Darius Rucker, Luke Bryan + More Head ‘Straight to Hell’ at 2018 CMT Music Awards

Darius Rucker, Charles Kelley, Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan brought the 2018 CMT Music Awards to a spirited close with a collaborative performance of “Straight to Hell.”

While most of the artists performed their own tracks during the show, Rucker and crew switched it up by offering a cool cover of the famous Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ song, with Rucker leading the charge as Kelley, Aldean and Bryan joined forces for a countrified version of the swampy track.

“Help me mother I’m going straight to hell, just like my mama said, I’m going straight to hell,” the guys sang, as Aldean and Bryan rocked out on guitar. The superstars brought the performance to a lively finish as confetti rained over the stage and crowd, closing out a fun-filled awards show.

Rucker has been a longtime fan of the song and turned it into a four-way duet for his 2017 album, When Was the Last Time, after some encouragement from Kelley.

“I get a phone call from Charles Kelley out of the blue. But I’d been meaning to cut ‘Straight to Hell’ for every record I’ve put out. Every record I go I’m going to cut ‘Straight to Hell,’ but I just never do,” Rucker explains of how the collaboration came to fruition. “And Charles Kelley calls me out of the blue and goes, ‘Hey man, I was just listening to that ‘Straight to Hell’ song, you should cut it and I should sing along to it.’ I took that as the universe saying ‘Dude cut the song.’”

Rucker is set to hit the road with Lady Antebellum on the 2018 Summer Plays On Tour beginning July 19 in Toronto.