Dan and Shay are among a long list of musicians on the soundtrack to the upcoming film “The Shack” (starring Octavia Spencer and Sam Worthington) and their latest single “When I Pray for You” couldn’t be any more appropriate for this tearjerker film.
With the film following a man on his journey trying to understand his purpose after the tragic loss of his daughter, Shay Mooney, who wrote the tune, found a lot of inspiration from a pretty personal event of his own. Anticipating the arrival of his newborn baby boy, Asher James, with fiance’ Hannah Billingsley, Mooney wrote the tune from an expectant father’s point of view:
“I talk to God about you
And I ain’t even met you yet
Everybody’s waitin’ on you here
I can’t wait to feel your heartbeat
When I lay you on my chest
I’m already holding back my tears
I wanna be the dad that my dad was
I hope that I don’t mess this whole thing up
The song, which is the first soundtrack experience for the duo, opens with a subtle piano, a soft beat of drums and a bit of steel guitar. The pair harmonies blend effortlessly and the poignant lyrics sets a perfect picture of this man speaking to his unborn child:
I pray you love like your momma
And you forgive just like she does
And when this life knocks you down
I hope you get down on your knees
Cause that’s what I do, that’s what I do
When I pray for you
Oh, and I pray for you”
The soundtrack is available on Itunes and Amazon also features music by fellow country singers, including a duet between Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Dierks Bentley, Brett Eldredge, and Lady Antebellum.