Following up a pretty exciting, drama-filled Country Music Awards earlier this month, the CMA Country Christmas Special was a bit more lowkey, but still packed with moments that country music lovers will enjoy. One of the biggest highlights was Kacey Musgraves performing the Hawaiian Christmas classic “Mele Kalikimaka,” popularized by Bing Crosby in the 1950s, which appears on her new seasonal album A Very Kacey Christmas.
Tonight at the show, Kacey appeared midway through in a gorgeous silvery gown to serenade the crowd with the tropical carol. And it’s pretty cool that she stuck to a tropical carol that honors the often-overlooked island of Hawaii during such a traditionally-focused show, right? On the album, Musgraves enlisted the fiddle swing group, the Quebe Sisters, to help her out with this number and “Let It Snow,” and the trio Grace, Sophia and Hulda Quebe joined her onstage tonight, too.
A Very Kacey Christmas came out toward the tail-end of October in order to precede this year’s holiday season, and it’s a record so great that it made our music-lovers gift guide. Later on in the evening, she performed “Christmas Always Makes Me Cry,” an original track that’s also on her Christmas record, watch that below.
If these performance don’t win you over, maybe appearances from Willie Nelson and Leon Bridges on her record will. Stream that below if you haven’t had a chance yet.
Tune-in for the second airing on December 24 at 8/7c on ABC.
