Only coming back on one condition. By now everybody’s probably aware of the backlash that erupted following the performance from The Chicks (then known as the Dixie Chicks) and Beyoncé at the CMA Awards in 2016. It was the 50th year for the awards show, and the the CMA Awards had taken a lot of heat in recent years for chasing ratings by featuring pop artists instead of showcasing country music. (If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s still happening…although the ACM Awards have been the worst offender in recent years). To their credit, the 50th Annual CMA Awards started out pretty good. The show opened with an all-star medley of some of the biggest country hits of the last 50 years, artists like Alan Jackson, Reba, Charlie Daniels, Vince Gill, Charley Pride and more singing hits like “Mama Tried,” “Stand By Your Man,” “Devil Went Down to Georgia” and ending with Randy Travis singing the last word of “Forever And Ever, Amen.” The show also featured George Strait and Alan Jackson performing “Remember When” and “Troubadour” together, as well as a medley of classic country hits from Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. But the show wasn’t without controversy. Leading up to “Country Music’s Biggest Night,” it was announced that the Dixie Chicks would be returning to the stage for the first time since 2003, when they were blacklisted from country music over lead singer Natalie Maines’ comments on the Iraq war. The Chicks would be taking the stage with Beyoncé to perform “Daddy Lessons,” from her 2016 album Lemonade. And naturally, folks weren’t happy that the CMA Awards would be taking a performance spot from a country artist to give it to one of the world’s biggest pop stars instead. Well naturally, the performance created quite the uproar from country fans (and even some artists) who weren’t happy about Beyoncé performing at the Country Music Association Awards. Alan Jackson reportedly got up and left during the performance, and after the show, Travis Tritt took to social media to criticize the producers of the show for turning to pop acts for ratings: I have nothing against Beyoncé. It's the CMA producers that I'm disappointed in. Country doesn't need pop acts for ratings. — Travis Tritt (@TravisTritt) November 4, 2016 The performance created even more controversy when the CMAs were accused of deleting any mention of the collaboration from their social media. The organization later issued a statement denying that they had removed any videos of the performance, and claiming that they had only deleted a short clip of the song that was posted before the performance due to Beyoncé’s licensing requirements. Maines then took to social media and antagonized critics, joking that the CMA Awards had invited her and Beyoncé to host the next year’s ceremony but that she declined, while also saying that she was only using the CMA Awards to fulfill her dream of performing with Beyoncé and having somebody else pay for it: “It’s ok. I used them to fulfill my dream of singing with Bey. (On their dime;)” Well a few years after the performance and ensuing controversy, Maines joined Howard Stern where she was asked about the backlash she received for the performance, which the singer blamed on “racist a–holes.” “You know, it was just a weird vibe in that building. We hadn’t done anything, country award shows or anything since the controversy. Let me just say, the week we worked with Beyonce is the single greatest working week of my professional life. It was awesome. To watch her world, to see how she does stuff, she’s a perfectionist. And to see the power she has as a female and a black female is incredible. And I guess they can rate those shows now by the 15 minutes. It’s the highest rated 15 minutes in CMA history. And then they start getting, you know, racist a–holes bombarding their website with comments and emails and whatever. And so they take her down. They took our performance down and caved to that bulls–t. And then they, I guess, got so much bad press for doing that. Within 24 hours, they put it back up again. Just cowards. It’s just crazy. She just gave you your greatest ratings that you’ve ever gotten. How dare you take her song off? It was ridiculous. You’re f–king kidding me.” And she also vowed to never perform on the CMA Awards again – unless, of course, Beyoncé comes calling again. “I said I would never after 2003. But then when Beyonce calls, you’re like, ‘OK, maybe just this one time.’ One last time. I’ll only do it with Beyonce.” While Beyoncé never (publicly) vowed not to return to the CMA Awards, she did say that it was a negative experience during her previous appearance that led her to dive into country music for her country-inspired album Cowboy Carter last year. And the CMAs once again found themselves in controversy when neither that album nor Beyoncé were nominated for any CMA Awards, leading to renewed accusations of racism despite many defending the organization as choosing to recognize artists who have made their career in country. Regardless, there won’t be a similar controversy this year, because it doesn’t seem like either Maines or Bey have any interest in returning to the CMA Awards any time soon.The post The Chicks Lead Singer Natalie Maines Said She Would Never Perform At The CMA Awards Again After “Racist” Backlash To Performance With Beyoncé first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

