Dan + Shay are showing off their Swiftie side. On Oct. 21, the country duo participated in Amazon Music’s Country Heat Takeover at the Grand Ole Opry, and opted to perform a Taylor Swift cover as one of their three songs.
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Before they got to the music, Dan Smyers explained how they came to record a version of Swift’s 2010 track, “Back to December.”
“We love country music songwriting. One of the greatest country music songwriters of all time put out an album a couple of weeks ago,” Smyers said, referring to Swift’s latest LP, The Life of a Showgirl. “We were showing our respect, singing one of our favorite songs of hers at soundcheck, and somebody posted a little video of it. Social media kind of blew up.”
Fans were calling on the guys to record their version of the track, and so Smyers and Shay Mooney decided to do just that. Their “Back to December” cover was released over the weekend.
“We listened to our fans. You guys are amazing. You’re always right,” Smyers said. “We got in the studio as quickly as possible. We’d never done anything like this in our entire career. We got in the studio. We recorded a little live version of this song. The response has been absolutely incredible.”
Dan + Shay Perform “Back to December” at the Opry
While Dan + Shay weren’t planning on playing the song during their Opry set, when they arrived at the venue they felt called to do so.
“We walked in these doors. We felt like it was only right given this lady is one of the most incredible country music songwriters of all time,” Smyers said. “Standing here in this circle tonight, we want to honor her, we want to honor that song.”
For those that hadn’t figured out who the lady in question was just yet, Smyers made the big reveal.
“Do we have any Taylor Swift fans in the house?” he asked.
“You’ve got two Taylor Swift fans standing in the circle tonight,” he said. “We’ve never done it acoustic like this, so pray for us. Wish us good luck.”
With that, Smyers and Mooney began performing their version of “Back to December.” In doing so, they showed off their incredible rendition of the heartbreaking track.
The crowd at the Opry—who also got to watch performances from Gabby Barrett, Russell Dickerson, and Lainey Wilson at Tuesday night’s show—sang and swayed along throughout Dan + Shay’s performance.
When the song ended, Mooney remarked, “We’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve got to say, singing a Taylor Swift cover on the Opry stage might have been the most nervous I’ve ever been.”
“If you mess up the words to a Taylor Swift song, not only you guys, but a billion people in the world are going to be pretty angry,” he quipped.
The duo, who began their set with their 2018 song, “Speechless,” concluded their time on stage by performing “Tequila,” which appeared on their 2018 album of the same name.
Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall Of Fame
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