Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and country music star Brad Paisley sang West Virginia’s state song “Country Roads” in Kyiv on Wednesday amid Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine.
Manchin said the song is “known and loved all over the world” and celebrated that he and Paisley, who is an ambassador for Ukraine’s United24 fundraising campaign, could bring “this timeless tune to the streets of Kyiv.”
Manchin was part of a bipartisan trio of senators who, along with Paisley, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials in Kyiv.
Paisley and Manchin, both from West Virginia, sang “Country Roads” together, the country star strumming the guitar and the senator standing behind him under an umbrella, singing along.
“Too loud, Joe,” Paisley quipped playfully during the song. Manchin said in a statement that Paisley’s performance during the Kyiv visit “truly lifted the spirits of everyone present.”
Paisley released a song earlier this year with an interlude featuring a conversation with Zelensky. The proceeds of “Same Here” benefit United24’s Rebuild Ukraine program.
United24 said Paisley played the Zelensky collab song “in front of the destroyed military equipment in the center of Kyiv” and then followed it up with a performance of a Ukrainian song, “Chervona Ruta.”
Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) joined Manchin as the three senators to meet with Zelensky. Manchin said that, after the meeting, he’s “more committed than ever to ensuring that Congress provides the assistance that Ukraine needs.”