Some of country music’s biggest names are putting their songs behind the upcoming action film “Act of Valor.”

Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Sugarland, Trace Adkins, Wynonna Judd and Montgomery Gentry contributed original tunes inspired by the new film for its upcoming soundtrack release.

“Act of Valor” hits theaters Feb. 24 and features active-duty Navy SEALs in an action-packed movie unlike any military movie seen before. The film’s soundtrack is available now for pre-order on iTunes and will hit store shelves Feb. 21.

The track listing includes music by Keith Urban (“For You” which is heard over the film’s end credits), Sugarland (“Guide You Home”), Lady Antebellum (“I Was Here”), Trace Adkins (“If the Sun Comes Up”), Lori McKenna (“Two Soldiers Coming Home”), Jake Owen (“The Best I Can”), Montgomery Gentry (“What It Takes”), Josh Kelley (“The Best of Me”), Hunter Hayes (“Where We Left Off”) and Wynonna Judd (“Whatever Brings You Back”)

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Kudos to CNN’s Anderson Cooper for having someone on who not only knows of what he speaks from first-hand experience, but obviously wasn’t going to say what Cooper would’ve have liked him to say.

Adkins handles himself with the class of a true superstar. He doesn’t get partisan and keeps his informed criticism borne of actual experience focused where it should be: on policies and ideas instead of individuals. (more…)

In my role as Executive Director of Ride 2 Recovery, a mental and physical rehabilitation program for injured veterans that makes a difference in the lives of those who come thru our program (more info: Ride2Recovery.com), I am asked to preview movies, music, and all things military and, or veteran related entertainment. Since we deal with a lot of PTSD patients, the scars of war are all to familiar and the haunting that they feel and the effects it takes on their families is hard to explain to those who do not know these brave men and women or experienced war and its related hardships themselves.

So it was last Thursday that I, along with a few other military organizations came to meet for a viewing of the upcoming movie “Lifted.” Because the director was a noted Hollywood liberal, I was not really sure what I was about to see.

In this ever polarized environment we live in today, it is rare to find a movie about the War on Terror that takes both a decided anti-war theme, but yet gives supporters of the conflict a chance to feel pride in the way a boy and his family overcome the struggles of deployment. (more…)