Miranda Lambert Joins Chris Stapleton for ‘Maggie’s Song’ On ACM Awards
This song is relatable to anyone who has lost a furry friend.
Chris Stapleton knows there’s nothing quite like man’s best friend, so when his dog Maggie passed away. He knew he had to write a song just for her. Stapleton took the heartfelt ode “Maggie’s Song” to the 2021 ACM Awards stage with Miranda Lambert, who stood in for his normal duet partner, his wife Morgane.
Stapleton and Lambert performed the sweet song from the famed Bluebird Café in Nashville, TN. Seated in front of the bar with chairs on tables and bottles of alcohol behind them, Stapleton took lead on the song, his voice encapsulating the emotion of the tune. Lambert, who was dressed in a fringe jacket, sat next to Stapleton and provided harmony. Stapleton played guitar in the simple, yet beautiful performance and a drummer was also present to provide percussion.
“I had a revelation As the tractor dug a hole / I can tell you right now That a dog has a soul / And I thought to myself As we buried her on the hill / I never knew me a better dog And I guess I never will,” he sings in the closing verse.
Stapleton wrote the song the day after his beloved friend passed away. He based the song on their real life story, from bringing her home to her relationship with the Stapleton children.
“She deserved a tribute of a song. Now, whether or not I did her justice in the song, I don’t know, but she was a dog that deserved a song so I wrote a song about her the day after she died,” the Kentucky native said in an interview with his record label. “That song happened to carry through to me being allowed to play it live, and we wound up in the studio and we recorded it. And now it lives in the world to make people, um, more sad than they deserve to be (laughs) in a year that we don’t need much of that. But I loved that dog very much, and she was a great member of our family.”
“Maggie’s Song” is featured on Stapleton’s latest record, Starting Over. The Entertainer of the Year nominee recently rescheduled the first several dates on his 2021 All-American Road Show Tour, pushing stops in Ohio and Kentucky to 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 2021 ACM Awards, hosted by Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton, broadcast live on Sunday, April 18 (8:00-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network and will be available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
See all of our ACM coverage right here.
