"Be a Light" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

singer

Thomas Rhett Thomas Rhett Akins Jr. (born March 30, 1990) is an American country music, country singer-songwriter. He is the oldest son of singer Rhett Akins. Rhett has released seven studio albums for Big Machine Records' Valory Music imprint: ''It Goes ...

and featuring guest vocals from

Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire ( ; born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music, country singer and actress. Dubbed "Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Sin ...

Hillary Scott Hillary Dawn Scott-Tyrrell (born April 1, 1986) is an American singer and songwriter who rose to fame as the co-lead vocalist of the country music group Lady A. She is signed to Big Machine Records. In collaboration with her family, Scott re ...

Chris Tomlin Christopher Dwayne Tomlin (born May 4, 1972) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, and worship leader from Grand Saline, Texas. He is signed to Universal Music Group, Universal's Capitol Christian Music Group. Some of h ...

, and

Keith Urban Keith Lionel Urban ( né Urbahn; 26 October 1967) is an Australian and American country singer, songwriter and guitarist. Recognised with four Grammy Awards, he has also received 15 Academy of Country Music Awards, including the Jim Reeves Int ...

. It was released on March 30, 2020. Rhett performed the song live at the

54th Annual Country Music Association Awards The 54th Annual Country Music Association Awards were held on Wednesday, November 11, 2020, at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee and was hosted by CMA Award winners Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker. Background Darius Rucker is ...

alongside McEntire and Tomlin for the first time.

Content and history

Rhett said that he wrote the song in 2019, but chose to release it because he thought its message would be well received in the wake of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He told ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' that the song "was really just about being a light in a dark place; being an encouragement to people." He co-wrote the song with Matt Dragstrem, Josh Thompson, and Josh Miller. The song was sent to country radio on March 30, 2020. On April 5, 2020, he performed it on ''ACM Presents: Our Country'', a television special put on by the

Academy of Country Music The Academy of Country Music (ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller (songwriter), Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris ...

. Rhett also announced that proceeds from the song will be donated to the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund.

Personnel

Credits by

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

*David Angell –

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

*Monisa Angell –

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

*Jenny Bufano – violin *Zeneba Bowers – violin *Janet Darnall – violin *David Davidson – violin *Matt Dragstrem – programming *Conni Ellisor – violin *Alicia Engstrom – violin *

Dann Huff Dann Lee Huff (born November 15, 1960) is an American record producer, studio guitarist, and songwriter. For his work as a producer in the country music genre, he has won several awards, including the ''Musician of the Year'' award in 2001, 2004 ...

–

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, programming *Charlie Judge – keyboards, piano *Chris Kimmerer –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Anthony LaMarchina –

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

*Betsy Lamb – viola *Tony Lucido –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

– featured vocals *Carole Rabinowitz-Nueun – cello *Justin Niebank – programming *Sari Reist – cello *

– lead vocals *

– featured vocals *

Ilya Toshinsky Bering Strait was a Russian country music band, whose style was sometimes called "redgrass". In 2003, the band was nominated for a Grammy Award and appeared on the TV show ''60 Minutes''. The group disbanded in 2006. The lineup on their first al ...

–

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

– electric guitar, featured vocals *Mary Kathryn Van Osdale – violin *

Derek Wells Derek M. Wells (born 28 November 1946) is a former Canadian politician who served as the Liberal member of Parliament for the riding of South Shore from 1993 to 1997. Early life and education Born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Wells grad ...

– electric guitar *Kris Wilkinson – viola, string arrangements

Chart performance

''Be a Light'' entered the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 71 on the chart dated for the week ending April 18, 2020. In doing so, it became the first entries on that chart for both Scott and Tomlin (though the former has charted repeatedly with

Lady A Lady A, known until 2020 as Lady Antebellum, is an American country music group formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2006. The group is composed of Hillary Scott (lead and background vocals), Charles Kelley (lead and background vocals, guitar ...

). It is also McEntire's first top-10 hit since " Turn On the Radio" peaked at No. 1 in January 2011, and her most recent top-10 hit to date. With a peak of number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Country Airplay chart, it became Rhett's first single to miss the top spot since "

Vacation A vacation (American English) or holiday (British English) is either a leave of absence from a regular job or school or an instance of leisure travel away from home. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances or for sp ...

" peaked at number 30 in 2016.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2020 songs 2020 singles Country ballads 2020s ballads Thomas Rhett songs Hillary Scott songs Keith Urban songs Reba McEntire songs Songs written by Thomas Rhett Songs written by Matt Dragstrem Songs written by Josh Thompson (singer) Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Big Machine Records singles Chris Tomlin songs Songs about the COVID-19 pandemic Vocal collaborations