Morgan Wallen Performs Mini-Set in a Bar to Celebrate the Tennessee Volunteers’ Win [Watch]
The Tennessee Volunteers notched a big win against the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday (Oct. 15), that — with a final score of 52-59 — marked their first victory against the team since 2006.
It was a night to remember for any Tennessee fan, but for patrons who were celebrating the win at Peyton Manning's Saloon 16 inside the Graduate Knoxille in Knoxville, Tenn., things got even more special after the game. Morgan Wallen popped up onstage for a surprise, three-song set.
Wallen hails from East Tennessee, and he's sung about his Volunteers fandom before: Most recently, in an unreleased track he's been teasing called "Tennessee Fan." So while it was no surprise that he was on hand at Neyland Stadium to watch the game, no one could have predicted Wallen's impromptu pop-up show after the game.
It was Manning himself — an NFL legend, who also happens to be this year's co-host for the CMA Awards, with Luke Bryan — who welcomed Wallen to the stage. The country star opened his performance before asking the crowd, who were dressed in a sea of Tennessee orange, "How 'bout them mother-f---ing Vols?!" to thunderous applause.
Wallen's early-career hit "The Way I Talk" is another one of his songs that nods to his love for the Volunteers, and it was one of the three songs he performed during his post-game set, according to Music Mayhem Magazine.
The lyric that references his favorite football team reads "It gets slower after three or four cold beers / And gets louder when I'm cheering on the Volunteers / Folks know I'm country when they hear / The way I talk."
“Hey, I ain’t never been more proud to sing this last chorus right here tonight. If you know me and if you know yourself, and you’re from Knoxville or you’re from Tennessee and we just beat Alabama, you better sing this part,” Wallen said during his performance of that song. “Shoutout to my mama and my daddy and to my little boy [Indigo]. I love all three of them the same.”
In addition to "The Way I Talk," Wallen sang "Sand in My Boots" — another track that celebrates his hometown Tennessee roots — and a fan-favorite Jason Isbell cover, "Cover Me Up."
Wallen wasn't the only country star to celebrate the Vols' win live and in person in Knoxville. Kelsea Ballerini and Kenny Chesney, both of whom hail from Knoxville, were at the game. According to Country Now, both Ballerini and Chesney were at Saloon 16 after the Vols' victory hanging with Wallen and Manning.
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