Bluegrass singer and songwriter Ashley Lewis has created a lovely music video for her latest single, a new arrangement of George Strait’s I Cross My Heart, 34 years after it first appeared in the Pure Country film in 1992.
She recorded the song playing mandolin and singing lead, supported by some of her favorite players, and she explained a bit about why she decided to cut it.
“This song has become something deeply personal to me over the years. It’s the song my little one asks me to sing every night before bed — the one that soothes her soul, makes her smile, and the one she dances with me to in the kitchen.
I had the privilege of creating this recording with the incredible, one and only, Jimmy Mattingly, whose production skills and signature fiddle playing gave the track such sparkling life and heart. This also features the magical resonator guitar work of Andy Hall and artistic guitar playing of Kent Wells.”
In the video, Lewis reimagines the song from its original focus on romantic love, to one that examines the deep bond between a mother and her child. It’s filled with images of Ashley and her two children, frolicking merrily in a field, which cements the new interpretation of the lyrics, written by Steve Dorff and Eric Kaz.
Have a look and listen.
I Cross My Heart is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via Get It Played.
If you follow Ashley and her DIY Bluegrass columns here at Bluegrass Today, you know how much importance she places on saves at Spotify, so help a girl out and save it there!