Country Music Superstars Join Forces for Dream Remake

When country music superstars Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean were growing up, the Shenandoah hit “Sunday in the South” was one of those songs that just felt like it had been written about them.

“I remember, you know, being a kid, hearing the lyrics of that and really understanding it as speaking to how I was growing up,” Bryan, the “American Idol” judge, said in a February 10 video posted to Shenandoah’s YouTube channel. “I mean, growing up in small town Georgia, with a little barber shop. Everything, and going to church on Sundays and dinner on the ground.”

“It just embodied where we’re from. You know, it’s just like something that was very relatable,” Aldean agreed about the song that, per Taste of Country, became a No. 1 hit in 1989.

So the duo jumped at the chance to join Shenandoah for a remake of the song, which was released on September 13, 2024.

Shenandoah Grateful for Collaboration on ‘a Really Special Song to Us’

A video for the song, also published on YouTube by Shenandoah, premiered December 4, 2024, and in the complementary mini-documentary that was filmed on the same day as the video, band members Marty Raybon and Mike McGuire expressed their gratitude over Bryan and Aldean agreeing to participate in the effort.

“We’re very honored that those guys wanted to come and be a part of this,” McGuire said.

“In our career, I know there was people that we loved in country music and would truly love the opportunities that we would have to do a show with a George Jones or a Merle Haggard, and to be able to have that opportunity to do it was always a highlight, and I can certainly say that this has certainly been one of the biggest highlights of them all, having Jason and Luke with us here today on such a really special song to us,” Raybon said.

“This song’s always ministered to us in such a certain way because it literally meant so much of who we were, where we came from, and what we’ve been about all of our lives: good Southern living, good hospitality. Hopefully that was demonstrated.”

Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean Honored to Work With Shenandoah

For Bryan and Aldean, the decision to help Shenandoah with a reimagined version of the former No. 1 hit was a no-brainer. It’s one of the songs that the duo had often played together when they were trying to get a foothold in the music industry.

“Marty had always been really complimentary and gracious of Jason and I back when we were touring years ago,” Bryan said on the mini-documentary, which was also posted to Instagram. “We would, on our little satellite B stage, Jason and I, we would do this song.”

“We never really knew what we were going to play but this was always one that I feel like we played every night,” Aldean added, “and you know, as Instagram and all that stuff was kind of popping up, people were posting it.”

Chalk it up as yet another milestone in the dream careers for two of country music’s biggest names.

“It’s been wild to get to come into this business, get to work with guys that we grew up listening to, and when they ask us to do stuff, it’s like, it’s crazy, you know?” Aldean said. “It’s crazy they want to do that, and it’s just always an honor for us to get to work with those guys.”