Post Malone, Morgan Wallen and Hardy Pay Tribute to Joe Diffie During High-Energy CMA Awards Performance

Post Malone, Morgan Wallen and Hardy took the stage together at Wednesday’s CMA Awards to pay tribute to the late country legend Joe Diffie. Wallen and Hardy started together, running through Diffie’s 1993 song “John Deere Green,” before welcoming Malone to the stage to sing the 1994 hit “Pickup Man” as a trio.

While Post Malone is most strongly associated with hip-hop and pop, he has shown his love of the country genre before with numerous covers of songs in the genre, like “I’m Gonna Miss Her (The Fishin’ Song)” by Brad Paisley, “You Can Have the Crown” by Sturgill Simpson and “There’s a Tear in My Beer” by Hank Williams. He has also joined Billy Strings in a live performance of Johnny Cash’s “Cocaine Blues” on stage in 2022.

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Hardy released his country album “The Mockingbird and the Crow,” which featured Wallen, in 2023. It was announced prior to the ceremony that his song “Wait in the Truck” with Lainey Wilson won early CMAs for musical event of the year and music video of the year. Wilson, the most nominated artist this year, went on to win entertainer of the year at the close o the telecast.

Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning returned to host the 37th iteration of the CMAs. Additional collaborations came from Jelly Roll and K. Michelle, Old Dominion and Megan Moroney, Carly Pearce and Chris Stapleton, and Tanya Tucker and Little Big Town.

Kelsea Ballerini performed “Leave Me Again,” Dan + Shay performed “Save Me the Trouble” and Luke Bryan took to the stage for a No. 1 hits medley, among many other performances from country music stars.

The CMAs can be streamed on Hulu the day after airing on ABC.

Watch the Diffie tribute performance below.

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