at 7:30 PM. EST on CBS.
