BY: Walker
Published 3 years ago
Jennifer Hudson brought down the house alongside Chris Stapleton, with her performance of Aretha Franklin’s track, “Night Life,” at the 55th annual CMA Awards on Wednesday.
via: Rolling Stone
Hudson, who plays Aretha Franklin in the new biopic Respect, gave her first performance at the CMA Awards with Franklin’s arrangement of Willie Nelson’s “Night Life,” starting the song off low and slow before ramping it up with brassy horn hits and explosive vocal runs. Stapleton joined in behind Hudson on guitar.
After a brief interlude, the second half of the performance featured Stapleton’s smoldering take on “You Are My Sunshine,” which he and wife Morgane recorded for Dave Cobb’s multi-artist Southern Family project. Hudson chimed in with some soaring ad libs of her own before the song shifted from a blues shuffle to a full gallop.
Stapleton began the evening tied with Eric Church for the event’s most nominations, including Entertainer of the Year, Album of the Year (which he won), and Male Vocalist of the Year. He’s currently headlining shows on his All-American Road Show tour, including a pair of Nashville dates Dec. 10 and 11.
Earlier in the CMA Awards show, Stapleton and a string section performed his song “Cold,” off his CMA Album of the Year winner Starting Over.
An unforgettable moment at the #CMAawards ? @ChrisStapleton and @IAMJHUD wrote history with this one! #iconic pic.twitter.com/Tr4CvDe3Ge
— Country 107.3 (@Country1073) November 11, 2021
The CMA Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan, were broadcast live from Nashville on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.