Eric Church and Morgan Wallen — two sterling country music headliners– teamed up during Wednesday evening’s (Nov. 8) 2023 CMA Awards. Clad in his signature dark sunglasses, Church traded lines with Wallen on “Man Made a Bar,” a tribute to the hazy, smoke-filled spaces where libations flow freely and the heartbroken escape to find solace and refuge.
“God made a girl, his best work of art/ Oh, but he didn’t make no place to go when she breaks your heart…So man madе a bar,” they sang on the song written by Brett Tyler, Jordan Dozzi, Larry Fleet and Rocky Block.
The two hugged as the performance ended, with Church pointing to Wallen before they exited the stage. The two artists have had a long friendship, showing up as guests during each other’s concerts and occasionally posting photos of their golfing outings on Instagram.
“Man Made a Bar” is included on Wallen’s album One Thing at a Time, which spent 16 weeks atop the all-genre Billboard 200 albums chart.
Wallen is currently nominated for entertainer of the year, an honor Church took home in 2020. One Thing at a Time is up for album of the year, while Wallen is up for male vocalist of the year. This isn’t Wallen’s only performance during the CMA Awards; he’s also set to perform later in the evening with Post Malone and HARDY.
The 57th annual CMAs aired live on ABC, and was hosted by Luke Combs and Peyton Manning. This year’s top nominees include “Heart Like a Truck” singer Lainey Wilson with nine nominations (also including entertainer of the year), and “Need a Favor” singer Jelly Roll, with five nominations.
Watch Morgan Wallen and Eric Church’s performance of “Man Made a Bar” below:
