I love it when these two team up.
Eric Church introduced a lot of people to Ashley McBryde back in 2017, before she was the household name in country music that she is today, when he brought her on stage during a tour stop in Chicago to perform one of her songs, “Bible and a .44.”
Obviously Ashley’s become a superstar herself since then, but she’s also continued to team up with Church quite a few times.
Back in 2019, Eric and Ashley performed “The Snake” together on the ACM Awards. And the two once again took the stage together at the 2022 ACM Awards when Ashley McBryde served as Church’s backup singer and the two delivered an electric performance of “Heart on Fire.”
Ashley also filled in for Church’s then-backup singer Joanna Cotten when she had to miss a tour stop at Madison Square Garden due to COVID, and she surprised the crowd during a show at the Ryman Auditorium by welcoming Church onstage as the two delivered an epic performance of “Midnight Rider” by the Allman Brothers.
Most recently, Church surprised the crowd during Ashley’s Grand Ole Opry induction to not only recreate their 2017 performance of “Bible and a .44,” but also to debut a new song of his own.
So it only made sense that when Church announced his Outsiders Revival Tour, which will feature opening acts for the first time in forever, that Ashley would come along for the ride.
And you know it’s going to be good when the two of them are together.
During last night’s show at Pine Knob Music Theatre in Clarkston, Michigan, Ashley joined Eric onstage during his set and the two delivered an absolutely incredible performance of “Mixed Drinks About Feelings” from Church’s 2015 album Mr. Misunderstood.
The song originally featured Susan Tedeschi of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, and when Eric’s broken it out on previous tours his backup singer Joanna Cotten has belted it out with him. But since Cotten left the band to pursue a solo career, he had to find somebody to fill her shoes.
And when that somebody is Ashley McBryde…well, you can’t get much better than that.
As Eric said as he changed the lyrics to close out the song:
“Turn on the neon light, you’re lucky you got to hear Ashley McBryde sing tonight.”
