Blake Shelton is covering Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down" for a good cause in a recent video. He lent his voice to a version of the song featuring Eagles members Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmit and Matt Sorum along with The Miraculous Love Kids. The performance offers support for women and girls in Afghanistan.
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The Miraculous Love Kids is a non-profit group founded by Lanny Cordola that teaches children in "war-torn, poverty-stricken" areas how to play the guitar and perform music. Particularly, the non-profit focuses on girls and young women who are especially vulnerable due to discrimination in their countries. In the latest video, a large group of young women and girls join to sing the song and play guitar.
Shelton and the Eagles members join from their respective homes via video, and the result is a beautifully harmonious collaboration. Shelton sings for the entirety of the video while the Miraculous Love Kids provide background vocals and acoustic guitar instrumentation. Walsh, Schmit and Sorum provide guitar, bass and percussion for the recording.
The video switches between shots of Shelton and the Eagles members performing their parts and clips of the group of girls performing the song outdoors, and in some moments, overlooking a view of a town and mountains. Although Shelton and the Eagles members are halfway around the world from the girls who are performing, the video brings them together to sing the meaningful song.
Cordola said the song is the perfect tribute to the women and girls of Afghanistan.
"When I was working to get the girls out of Afghanistan, 'I Won't Back Down' became our anthem to never give up, no matter what the circumstances or odds in our pursuit of freedom, justice, equality and peace," Cordola shared in a press statement. "It's not only for the girls and women of Afghanistan but for all oppressed people of the world. As Tom Petty so powerfully wrote, 'You can stand me up at the gates of hell but I won't back down ...'"
The video was dedicated to the women and girls facing discrimination and violence in Afghanistan. A message at the beginning of the video reads, "For the girls and women of Afghanistan, 'We won't back down' until you are free.'"
