While festival-goers had been spending the three-day event watching their favorite performers, a lone gunman had posted up in a Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino room that overlooked the grounds. He opened fire on the crowd and a night that should have been joyous ended with 58 people dead and another 581 injured, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

The attack rocked the nation but especially the country community. The country community made it clear that they would band together and come out of this stronger. And whether it was because he was on stage when the shots rang out or felt like he just had to say something, the healing began with Aldean.

Aldean had rushed off the stage when the shooting to protect his pregnant wife, BrittanyAldean, backstage. By the next morning, videos taken from the festival grounds had circulated on Twitter and in news stories, showing how chaotic and terrifying the scene was. Just a day after the turmoil, Aldean shared a message on Instagram addressing the tragedy. He wrote how the previous 24 hours had been an emotional rollercoaster from compassion to anger and fear. But he had a unifying message to share as well that, “we are all humans and we are all Americans and it’s time to start acting like it and stand together as ONE!”

Later in the week, Aldean made a surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live. In lieu of the show’s traditional comedic opening monologue, Aldean was given the opportunity to address the nation saying, “like everyone I’m struggling to understand what happened that night, and how to pick up the pieces and start to heal… You can be sure we’re going to walk through these tough times together, every step of the way. Because when America is at its best, our bond and our spirit, it’s unbreakable,” he promised. Aldean and his band then kicked off the show with a cover of Tom Petty‘s anthem “I Won’t Back Down”, making it clear that while the country community was down it wasn’t out.

The very next day, Aldean flew with his wife back to Las Vegas and visited patients who were still recovering at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada hospital. Across the country in Nashville, Keith Urban performed Simon and Garfunkel‘s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” at a vigil. Before singing, Urban told a story about his young daughter was confused as to why Urban was sad if he didn’t personally know any of the victims who passed away. He summed it up with, “They’re like family. It’s the one thing about country music that’s always been at the center of it, and that is community…and so I did know those people in that way, and it just really hit me.”

When the 2017 CMA Awards arrived in November, it was the first time that many country music stars were together as that family since the attack. It was finally a chance to start publicly healing together, for one another and their fans. At the top of the show, Carrie Underwoodaddressed the tragedy immediately.

“This has been a year marked by tragedy, impacting countless lives including so many in our country music family. So tonight, we’re going to do what families do. Come together, pray together, cry together, and sing together, too,” Underwood explained. Also setting the mood of the night was Eric Church, who played “Amazing Grace” to honor those at Route 91. The most heartbreaking moment of the night was during the tearful tribute in the middle of the show.

Underwood sang “Softly and Tenderly” to honor those that had passed away in the country music community, but the memoriam included the fans who had lost their lives. Underwood had tears in her eyes and choked up as the faces of the victims displayed on the screen. While the show was somber in many parts, there were hints that together, the community would make it through. Brad Paisley expressed that sentiment near the start of the show saying, “the way we see it, the best way to honor our fans is to play our music — loud and proud. Our music lifts people up and that’s what we’re here to do tonight. This year’s show is dedicated to all of those we’ve lost and to all of those who are still healing. We love you and we will never forget you.”

As the year went on, the country community didn’t forget that night and continued to express their support for those in Las Vegas. After the CMA Awards, Maren Morris, Eric Church, and Brothers Osborne performed a tribute at the 2018 Grammy Awards. All three had been on the lineup at the Route 91 festival and reunited together on the Grammy’s stage to sing a cover of Eric Clapton‘s “If I Saw You In Heaven”. Morris told E! News on the Grammy’s red carpet that the tribute, “reinforces even more the strength of music and the community that we all share together, artists and fans alike.”

In April, during the ACM Awards, Route 91 was even a part of the discussion on the red carpet. Many stars wore gold pins of the numbers 851 and 58, which correlated to honoring the 851 injured and 58 killed. Some stars also wore a pin with the number “1”, which Little Big Town‘s singer explained on Twitter was to symbolize the 1 life fans could save, “in the future if we’re willing to start a conversation about things that need to be done.”

Haley Hubbard, the wife of Florida Georgia Line‘s member Tyler Hubbard, shared on Instagram before the show that, “We wear these pins tonight at [The ACM Awards] to tell the world we have not forgotten you. We have not forgotten your names.”

While country musicians were hardest hit by the tragedy, the entire music community rallied together in support. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, many stars sprung to support the country community and their fans online. Lady Gaga held a 20-minute digital guided meditation and Miley Cyrus performed “The Climb” on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to honor the victims. Ariana Grande (who just months ago had gone through her own tragedy when 22 fans were killed outside of the Manchester Arena) called for love, peace, and gun control in a public letter about Route 91. “I am sorry for the pain and fear that you must be feeling and for the trauma that you, too, must be experiencing,” her letter stated. “We will never be able to understand why events like this take place because it is not in our nature, which is why we shouldn’t recoil. We will not quit or operate in fear. We won’t let this divide us. We won’t let hate win.”

In December, the music community, especially those with strong ties to Las Vegas, turned their pain into action by holding the Vegas Strong Benefit Concert. Céline Dion, Imagine Dragons, Boyz II Men, and more performed at the Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena in the benefit concert that raised proceeds for the Vegas Shooting Victims Fund. While he wasn’t able to be there in person as his wife was due to give birth, Jason Aldean appeared in a videotaped video with the message “don’t let the bad guys win.”

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