A Touching Grammy Tribute Honoured Victims Of Gun Violence

At the 2018 Grammy Awards, country musicians gathered to sing "Tears in Heaven" as a tribute to the violence that occurred in 2017 during music concerts. Maren Morris, a Grammy nominee for her song "I Could Use A Love Song," sang alongside the Brothers Osborne — a duo made of brothers T.J. and John Osborne — and country singer Eric Church.

They dedicated the performance to victims of the Manchester bombing and the Las Vegas shooting, two horrific incidents that occurred in 2017. The Las Vegas shooting occurred at a Thomas Rhett concert; following the incident, country artists united everywhere to support the victims of the shooting. Morris, a prominent country singer, released a song titled "Dear Hate" as a remark on the shooting. Church dedicated his song "Why Not Me" to victims of the shooting.

The foursome covered Eric Clapton's "Tears from Heaven," in a pared-down, emotional performance.

"All of country music was reminded in the most tragic way of the connection we share with our fans," Church said when introducing the song.

Following the performance, Church tweeted a link to a resource for those affected by the Veges incident.

"There is help available that’s being offered by the Las Vegas community for victims and families affected at the Route 91 Harvest Festival," he wrote. "Please visit the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center at VegasStrongRC.org to get information on counseling services and financial support."

The separate incidents spurred a conversation in the music industry and in Hollywood about gun control. Speaking to Rolling Stone on the Grammys red carpet, Morris explained, "We need to protect ourselves and our children, and I want the county music community to get brave and talk about it...Unfortunately, it takes a tragedy like Vegas to start that conversation, but I'm hoping it impacts positive change from now on, so we never have to see this again."