By Maci Shingleton
As Carrie Underwood performed tonight on the CMA Awards, the Trevecca Nazarene University gospel choir lent her their voices.
Dressed in black and lined up behind the country music star, the students performed live on national television during the CMA Awards. The 48th annual awards show was aired live on ABC from Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville.
“My highlight was not only getting to sing behind Carrie Underwood, but being able to sing that particular song. There was not a better song for us to sing,” said sophomore Laurabeth Winchester.
Carrie Underwood hosted the show with Brad Paisley and had one of the most anticipated performances of the evening. Underwood performed her new gospel-themed single “Something in the Water” with the help of the Trevecca gospel choir.
Winchester tweeted a countdown leading up to tonight’s performance with Underwood.
She tweeted about her excitement and urged friends and family to tune into the awards show.
“It’s surreal. It doesn’t feel like real life. Just famous people walking around everywhere. We took selfies with celebrities and it’s like a nonstop whirl-wind and one thing after another. Like, did that just happen?” said Winchester immediately after the performance.
The opportunity for students to participate in something like the CMA awards show is related to the university being located in Nashville, said Matt Toy, Director of Marketing and Communications at Trevecca.
“I think something like this shows students how cool it is to go to school in Nashville. There’s so many other great universities but a huge asset Trevecca has is Nashville,” he said. “The ability for students to go sing with someone with the caliber of someone like Carrie Underwood is pretty incredible.”
Students loved the experience.
“When we walked out and started singing, everything that was nerve wracking turned into joy and excitement and that was so heart-warming. We were singing Amazing Grace behind a Christian country music star and it was so cool,” said freshman Devon Halliburton
“In the few years I’ve been here, this is one of the bigger opportunities for exposure for our students. So it’s exciting for sure,” Toy said.
[…] CMA representative reached out last year to request the gospel choir sing with famous country star Carrie Underwood at the CMA’s. They […]