Jim Belushi, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Keegan-Michael Key and dozens of other talents with roots in Chicago — singers, actors, dancers and more — belt out the city’s unofficial anthem in a new music video meant to ease the pandemic burden for local artists.
Tony Award winner Jessie Mueller counts down the beats to open the clip, which also spotlights the voices of stage stars E. Faye Butler (riffing, “Let me explain something to you ...) and André De Shields (resplendent in a glittering butterfly pendant). Jazz singer Kurt Elling carries another chunk of the vocal load.
Ramsey Lewis tickles the piano. Survivor rocker Jim Peterik wails on the guitar. Rachel Barton Pine saws away on the violin. Twista spits a mile-a-minute list of the city’s greatest assets.
Chef Rick Bayless dances in front of a flaming grill and confesses, “That was way harder than I thought it would be.”
The six-minute, quick-cut rendition of “Sweet Home Chicago,” from local production company HMS Media, urges viewers to donate to the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund, which helps artists throughout Chicago and Illinois who are struggling in the wake of COVID-19 closures.
Sharp-eyed viewers also might catch actors Lecy Goranson (“The Connors”), Joe Mantegna (“Criminal Minds”), Jeff Perry (“Scandal”) and George Wendt (“Cheers”).
