The song was first performed at the Academy of Country Music (ACM) awards, which were held in Las Vegas, Nevada and aired May 15, 2007 on CBS.

[1] Shortly after McGraw's live performance, several radio stations began playing a telecast of the song, boosting it to a debut at No.

[3] When McGraw performed the song at the ACM telecast, one hundred relatives of soldiers joined him onstage, under a banner that read "Families of Fallen Heroes".

[1] Despite the lack of a studio recording, the song received airplay on country radio after several stations began playing the CBS telecast of McGraw's live performance.

A remixed version (with most of the audience noise removed, except for applause at the end) was released to radio in June 2007, while McGraw's then-current single "I Need You" (a Faith Hill duet) was also climbing the charts.