Thomas Rhett shocked the crowd at the 2022 Stagecoach Music Festival this past weekend by bringing a pair of special guests onstage to sing a Garth Brooks’ hit.
Rhett sang the 90s country superstar’s song, “Friends In Low Places.” Rhett brought out fellow country singer, HARDY to help him with the first verse on day one of the festival.
“I’m gonna let you take it away unless you want me to start it for you,” Rhett said to HARDY. HARDY wore a hat, sunglasses, a tie-dye shirt, and shorts onstage. Prior to taking the stage with Rhett, the country singer posted two videos of himself at the festival on Instagram, drinking beer, without being recognized by fans in attendance.
“Ayyyyyyyy incognito bro,” fellow country singer Hailey Whitters, who also played the festival, commented on the post.
Then, for the song’s third verse, Rhett brought out actor, Ashton Kutcher, who sported a cowboy hat, bandana tied around his neck, and a gray T-shirt that read, “Support Your Local Farmer.”
Rhett bumped HARDY’s shoulder, smiling as Kutcher began to sing.
@stagecoach Ashton Kutcher doing a little Garth with @thomasrhett and @Hardy 🤠 More surprises on the Youtube livestream today at youtube.com/stagecoach #ashtonkutcher #thomasrhett #hardy #stagecoach #countrymusic
Rhett frequently covers the Garth Brooks’ hit during live concerts with special guests when he’s on the road. Rhett covered the song with Cole Swindell and Conner Smith at the Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis on Dec. 31. He also sang the tune with Luke Combs on April 10 at this year’s Tortuga music festival in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Brooks has reacted to Rhett covering his song in the past.
Rhett covered the song at Cheyenne’s Frontier Days in July 2021, and asked the audience to record the performance because he didn’t have Brooks’ number.
“I don’t really have Garth Brooks’ number,” Rhett explained. “So, I would love for you guys to record this [performance of “Friends In Low Places”] and someone find his number and send this to him,” he said.
The clip was posted to Twitter by a fan named Nicole who tagged Brooks via Inside Studio G and it eventually made its way to Brooks while he was on a Facebook livestream. Brooks was initially confused by the social media interaction before he realized Rhett had covered his song.
I don’t have @garthbrooks number either, @ThomasRhett, but we do have #insidestudiog!! This moment from Thomas Rhett last night at @CheFrontierDays was so sweet! Everybody ❤️‘s Garth! #AskGarth What is your most memorable interaction with a fan on stage?! Love you!! @BryanMMoore pic.twitter.com/YA16uVhdTF
— Nicole Curtsinger (Wright) (@nicolew95) July 26, 2021
Brooks then said how he felt about the song choice.
“I’m sorry to say this, but you kind of picked a song that the gas tank was kind of empty on cause they dropped it all the night before,” Brooks shared.
“It was fabulous, man, it was awesome. My favorite song of the night before was ‘Good Ride Cowboy…’ that crowd jumped on it like Junebugs, it was good, like really good,” he added.
This year’s Stagecoach music festival featured an all-star lineup of country singers, including Maren Morris, Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson, Colter Wall, Carrie Underwood, and others.
Among some of the more notable performances was Underwood’s onstage collaboration with Guns N’ Roses frontman, Axl Rose.
