Scotty McCreery Joins A Team Of Country Singers To Sing 'Angels Among Us'

Mar 19, 2021

While the Southern rock band Alabama originally released “Angels Among Us” as a Christmas song for the 1993 album “Cheap Seats,” one talented group of young musicians breathed new life into the track for a good cause back in 2017. Radio Disney, Radio Disney Country, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital teamed up to make the new song happen, inviting country superstars like Scotty McCreery and Carly Pearce to cover the ‘90s Alabama track. Proceeds from the cover and music video benefited St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, leading to thousands of dollars going to cancer research.

As viewers will see in the video below, St. Jude and Radio Disney went one step further than simply assembling a country-music dream team; they also made some children's dreams come true by taking them on an outing to the studio! The children got to meet the artists and spend the whole day watching them record, listening through headphones, and playing with the sound equipment — likely a dream come true for these youngsters.

And with superstars like Pearce, McCreery, Hunter Hayes, Brennley Brown, CB30, Jillian Jacqueline, Lucy Hale, RaeLynn, Sara Evans, Tegan Marie, and Temecula Road, the song was bound to be a success. But more so than the track’s star power, it is the beautiful lyrics that reach out to comfort those in need that really seems to strike a chord with listeners — from those who love the original to country music newcomers. And even if you don’t love the track, it ought to warm your heart that it is all for a good cause in the end.

St. Jude, a nonprofit hospital and research facility that specializes in treating leukemia, has its roots in the entertainment industry, and so the 2017 country music collaboration makes some sense. As the hospital’s website details, Danny Thomas, a producer and American television personality, was inspired to found the hospital more than 70 years ago after saying a prayer to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of desperate and hopeless causes.

“Show me my way in life, and I will build you a shrine,” Thomas reportedly said in a prayer to the saint, according to the hospital’s website.

From then on, Thomas found widespread success in the entertainment business, making his way as a star on both the radio and on “The Danny Thomas Show,” an American sitcom. Thomas’ success led the entertainer to give back, making good on his initial prayer. In 1962, he opened St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in front of thousands of onlookers.

Since that day, St. Jude has been a driving force in cancer research, especially when it comes to leukemia and other diseases that affect young children. For example, St. Jude was the first hospital to take its acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients off of treatment in 1966 after they had entered into remission. And in 2006, the hospital celebrated another milestone when it reported a 94% survival rate for patients diagnosed with ALL.

Hayley Arceneaux’s story is just one inspiring case of how life-changing St. Jude’s research has been in the field of cancer treatment. According to a Feb. 22, 2021, piece in The New York Times, doctors diagnosed Arceneaux with bone cancer in 2002 when she was just 10 years old.

“We all fell apart,” Arceneaux told the publication. “I remember just being so scared because at age 10, everyone I had known with cancer had died.”

However, when the doctors caught Arcenaux’s cancer, it hadn’t yet spread throughout her body, which was excellent news. With that said, she still had to undergo chemotherapy and an operation that replaced some of her bones with metal rods. But in the end, doctors at the research hospital saved the young girl’s life.

“When I grow up, I want to be a nurse at St. Jude,” Arceneaux said in a video in 2003. “I want to be a mentor to patients. When they come in, I’ll say, ‘I had that when I was little, and I’m doing good.’”

Thanks to the hospital’s life-saving treatment, Arceneaux was able to fulfill her dream. Today, the 29-year-old is a physician's assistant at the hospital. And as if Arceneaux’s life couldn’t be more impressive, the young woman is now set to be the youngest woman to ever travel into space.

When the billionaire Jared Isaacman announced that he had purchased a rocket launch from SpaceX in Jan. 2021, he also shared that two of the four available seats would be donated to St. Jude. One seat is set to go to the winner of a sweepstakes fundraiser, while the other is slated to go to a frontline healthcare worker at the hospital — Arceneaux. In her interview with The New York Times, Arceneaux explained that she hoped that her out-of-this-world journey would inspire other cancer patients at the hospital.

“They’ll be able to see a cancer survivor in space, especially one that has gone through the same thing that they have,” Arceneux told the publication. “It’s going to help them visualize their future.”

As for the St. Jude sweepstakes, the goal is to raise $100 million, which will bolster Isaacman’s own $100 million donation to the hospital. The raffle will continue all the way until launch, which will happen sometime in late 2021. In any case, the event is sure to raise a significant amount of money — not to mention the publicity — for the research hospital.

Radio Disney and St. Jude Children’s 2017 collaboration likely had a similar effect. Not only did it raise money and awareness, but it also brought children into the studio with inspirational figures like McCreery.

Combined with dedicated organizations, talented artists and a generous community, people truly can make a difference. Isn't it amazing what we can do when we all get together?

The brand new version of the charity track was played on Radio Disney and reached out to listeners asking them to help raise funds and awareness for childhood cancer. It was incredibly successful and due to the popularity of the song, Disney managed to donate $25,000 to St. Jude, according to One Country. Isn't that awesome?

Because of these amazing singers, Radio Disney and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital were able to take a huge step in the fight against childhood cancer. You can watch this video to see the amazing time they had recording the song.

What did you think of the song “Angels Among Us” and St. Jude Children’s pioneering cancer research? Let us know and please send this beautiful video to your friends, family members and fellow country music fans to raise awareness about this life-changing organization.