Where The Stars And Stripes And The Eagle Fly

Released less than a week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US, this anthem of unwavering American pride was one of many country songs to address the tragedy. Aside from peaking at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 - Tippin's highest entry on that chart to date - it also landed at #2 on the country chart, behind Alan Jackson's reflective ballad "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)." Tippin's song (written with Nashville songwriters Casey Beathard and Kenny Beard), however, was written a year earlier for his 2000 album, People Like Us, but it didn't make the cut. He explained in a 2016 Songfacts interview: "I just always try to put something patriotic on my albums. But when we put together the album, for some reason the record label just didn't think that was something they wanted to do. They didn't want to take up that slot with something patriotic. I never shoved any of my songs down the throat of labels or said, 'No, we're going to cut this.' I just didn't do that. We took outside songs, we listened, we cut what we thought was the best stuff. So one thing led to another and we just shelved it and I didn't think much of it, really. Obviously, it had a better place to live, anyhow." (Read our full interview with Aaron Tippin.)

All proceeds from the single were donated to the Red Cross to assist families affected by the attacks.