As one of the biggest nights in country music is quickly approaching, more and more secrets are being revealed. We don’t want to spoil them for you, so we decided to live in nostalgia and relive the best performances from the 2015 CMA Awards.
There were over 20 performances and so many incredible pairings that it was definitely hard to narrow it down, but we somehow managed to choose our 7 favorite performances from the iconic night.
Take a look at them below.
7. Brad Paisley – “Country Nation”
The co-host of the awards show was joined by mascots from various college football teams. They danced around in the background and cheered when they were mentioned in the song!
Enjoy a clip from Brad Paisley’s performance in the video above.
6. Keith Urban And John Mellencamp – “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16” / “Pink Houses”
Urban was able to share the stage with his idol, John “Cougar” Mellencamp, to perform his hit song, “John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16”, which references his hero. They also performed Mellencamp’s 1983 hit “Pink Houses”, which you can watch above.
5. Carrie Underwood – “Smoke Break”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdXHh8udQlc
Paisley’s fellow co-host also took the stage to perform her latest hit at the time, “Smoke Break”. She sure knows how to entertain a crowd!
4. Reba McEntire with Brooks & Dunn – “Why Haven’t I Heard From You?” / “Play Something Country”
The legendary performers are not new to teaming up and they totally rocked the CMA Awards stage last year! They performed McEntire’s 1994 hit “Why Haven’t I Heard From You” and Brooks & Dunn’s 2005 grand-slam “Play Something Country”.
As you can see from the clip above, the crowd was loving it and they were all singing and dancing along!
3. Hank Williams Jr. And Eric Church – “Are You Ready For The Country”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UDQCVpEQgw
This time last year, we had no clue what song Hank Jr. and Eric Church would be performing together to kick off the 49th Annual CMA Awards show. He had been teasing new music and just hours before the show, he dropped a brand new single, “Are You Ready For The Country” featuring Church.
They performed it together to kick off the show and set the tone for a rockin’ night! Make sure to turn it up for this one!
2. Miranda Lambert – “Bathroom Sink”
Fresh off her divorce from country star Blake Shelton, who was also scheduled to perform, Lambert seemed to send a message with her rockin’ performance of “Bathroom Sink”.
The song’s lyrics tell the story of a woman who tries to hold it together as she “puts on her face” and gets ready standing in front of her bathroom sink. The song was never released as a single off her 2014 album Platinum, so fans thought her song choice for the night was not coincidental.
Watch her flawless performance in the video above.
1. Chris Stapleton & Justin Timberlake – “Tennessee Whiskey” / “Drink You Away”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdTdMu2HnYw
You can’t talk to anyone about the 2015 CMA Awards without bringing up this epic performance. When people heard Justin Timberlake was performing at a country music awards show, it had people scratching their heads. After they heard his collaboration with Stapleton, their minds were changed forever.
It was the most epic performance the CMAs had seen in a while and had every single person on their feet. Watch the performance in the video above.
What was your favorite 2015 CMA Awards performance? Did we cover it? Let us know in the comments!