There have been many creative attempts to encourage and bring people together during this unusual season of isolation, and West Virginia University has joined the effort with the recent release of a new video featuring many of our favorite West Virginians singing one of our favorite songs. If you haven’t seen this compilation yet (or even if you have), we invite you to keep reading, because we’ve included it at the end of this article!
Have you seen the version of the song "Country Roads" that West Virginia University recently released? If so, you are in good company: the video has well over 1 million views.
In the video, singers from around the world - all with ties to West Virginia! - come together to sing West Virginia's unofficial state anthem. Brad Paisley, the famous country singer who was born and raised in Glen Dale, West Virginia, opens and closes the performance. But in addition to Paisley, you'll see many other faces, some very familiar and some less so. Just in case there are some names you don't recognize, here's the rundown on all the rest of the famous West Virginians featured in this viral video.
Many of the singers are associated with WVU sports.
Neal Brown and Quincy Wilson (pictured above) both coach WVU football. Major Harris and Keith Tandy played college football at WVU and both went on to play professionally. Deniz Kilici, John Flowers, and Kevin Jones are all professional basketball players who started their careers on the WVU college basketball team. Nikki Izzo-Brown is the head coach of the women's soccer team. Kadeisha Buchanan is a Canadian soccer player who was co-captain of the WVU soccer team during her college days. Charles Hays, "The Dancing Man", won the "Number 1 Fan In The Land" contest on Instagram for his spirited support at a Mountaineer football game.
Gordon Gee (pictured) is the university's president. Carlton Smith is a WVU police officer and was also a contestant on American Idol. Bill Nevin, the university's public address announcer, is the voice of WVU.
A few find themselves serving in various capacities in Washington D.C.
Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin are West Virginia's Senators. Morgantown native Peter Wilson (pictured above) now plays violin for the "President's Own" United States Marine Chamber Orchestra.
Emily Calendrelli of Morgantown hosts the educational science show Xploration Station, Jennifer Garner (pictured) is a famous actress from Charleston, and actress and WVU graduate Kim Webster played a character on the show "The West Wing." Trevor Dion Nicholas is an actor from Morgantown who appeared in Lego Marvel Superheroes 2 and other films.
So, now that you know who you're about to see, here's the video itself:
How many of these West Virginians did you recognize? One of the things we love about this video is how it highlights that no matter how near or far life takes us from our home, we’ll always be West Virginians at heart.
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