Five months after Morgan Wallen was caught on camera yelling the N-word, the singer posted a performance of “Sand in My Boots” with Eric Church, Hardy and Darius Rucker. The run through an acoustic version of the track from Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album featured Wallen, Church and Hardy strumming acoustic guitars as they sang the tune while Rucker sat on the couch next to Wallen, but did not appear to join in.
Wallen’s manager, Seth England, commented on the clip, writing, “Next single?,” while Hardy wrote “I needed that s–t. Love you man.” Wallen pledged to take some time off after the N-word incident, but the unplugged performance was his latest public appearance hinting at an attempted comeback.
In the wake of the incident, his music was pulled from radio and streaming services and Wallen was suspended by his label and declared ineligible for the ACM Awards, even as his airplay cratered and sales of Dangerous spiked as it spent 10 weeks atop the Billboard 200 album chart. On May 19, Wallen made a surprise appearance at Kid Rock’s Nashville honky tonk in his first performance since he was caught using the slur on camera.
And, after saying he would not be performing live this summer, Wallen also played at an afterparty of the inaugural Brett Boyer Foundation Invitational, where earlier in the day at Marshwood Club in Georgia, Wallen participated in a charity golf tournament with fellow country singer Luke Bryan.
Billboard reported last week that despite the dip in airplay earlier in the year, his radio presence had begun to climb again, including climbing spins for “Sand.”
Watch the unplugged performance below.
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