Country Strong co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw are on the radio now with their very cool duet, “Me and Tennessee,” and the film that gave us that song has been honored this week as part of the excitement leading up to Sunday’s ACM Awards. Among the off-camera ACM honors announced on Tuesday was the Tex Ritter Award, which is given to a film from the prior calendar year that uses or features country music. And certainly in the case of Country Strong, Gwyneth tells us, the soundtrack was a vital part of bringing the story to life. (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• Country Strong will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 12th, but the original soundtrack is available now!

  Gwyneth Paltrow talks about the importance of the music in Country Strong. (:30)
“I think that the soundtracks that usually are the most successful are the soundtracks that were attached to a film where it’s about music in some way. You know, a movie like this, the music is so integral to the story, and it’s about singers. So, country music is so beautiful, and it has such a big audience. But I think there are songs on here too that sort of…they span more than just a hardcore country audience, too. I think it’s a really interesting soundtrack.”