Have you ever wondered if you will still be attending concerts by your favorite artist or band 50 years from now? Will you be taking your grandkids to see Morgan Wallen or Lainey Wilson, and smile as you see them sing along to decades of hits? Only time will tell if that will be the case, but for fans of the Bellamy Brothers, that experience is a reality.

Howard and David Bellamy celebrated their 50th anniversary with a star-studded Ryman Auditorium show that brought together multiple generations of fans to enjoy five decades of hits. Special appearances by friends John Anderson, Deborah Allen, and Big & Rich just added to the party atmosphere.

“We’re happy to have those guys come along with us because they are old friends,” David tells Everything Nash. “What fun!”

Never content to rest on their considerable laurels, The Bellamys are celebrating their 50th anniversary with the release of a new album, 50 Years On. The title track shares highlights from their decades-long career.

“We’ve been doing it live now for our encore, and people are really responding to it,” David says. “It’s a song and a documentary of our career in three and a half minutes. There’s a lot of stuff in there and it’s all true.”

The Bellamy Brothers Look Back On Their Legendary Career

David admits that with so much history under their belts, there have been a few things that they have forgotten.

“We’ve been doing a Canadian run every year, and our promoter is kind of a music historian,” David says. “He reminded us that we had played a show with Queen back in 1976, and I had forgotten about it. I remembered after he told us. It was right about the time that ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ came out.”

The Bellamy Brothers have enjoyed reminiscing as they’ve celebrated their 50th anniversary.

“We’ve done so many things and been to so many strange places,” Howard says. “Just when we thought we’d been to every place, something new comes up.”

Among their many unique invitations was a request to play in Namibia. They were initially hesitant because of the logistics of getting to the remote location.

“We got messages from Namibia for ten years wanting us to play there,” Howard recalls. “[International booking agent] Judy Seale would call us and say we got offers from Namibia, and I would say, ‘We can’t go to Namibia. It’s way down in the west coast of Africa, and plane tickets will be expensive,’”

“But these people never gave up for ten years,” he continues. “And then a few years later, a promoter put together a South African tour. And we said, ‘We also want to do Namibia because they’ve been after us for years to get the Bellamys out here,’ so we ended up playing there.”

“It took so long,” David adds, “that the guy who tried to get us there died before we came. We dedicated the whole show to him.”

The Bellamy Brothers Look Back On Their Iconic Hit, “Let Your Love Flow”

The song that launched the Bellamy Brothers on their musical odyssey, of course, is “Let Your Love Flow,” an international hit released in 1976 that has become the soundtrack of everyone’s life. The song has continued to be woven into American culture, most recently as the soundtrack for Budweiser’s new Super Bowl ad titled “First Delivery,” featuring the Budweiser Clydesdales. The ad featuring the Bellamy Brothers became the No. 1 commercial, according to USA TODAY’s Ad Meter contest by viewers.

“We never thought we made it,” David replies when asked when they felt like they had arrived. “I remember when we lived in LA and had a little radio in our kitchen. One day, Howard was turning the dial, and every third song we heard was ‘Let Your Love Flow’ on that radio. Things like that you remember, but I don’t think you could say, ‘Okay, you’ve got it made now.’”

Over the years, the Bellamy Brothers have populated country radio with such classic hits as “Redneck Girl,” “If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body, Would You Hold It Against Me,” “Do You Love As Good As You Look,” “Sugar Daddy,” “Old Hippie,” “You Ain’t Just Whistlin’ Dixie,” “For All the Wrong Reasons,” “Lovers Live Longer,” “Reggae Cowboy,” “Crazy from the Heart,” “I Could Be Persuaded” and “When I’m Away from You,” among many others.

The Success Of The Bellamy Brothers

Well known as one of the most nominated duos in country music, the Bellamys have always maintained one of the busiest tour schedules of any act. They’ve also definitely traveled the farthest. They are the only U.S. country music act to tour commercially in Dubai, India, Sri Lanka, New Caledonia and Qatar.

“Switzerland is very special and has been great to us,” Howard says. “Australia and New Zealand are incredible as well.”

“Sri Lanka is special too,” adds David. “In the Bible, it was named Ceylon, and they renamed it. It’s a very special place.”

The Bellamy Brothers still love touring, but admit that it’s gotten tougher over the years.

“Mentally we still do [like it], but sometimes our bodies don’t,” David says with a laugh. “We still like playing live, playing the shows. It’s still fun. I think what gets to a lot of artists is that travel is harder now. Air travel and just travel in general now, just the congestion of the whole world, but we still enjoy it.”

This story was written by Deborah Evans Price.