Shania Twain and Irish pop star Ronan Keating recently released a radio mix of their cover of Randy Travis’ “Forever and Ever, Amen”.
It’s a very pop-y remake of the country classic that went #1 and took home the Grammy award for best country song in 1987. Featured on Travis’ Always & Forever album, and written by legendary songwriters Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz, the track became one of the most iconic and recognizable love songs in country music.
The pair originally did a duet of the song on Keating’s 2020 album Twenty Twenty, and it’s rather… different. I love a good cover, but this one is just so far off from the original, you can hardly tell it’s the same song. Shania lends her angelic background vocals, and it’s honestly the one saving grace of this duet.
Apparently, they were supposed to record Shania’s song “From This Moment” together twenty years ago, and it never ended up happening. I think that’s probably for the best. Sorry Ronan, but Shania deserves better.
Keating told UK outlet UDiscoverMusic,
“That never came about, so it felt especially right to reach out now. ‘Forever And Ever, Amen’ is a true country gem so to team up with the original writers and producer of ‘Nothing At All,’ twenty years on makes it all the more special.”
It has been released to radio, so I guess we’ll see how it does across the pond…
