Beyonce Steals the Show at Country Music Awards with Dixie Chicks Duet

Beyonce was the stand-out performer at the Country Music Association Awards (CMAs) on Wednesday night, as she joined the Dixie Chicks to perform her track “Daddy Lessons.”

The R&B superstar’s appearance at the annual ceremony had been rumored earlier in the day, but the 32-year-old stunned fans as she took to the stage alongside the country music trio, who have been performing the song as part of their DCX MMXVI tour in recent months.

Wearing a low-cut sparkling gold gown with puffy shoulders, Beyonce looked confident and poised as she belted out the track from her album Lemonade.

The song hit headlines when Beyonce dropped Lemonade back in April due to its country feel. Along with a horn intro, references to Texas, an acoustic guitar and hand claps setting out the rhythm and a story about the lessons she learned from her father and former manager Matthew Knowles, “Daddy Lessons” had all the markings of a country hit – a drastic departure from Beyonce’s usual sound.

Country star Dierks Bentley said of the song after hearing Lemonade: “There is just something intangible about it that it feels like a country song. It’s not just choruses that are catchy and verses that could be intermixed anywhere as some pop songs are. It’s a real story that she tells about what’s going on in her life growing up.”

Beyonce’s performance alongside the Dixie Chicks on Wednesday night proved such a hit with fans and viewers that it topped the Billboard + Twitter Trending 140 chart – a chart which measures the real-time increase of discussions around artists and their music on Twitter.

Shortly after the CMA performance, the Dixie Chicks – Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire – also took to Twitter to share a link to an official studio version of their duet with Beyonce on “Daddy Lessons.”

It marks a rare studio offering from the country trio, who haven’t released a studio album since Taking the Long Way in 2006.

While the majority of people enjoyed Beyonce’s performance with the Dixie Chicks, a shot of Kenny Chesney looking less than impressed as he witnessed the rendition from the audience quickly went viral, with viewers commenting on his “sour” looking expression.