Wynonna Judd has joined the Pete Scobell Band for a powerful new track that pays tribute to Chris Kyle, whose life is the subject of the  Oscar-nominated movie, American Sniper.

Kyle and his friend, Chad Littlefield, were killed on Feb, 2, 2013 at a shooting range at Rough Creek Lodge and Resort in Glen Rose, Texas. The former Marine sniper and his friend had taken Eddie Ray Routh there after Routh's mother reached out to Kyle to help her son, whom she said was suffering from PTSD after serving in the Marines in Iraq and in Haiti after an earthquake in 2010.

Routh shot and killed the two men, and later pleaded insanity. On Tuesday (Feb. 24) a jury in Stephenville, Texas convicted Routh of murder, rejecting his attorney's claims that he was unable to differentiate right from wrong at the time of the shootings.

Pete Scobell served in the Navy for nearly 17 years, reaching the rank of lieutenant and fulfilling his dream of becoming a Navy SEAL. He has more recently turned his attention to music. The collaboration with Judd came about through a connection her husband and drummer, Cactus Moser, made with songwriter Travis Meadows, who has written for Eric Church, Dierks Bentley and Jake Owen.

Meadows included the song on his 2013 EP Old Ghosts & Unfinished Business, and like all of his writing, it was meant to describe his own life. But he says that's part of the appeal of music — the fact that listeners can bring their own interpretations to a lyric.

"I think the beautiful thing about [the song] is that really, you can apply that to anybody's life that wants to make a difference," Meadows tells Taste of Country. "Boy, girl, man, woman, black or white, red or yellow ... I think anybody that wants to live a life worth living."

"Hearts I Leave Behind" is currently available for download at iTunes, with proceeds going to benefit the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation, whose goal is "to provide meaningful, interactive experiences to service members, first responders and their families, aimed at enriching their family relationships."

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