Chris Young, Kane Brown Bring ‘Famous Friends’ to 2021 ACM Awards

Chris Young and Kane Brown brought their hit collaboration to the stage at the 2021 ACM Awards on Sunday (April 18) in Nashville. The famous friends took the stage to perform "Famous Friends."

Playing in front of a few lucky (and socially distanced) healthcare workers at the Ryman Auditorium, Young and Brown tore up the famed stage in front of a backdrop of old TVs. The pair were clearly excited to be back in front of even just a few audience members, as the electric performance elicited an impassioned response.

Young and Brown released their duet in late 2020. The song's lyrics spotlight the personalities that make everyone's hometown special: "I've got some famous friends you've probably never heard of / But back in Rutherford County, our crowd is second to none / You might not know 'em here in this big city we're in / But when I go back home I've got some famous friends," they sing in the chorus.

The pair followed up by releasing a fun video for the song in March, highlighted by a colorful cast of characters and a rooftop performance from the two stars. Youngs tells Taste of Country Nights that the characters in the song are real people.

"Every single name that you hear is an actual person," he confirms. "Other than the fact that at the very beginning of the song, I say, 'My buddy Brandon ...' and no one calls him Brandon. Everybody calls him Bubba; that's his nickname. A lot of people don't even know his name is Brandon. So he knows that's him in the song, but outside of that, I don't know how many people are actually gonna know who that is."

Brown was named the 2021 ACM Awards winner in the category of Video of the Year in an early win prior to the broadcast on Sunday night, and he also went into the show as a nominee for Album of the Year for Mixtape Vol. 1. 

The 2021 ACM Awards air live on CBS and stream live on Paramount+. Sign up for Paramount+ here.