Jo Dee Messina, Cole Swindell Team Up For Nostalgic Remix At ACM Awards
ACM
It’s been more than two decades since Jo Dee Messina graced the Academy of Country Music Awards stage. But, Thursday night the “Bring On the Rain” singer returned to perform alongside Cole Swindell.
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In 2022, Cole Swindell released “She Had Me At Heads Carolina,” an homage to Jo Dee Messina’s 1996 debut single, “Heads Carolina, Tails California.” The song topped the charts for five consecutive weeks, and in response Swindell recorded and released a remix featuring the ’90s hitmaker.
Swindell teamed up with Thomas Rhett, Jesse Frasure and Ashley Gorley to write the tune that was originally intended to be a duet with Rhett.
“When we were touring together, me and [Thomas Rhett] talked about taking a song we loved and putting our own spin on it. But when we settled on ‘Heads Carolina,’ obviously, it’s got Carolina and California in it, but TR and I are from Georgia. The only angle that worked was the idea of walking in somewhere and the girl be singing that song.” Swindell said, adding that he had reached out to “Heads Carolina, Tails California” songwriters for their blessing. “Later I got a chance to talk with Jo Dee and she was cool with it. I got let her know what a fan I was and that I wanted her to be involved.”
Messina appeared in the music video for “She Had Me at Heads Carolina” as a bartender.
It only made sense that Jo Dee would join Cole for an ACM Awards show performance since their collaboration is up for the ACM Music Event of the Year. And Cole’s solo rendition of the song took home the trophies for Song of the Year and Single of the Year earlier in the evening!
It’s also worth mentioning that Jo Dee’s success with “Heads Carolina, Tails California” earned her the Top New Female Vocalist trophy at the 1999 ACM Awards.
See Jo Dee Messina and Cole Swindell’s performance of “She Had Me At Heads Carolina” at the ACM Awards below.
