Sugarland Flash Back to Serendipitous First-Ever ACM Awards Performance [Watch]
Beloved country duo Sugarland, who are releasing their comeback album Bigger in June, will be helping out at the 2018 Academy of Country Music Awards by taking the stage as presenters. This year's duties sparked a fun memory for Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush, who recalled their somewhat haphazard first time actually playing the storied event.
The pair shared a video of their performance of 2004's hit "Baby Girl," plus a funny tale of how it came to be: "Our first #ACMawards performance was meant to last only 30 seconds, BUT George Strait was feeling under the weather," they explained. "Jennifer kicked off her shoes and together we closed the show performing 'Baby Girl' for the first time on television. #DreamsComeTrue."
Bush told Taste of Country even more about this back in 2015, stressing just how early it was in their career to make such a huge performance. "We were like, 'You're crazy! No one's ever heard of us,'" he recalled. "And there was a moment right before we went on where Jennifer was like, wearing Sara Evans' shoes or something—something didn't work out, they didn't fit, so she just kicked them off and went barefoot.
"So when you see that performance back, if you ever look at it online, that was us, completely panicked, not knowing what in the world we were gonna do, and Jennifer's like, 'Forget it, let's go barefoot—just go!' And that was us."
The 53rd ACM Awards will broadcast live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 15 at 8PM ET on CBS.
Remember: The best way to watch the ACM Awards is on TV, with TOC on your phone.
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