There’s something special about country music, sometimes it feels like it’s a family business. When one of their own is suffering the entire country music community steps up to support them. This was even more evident this past week at the CMT Artist of the Year event held on December 2 in Nashville.
Luke Bryan had to cancel his appearance and performance on the show following the death of his brother in-law over the Thanksgiving Weekend. But just because Luke was unable to attend doesn’t mean he wasn’t on everyone’s hearts and minds Charles Kelley of Lady Antebellum said ““As you just saw, our good buddy Luke Bryan had another amazing year professionally and was looking so forward to being here with all of you to accept this honor. But family comes first and sadly Luke’s family faced a tragic loss this weekend with the death of his brother-in-law, Lee. So, tonight we wanted to perform a song that’s very special to Luke with another of his good buddies that co-wrote the song. One of the best singers in the entire universe, Mr. Chris Stapleton right here. This song is called ‘Drink a Beer,’ and if you’re watching tonight back home, this one’s for you, Luke, and your family. We love you so much and our thoughts are with you.”
Unfortunately the full version of the video is not available in Canada but if you are reading the from south of the border you can watch it on CMT.com. Here is a clip from Entertainment Tonight:
The performance did not go unnoticed by Bryan, who tweeted out later that evening:
That was amazing. Truly. Thank you Charles, Dave, Hillary and Chris! Beautiful!!! Thank you fans for your love.
— Luke Bryan (@LukeBryanOnline) December 3, 2014
We send our sincerest condolences to Luke and his family and look forward to seeing him back on the road soon.