Gwyneth Paltrow hit a homerun with her CMA Awards performance of “Country Strong,” but being on stage that night with Vince Gill — who also sang background on the single — was a far cry from the moment when her producer first suggested asking Vince to sing on the track. At the time, Gwyneth recalls, the idea that they could actually get Vince Gill to sing on her record was something she thought she’d be filing under the heading of “never gonna happen.” (AUDIO INFO BELOW)

• Gwyneth says that music is something she loves, and embarking on the film and soundtrack has been something she’s taken very seriously. (AUDIO INFO BELOW) 
• The feature film, Country Strong, opens in Los Angeles and Nashville on December 22nd and nationwide on January 7th, starring Gwyneth, Tim McGraw, Garrett Hedlund, and Leighton Meester — but you don’t have to wait for the soundtrack — it’s available now!
• All four of the film stars contribute to the soundtrack, with one song each from Garrett and Leighton, while Tim and Gwyneth deliver a duet, in addition to three more Gwyneth songs, including the title track first single, “Country Strong.” Other artists on the album include Trace Adkins, Ronnie Dunn, Sara Evans, Faith Hill, Patty Loveless, Hank Williams, Jr., Lee Ann Womack, and Chris Young.

  Gwyneth Paltrow explains how Vince Gill came to sing on “Country Strong.” (:34)
“It was amazing. We were recording ‘Country Strong,’ I think we had finished doing the vocal, and Byron Gallimore, our producer, was really happy with it, and he was, you know, playing with the mix and everything, and he said to Randall Poster, our music supervisor, ‘Do you know who would be great singing back-up on this?’ Randall was like, ‘Who?’ And he was like, ‘Vince Gill. Vince would just hit it perfectly. It would be so…” And I was like, ‘Yeah. Uhh, are you kidding? You’re never gonna get Vince Gill to come in here and sing on this.’ And he did it! It was amazing, and I can’t believe it.”

  More than a year ago, Gwyneth Paltrow had already begun a very dedicated approach to music-making for Country Strong. (:61)
“I sing all the time in the house, and, you know, not in a serious way, but I’m always humming something or singing something, and my son sings all the time. All day long, he sings something. So, we have a lot of music going on in our house. Yeah, but I do enjoy singing, and I find it very challenging. I think I approach things in my life in a very serious way. If I’m gonna do something, I’m gonna be serious about it and try to do it to the best of my ability. So, I find it challenging singing, you know, like when we went in to cut these songs, I was like, this is a big deal, like, this is hard. And you know, I prepared all fall, I did singing lessons twice a week, and I felt ready for it, but I was, you know, I definitely felt the pressure because I wanted it to be as authentic as possible, and I wanted it to be really good.”