Regardless of how you feel about the long-running NBC show, Saturday Night Live has had a big impact on the music industry ever since it premiered all the way back in 1975.
Originally, show runner Lorne Michaels aimed to book more obscure artists and bands that he felt represented the spirit of New York during the time: fast, dangerous and edgy. But as the show progressed, and the “City So Nice, They Named It Twice” moved forward with it, SNL aimed to have musical guests that were more popular in pop culture.
And you can’t talk about pop culture and music without mentioning the country music genre. Though one could argue that country artists haven’t popped up on the sketch show as much recently, there’s been a steady stream of the southern sound throughout much of the show’s history. It’s not always the place that helps younger country acts become noticed… rather, it’s an opportunity for bigger acts to show a different side of themselves.
So I thought it would be fun to comb through the history of the show, and see what country music artists really set themselves apart when they were either the musical guest, the host, or both. Believe it or not, there have been a number of times where country music artists have pulled “double duty,” and taken care of the hosting and being the musical guest.
Johnny Cash once just hosted the show, and the musical guest was Elton John.
Which brings me to a couple of “honorable mentions” before we get into the actual list (that’s in no particular order). I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Johnny Cash-Elton John episode from 1982. It was the only time that Cash made the trip to Studio 8H, and he only ever hosted the show… he was never the musical guest. That’s also the episode where he and Elton John switched outfits during the program.
And of course Morgan Wallen didn’t exactly steal the show, but he certainly stole headlines on both occasions. The first was a COVID-era fiasco that sent people over the edge because he wasn’t “properly social distancing” ahead of his appearance. And then more recently, he awkwardly walked off stage during the goodbye. While his tour manager confirmed that they were actually there for another 30 minutes, it was the walk-off heard around the world, and it was the only thing that people were talking about for a good two weeks.
And finally, Chris Stapleton has appeared on the late night comedy show three separate times (2016, 2018, and 2024). He’s always brought his rocking country sound to the show (including one guest appearance by Sturgill Simpson), and the “White Horse” singer even had a hilarious cameo in one of the show’s sketches during his most recent appearance.
I’ll link that below, and then we’ll dive into the five times that country music artists stole the show at Saturday Night Live.
Willie Nelson – 1987
The legendary Willie Nelson was the host and musical guest in 1987, and he was able to show off his acting chops a bit in a number of skits. One of the highlights of his show was when he played the proprietor of a Redneck Tanning Parlor – which hosted “liquor nights” and specialized in giving country people farmer’s tans.
I could have used a little bit more Willie Nelson in the sketch itself, but he really stole the moment – and got the biggest laughs – when he was acting as the owner of the friendly, neighborhood, country tanning joint:
Dolly Parton- 1989
If you ask me, you can’t have a country music listicle without having the “Queen of Country.” From the very beginning of the show, Dolly Parton brought her patented enthusiasm and joy for life to the stage. She joked in her monologue that she had “12 buses shipped up from Dollywood,” and she even wore a special peacock dress as a nod to NBC.
There were also a couple of slow pan in camera shot jokes that you probably couldn’t get away with in the modern day, but Dolly Parton played it off in a way that made it funny. And though she had fun, and did a great job pulling double duty, the country star said that she would never be the host and musical guest in the same episode ever again:
Garth Brooks – 1998
The infamous Garth Brooks episode. This was the rare episode of SNL where the same person hosted and acted as a musical guest… but then again, they didn’t. What do I mean by that? Well, Garth Brooks was the host, and his alter-ego music persona Chris Gaines was the musical guest. I’m thinking that the only other person who has done something similar is Donald Glover (also known as Childish Gambino).
In the 1998 episode (he hosted one other time), Garth Brooks performed one sketch that was simply titled “Old French Wh**e.” Writer Tina Fey has said that she tried to write the sketch character to embarrass Garth, but he ended up buying into it and was, frankly, hilarious:
Kacey Musgraves – 2021
Kacey Musgraves is as talented a country artist and songwriter as they come. Though some die-hard country music fans might not consider her traditional country anymore, the world at large (people who tune into SNL) would certainly categorize her as such.
She managed to steal the show with her music… and a stunt that no other artist has ever been able to pull off while on Saturday Night Live. When she was there to promote her 2021 album Star-Crossed, which she explained as the “most naked” she had felt as an artist.
So she made SNL history and became the first musical guest to perform in the nude:
Sturgill Simpson – 2017
In what is arguably the greatest SNL musical performance of all time, Sturgill Simpson and the boys blew the roof clean off of the historic Studio 8H at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. The performance of “Call To Arms,” a fan favorite from the Grammy-winning A Sailor’s Guide To Earth record, was a crash course in how to melt faces.
Stu was knocking into the cymbals with the guitar head, keys player Bobby Emmett was literally surfing on the organ (which Sturgill said later cost Bobby his deal with Hammond), Sturgill kicking the organ while running around like a mad man, and finally the big crescendo… Sturgill smashes the guitar down, scowling at the crowd with the most intense game face I’ve ever seen in the history of music.
Better pack a lunch if you wanna try and compete with that.
