Luke Bryan Had Fun with Cole Swindell for ACM Honors Performance

The 10^th annual ACM Honors will air on television for the first time tonight. Among the star-studded list of performers for the evening is a collaboration between Luke Bryan and his longtime friend, Cole Swindell.

The Georgia natives took the stage together to perform the late Eddie Rabbitt’s “I Love A Rainy Night.”

“It was great,” Bryan told Sounds Like Nashville and other media during a recent interview. “It was fun being on stage with Cole. Obviously everyone knows of mine and his past so for he and I to have a fun TV on stage moment was fun.”

Aside from having fun with his longtime friend, Bryan was excited to revisit a song he used to cover during his early touring days.

“‘I Love A Rainy Night’ was a song that I covered for years in my band in Georgia so it was like riding a bike up there. I just hopped up there and did a song I was real familiar with,” he explained. “And Eddie Rabbitt is one of those artists that you forget just how dynamic of a career that he had. When we honored Eddie, that made me go research some more info on him and when you see that he passed away at such a young age, it was a big loss. I was glad to have that opportunity.”

Rabbitt was being honored with the Poet’s Award, which honors songwriters for outstanding musical and/or lyrical contributions to the genre of country music throughout their careers.

The 10^th annual ACM Honors will broadcast on CBS tonight (9/9) at 9 p.m. ET/PT, following the Stand Up to Cancer special.