Irish country music star Nathan Carter has teamed up with a number of high-profile musicians to release a charity single during the COVID-19 pandemic that encourages people to "stay at home and stay alive."
Stay at Home Stay Alive is available to download on iTunes for $1.29 and 100% of the proceeds will be going to charities in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The proceeds will be split between the Republic of Ireland’s #OurHospitalHeroes and the Northern Ireland’s #HelpOurHealthHeroes funds and additional donations can be made by visiting the attached links.
The track features a host of household names in Irish music, including three-time Eurovision Song Contest winner Johnny Logan, 2006 Eurovision contestant Brian Kennedy, Chloe Agnew from Celtic Woman and celebrated Irish musicians, Tommy Fleming and Sean Keane.
The single is currently number two in the Irish iTunes charts and Carter hopes he can take it to the top of the charts with a social media push.
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Carter wrote the song with his manager John Farry with both working remotely from their own homes.
He said that the idea to write the song came after an Irish priest called on musicians in Ireland to come together and record a song that encouraged people to stay at home.
"I had written a song in Nashville a couple of years ago called Stay Alive," Carter said. "Father Brian Darcy recently wrote an article in the Irish papers and said that it would be great if some of the Irish musicians could get together and promote the stay at home, stay alive campaign.
"So, my manager John Farry rewrote the lyrics [of Stay Alive] and sent me the song and I recorded a demo. We sent the song to singers around the country to see if they would come on board and collaborate and thankfully they did."
Carter said that the song's message was as important as the money it would raise for charities. The 29-year-old said that he believes that music can send a message more effectively than normal methods of communication.
"It's not all about the money. It's about spreading the message as well. Sometimes people listen to a message when it's a song and, with the power of music why not try and do that?"
Carter said that some of the singers recorded their vocals on phones. He said that he never believed that the sound quality would turn out as well as it did.
"I didn't think it was going to work at all, but the vocals got sent to a studio in Tipperary and it's turned out really, really well - way better than I could ever have imagined."
The song's video has also made use of innovative techniques that Carter has never seen before.
The music video includes snippets of each artist singing the song in addition to dozens of images of civilians holding placards with the caption: "Stay at Home, Stay Alive."
Carter said that everyone pictured in the video sent their photos to video editor Alan Clarke, who put the video together in record time.
"He must have done it in three or four hours. We recorded our parts at home singing. I've never seen a music video done like it before, but it might be a lot cheaper than spending thousands on a music video."
The video had been shared more than 140,000 times on Friday evening.
Carter is currently holed up in his home in County Fermanagh. He said that the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on his touring schedule, but that it has helped to put things into context.
"It's put things in perspective. I haven't seen some family in over a month and you kind of take that for granted. I miss the music big time, but it is nice to have a bit of a break and a recharge.
"I normally do more than 120 gigs a year and having a month off is rare. It looks like it will be more than a month as well. We've canceled gigs right up until July."
To find out more about Nathan Carter's new charity single, click here.
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