Introduction of "Anymore" - Spoken

Oh, yes indeed

Uh-huh, thank you so much (we love you, Travis!)

I mentioned to you earlier that we're gonna be doing some songs tonight

That have been around for a while

And this next song certainly fits in that category

This is a song that uh, I released on my second album

And I wrote this song with a dear friend of mine

A lady by the name of Jill Colucci

And, when we released the song

The song went all the way to number one

And that's a thrill when you help to write a song

That you release on an album and It goes all the way to the top

That's a real thrill

But the thing that I love the most about this song

Was the video that we did for it

Because the video gave me an opportunity to be an actor

For the very first time

And in the video, I played the part of a disabled American veteran

And I knew it was a great script before we ever started filming it

And I knew it was gonna be something special

But, I was also a little bit worried about it because

Personally, I never served in the military

And we were gonna film it in a veteran's hospital

Veteran's clinic in Murfreesboro, Tennessee

And everybody else that was gonna be in the video

With exception of myself and just a few other actors maybe three or four

All of the rest of the people that were in the video

Were either patients or they were staff members of this hospital

And I was worried that they were not gonna like me very much

Because I never served

I thought they were gonna look at me and say

"Who does this guy think he is trying to play one of us

When he's never served in the military?"

And I was nervous about that

Right up to the very minute that we started filming

And I went out and got on set

And got in my wheelchair

To start filming the first scenes

And immediately I was surrounded by all these veterans

And I found out very quickly they didn't hate me at all

As a matter of fact, they were glad

That somebody was there to tell their story

And I found them to be the most kind

Some of the nicest, some of the most helpful people

That I'd ever been around in my entire life

And before the day was over I knew every single one of them by their first name

And they were telling me stories of how they got injured

And the battles that they fought in

And all the different things that they'd experienced being a part of the military

And a few weeks later when we finished up the video

We brought it back to that very same veteran's hospital

And we debuted it there for all of the people that were a part of it

And as it, as the video played on stage

I was sitting off to the side of the stage

And I was looking out into the audience

And I did not see one person in the audience that night

That wasn't shedding a little bit of a tear

And that touched my heart

It touched me so much that as soon as I got back home

I called my congressman and I said

"Listen, I don't know if there's anything that a

Country music singer like me can do to help

But if there's anything that I can volunteer to be a part of

That would help veterans or veterans' issues

I wanna volunteer for that"

And I'm very proud to say that as a result of that video and that phone call

That I was honored and privileged to serve as the celebrity chairman

And the celebrity spokesperson for the Disabled American Veterans Association of America

For four years in a row

And after that four years was over

I had the opportunity to serve in the same capacity

For two more years with the V.F.W, the Veterans of Foreign Wars

And that six-year period was a great time for me

Because I had a chance to travel all over the United States and do concerts

And everywhere that I played during that period of time

If there was a veterans' clinic or a veterans' hospital or a military base

Within 100, 125 miles of where I was playin' that night

That day, during the day, before the show went on that night

I got a chance to go out and meet with and get to know

Shake hands with and talk to so many people

That if you looked up the word 'hero' in the dictionary

You should see all of their faces right there next to that word

Because that's what they are

So I said all that just to say this ladies and gentlemen

For any man or woman within the sound of my voice

That has ever served in our military

Or any man or woman who currently serves in our military

Defending our freedoms that we all enjoy in this country

I say this to you and I say it to your families

Because when you serve your families serve too and they sacrifice too

I say this to you from the bottom of my heart

You are the best in the world!

We love you and we appreciate you!

Thank you for protecting us!

Thank you for protecting our freedoms!

May God always bless you!

And may God always bless the United States of America!