Singer Willie Nelson has thrown his support behind an initiative to fight a coal mining practice, which involves blowing up mountaintops, by recording a rendition of America The Beautiful for a public service announcement.

The On The Road Again hitmaker has released a video, via the Natural Resources Defense Council, in which he sings the patriotic song as pictures of destruction caused by mountaintop removal are flashed onscreen.

A message written at the end of the video reads: "The Appalachian Mountains (in the U.S.) are a national treasure, but mountaintop removal coal mining is destroying them forever. Obliterating forests, polluting the air and water and flooding the valleys. It won't stop unless we do something."