Proudly We Hail: LeAnn Rimes's Best National Anthem Gigs
It’s a match made in heaven: The Greatest Spectacle in Racing and the Greatest Living National Anthem Singer (RIP, Whitney Houston). Earlier today, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced that country-music star and Grammy winner LeAnn Rimes will sing the national anthem before the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500.
“Star-Spangled Banner” performances have become a cottage industry for Rimes. Here are some of our faves:
April 4, 2011: NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, Houston: With Butler pulling up short against Connecticut in the game, Rimes’s singing turned out to be the best part of the night.
July 8, 1997: Major League Baseball All-Star Game, Cleveland: Look at that hair!
January 18, 2004: AFC Championship, Foxborough, Mass.: Rimes’s heartfelt rendition warmed a frigid Gillette Stadium (which is more than we can say for the ice-cold Colts offense, which managed a measly two touchdowns).
May 2, 2009: Kentucky Derby, Louisville: She. Looked. Marvelous.
2012: Red Dawn Movie Trailer: If (when?) Americans need rallying to defend the home soil, raise the flag and call LeAnn.
November 30, 2008: New York Harbor, New York: Actually, it’s the Statue of Liberty singing. But her vocal stylings are eerily similar to those of Rimes.
For more on “The Star-Spangled Banner,” read Hoosier Sandi Patty’s “How to Sing the National Anthem.”