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Singing in honor of the Big Dog Daddy. Yesterday, November 16,  Toby Keith‘s daughter ran onto the 50-yard line at Acrisure Stadium (formerly Heinz Field) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to honor her father’s life and legacy while cheering on a team he so dearly loved. During the game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Krystal Keith kicked off the game by laying down a stellar performance of the national anthem. Keith, who inherited the same musical talent as her father, has a great set of pipes and has crushed the national anthem many times, and yesterday was no exception. However, her halftime performance was something even more special, and was one I am sure her father looked down on with a big old grin. During halftime, Keith retook center field and performed “American Soldier,” honoring all the service men and women who were present at the game. The patriotic performance was a part of the Steelers’ Salute to Service game, which honors active-duty service members and veterans. “The Salute to Service game, an annual NFL initiative, honors our nation’s service members, veterans, and their families,” per a Pittsburgh Steelers press release. Krystal Keith sang the National Anthem in honor of her late father, Toby Keith, who sang the National Anthem at the first regular season game in our stadium back in 2001 against the Bengals. At halftime, she performed two of his songs, 'Don't Let the Old Man In' and 'American… pic.twitter.com/0wKTyXZ1Lm — Acrisure Stadium (@AcrisureStadium) November 16, 2025 The number one hit from Keith was co-written with Chuck Cannon. Keith shared that he penned the tune “for all the times that I get to meet the troops on these USO tours, and since Courtesy of Red, White, and Blue, the P.O.W.s and the families that have come and brought me back my old CD covers and stuff that they had and shown how much support they had (for me), this is my support for the American fighting men and women.” There is no denying that Toby Keith was the ultimate patriot, and this was a perfect song choice to honor those in active service during the game… Although a little “boot up you a**” action from “Courtesy Of The Red, White and Blue” would have also been a stadium hit. Keith also performed “Don’t Let The Old Man In,” his 2019 song that was recorded for Clint Eastwood’s movie The Mule. The song took on a new, special significance when Toby performed it last fall at the People’s Choice Country Music Awards and was re-released as a single soon thereafter. Krystal brought folks to tears when performing this song about making every moment of your life count during his 2024 tribute concert, and brought the same emotion to the performance yesterday. “Many moons I have lived My body’s weathered and worn Ask yourself how old would you be If you didn’t know the day you were born Try to love on your wife And stay close to your friends Toast each sundown with wine Don’t let the old man in” Krystal took to Instagram after the game to share how surreal her performances were and to reflect on the history she has as a Steelers fan because of her father. “Yesterday was a dream come true. Every moment of sitting on my dad’s lap as a kid, watching The Bus plow through defenders, came rushing back when I stepped on Heinz Field. I have proudly worn Steelers colors my entire life, and properly introducing my girls to my team in Steel City and honoring both my dad and servicemen and women by singing the anthem and doing the halftime show was such an honor. My dad was the first person to sing the anthem in this stadium in 2001, right after 9/11. Steelers dominated the Bengals then, and they happened to also be playing the Bengals again for yesterday’s game, and they pulled off another victory! That makes us 2-0 as a family. The Keith/Steelers winning streak continues! Thank you Steelers for having us. It was an honor.” The Steelers had the luck of Toby Keith on their side yesterday. Long live the Big Dog Daddy. View this post on Instagram Before you go, fire up “American Soldier” from Toby Keith himself. The post Toby Keith’s Daughter, Krystal, Honors Her Father & Service Members With “American Solider” Performance During Steelers Halftime first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

moments like these we will never forget #CMAawards