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Zac Brown Band rocked the Bridgestone Arena stage during the 56th annual CMA Awards on Wednesday evening (November 9), teaming up with Marcus King and the band’s newest official (and first female) member, Caroline Jones.
The country artists joined forces to perform “Out In The Middle,” the fan-favorite country anthem that Zac Brown Band included on The Comeback, which released last year. The song also appears on the 21-track deluxe edition of the album, which released in September. The deluxe album includes reimagined versions of previously-released fan-favorites, adding other artists to the new tracks. “Out In The Middle” features country hitmaker Blake Shelton on the deluxe collection. King teamed up with Zac Brown Band on a new version of “Stubborn Pride,” along with Jamey Johnson. The Comeback was packed with fan-favorite hits like “Slow Burn,” “Out In The Middle,” “Wild Palomino,” “Same Boat” and others. Each band member managed to blend their own “twist” into the album. Frontman Zac Brown previously called the album, “the best album that I’ve ever made, start to finish. All the guys, everybody on the team just killed it.”
The performance at the 56th annual CMA Awards was originally meant to include Jimmie Allen, along with Zac Brown Band and King. He had to drop out of the collaboration, however, because he was feeling “under the weather.” Allen said in a tweet around midday on Wednesday: “I was looking forward to performing with my friends [Zac Brown Band] and [Marcus King] at the [CMA Awards], unfortunately I’m under the weather and won’t be able to. I look forward to watching them and the other performers tonight.”
The highly-anticipated awards show marked Zac Brown Band’s first televised performance with Jones as an official member of the band. She’s previously toured with the band and opened for them over the last few years, so now, she’s “honored” to join full-time. Jones said when she was announced as a full-time member earlier this month: “Playing with ZBB makes me a better musician, vocalist, songwriter, performer, and human. I live for each of those things and I am humbled that they believe I add to the outfit.”