At the Braves Country Fest in Atlanta over the weekend, country music audiences got a treat when two of the genre’s biggest stars teamed up for a surprise collab.
Cody Johnson and Ella Langley surprised fans Saturday with a duet version of Reba McEntire’s “Whoever’s in New England” during Johnson’s set. Johnson has a history with the McEntire classic: He previously recorded an acoustic version of the song in 2020, while McEntire herself joined Johnson to sing the song during his set at CMA Fest in 2023.
“Whoever’s in New England” is the title track from McEntire’s 1986 album and reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. The song also earned McEntire a Grammy for female country vocal performance. “Whoever’s in New England” also earned CMA nominations for single of the year and music video of the year (Jon Small directed the clip).
Both Johnson and Langley are at the top of their games. Johnson was named entertainer of the year at the recent Academy of Country Music Awards (in addition to winning male artist of the year). His song “The Fall” recently rose to No. 1 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart, marking his third No. 1 on that chart. Johnson also previously collaborated with McEntire on the song “Dear Rodeo.”
Meanwhile, Langley’s hit “Choosin’ Texas” just keeps breaking chart records. The song logged 10 weeks atop the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 and set a new Hot Country Songs chart record for longest-leading hit by a woman with no other credited recording artists since the survey became the genre’s main songs chart in 1958. At this year’s ACM Awards, Langley earned honors for female artist of the year, artist-songwriter of the year, song of the year and single of the year (both for “Choosin’ Texas”), as well as music event of the year (“Don’t Mind If I Do” with Riley Green).
In addition to Langley and Johnson, Braves Country Fest also featured sets from Ernest, Mackenzie Carpenter, Scoot Teasley, Zach John King and Colton Bowlin. The fest benefited the Atlanta Braves Foundation.
Watch their onstage collaboration below:
