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When Morgan Wallen headlined the Sunday (April 28) lineup at Indio, Calif., country music festival Stagecoach, he performed many of his signature hits, but the Grammy-nominated singer also had some help surprising the audience during his festival-closing set on the Mane Stage. Wallen brought out Post Malone, who joined Wallen for a new song called […]
Following Coachella’s two consecutive weekends, the grounds of the Empire Polo Club naturally looked a bit different for Stagecoach. The annual country music festival (also promoted by Goldenvoice that launched in 2007) took place April 26-28 and hosted headliners Eric Church, Miranda Lambert and Morgan Wallen. Not only had the previously green grass been matted […]
Miranda Lambert‘s new single “Wranglers” is coming, and fans at Stagecoach got to hear it first. Reba McEntire got to hear it, too — because she showed up to Lambert’s stage as a surprise guest Saturday night (April 27).
Reba joined Lambert for a three-song finale of “Mama’s Broken Heart,” her own “Fancy” and “Gunpowder & Lead,” wrapping Lambert’s headlining set that featured the live debut of the unreleased “Wranglers.”
“@Reba at @stagecoach y’all,” Lambert wrote Sunday on X (formerly Twitter), reacting to the fun she had at the Indio, California, festival the night before. “Thank you to my hero and friend for coming out here as my special guest. I’ll never forget it. She brought all the fire.”
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“What a night!!! Thanks @mirandalambert for asking me to be part of @Stagecoach last night. And thanks to all the #Countrymusic fans for sticking with us in that wind! #badasssisters #bas #stagecoach,” Reba posted on her own account.
“Wranglers” — written by Audra Mae, Evan McKeever and Ryan Carpenter, and recorded in Austin with co-producer Jon Randall — is set to be released on May 3. The song can be pre-saved here.
“‘Wranglers’ is a classic tale of a woman taking her power back,” Lambert said in a statement released to press. “I think we can all identify with the character in this song, because we have all had a time in our life where we needed to find our strength, and also get a little revenge on someone who did us wrong or hurt us. This offers such a cool, raging take on how something like this unravels. I think the songwriters nailed it.”
She added, “I am so proud to sing it. It feels like it could have been on the same record as Gunpowder & Lead in a lot of ways. ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ is a pretty powerful statement, and the way it’s written, you can tell, we’re not kidding.”
Watch a clip of Lambert’s live “Wranglers” performance below, and see some footage of her Stagecoach duets with Reba.
Eric Church took people to church at Stagecoach‘s Mane stage on the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, Calif., on Friday night (April 26), but not all attendees of his closing set at the festival’s opening night were ready for some religion.
The country superstar curated a one-of-a-kind set that he obviously put a great deal of thought into, from the stained-glass backdrop and 16-person choir to the setlist that included covers of “Hallelujah,” “Take Me to the River,” “Stand By Me,” “I’ll Fly Away,” “When the Saints Go Marching In” and even “Gin and Juice.”
“This was the most difficult set I have ever attempted,” Church said in a press release issued after the show. “I’ve always found that taking it back to where it started, back to chasing who Bob Seger loves, who Springsteen loves, who Willie Nelson loves, you chase it back to the origin. The origin of all that is still the purest form of it. And we don’t do that as much anymore. It felt good at this moment to go back, take a choir and do that.”
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“For me, it’s always been something with records, with performances, I’ve always been the one that’s like, ‘Let’s do something really, really strange and weird and take a chance.’ Sometimes it doesn’t work, but it’s okay if you’re living on that edge, because that edge, that cutting edge, is where all the new guys are going to gravitate to anyway. So if you can always challenge yourself that way, it always cuts sharper than any other edge,” he said.
For much of the set, the only accompaniment was Church on guitar, the choir and his frequent collaborator, Joanna Cotton, but his full band joined at the end for a handful of Church’s tunes, including “Country Music Jesus” and “Springsteen.”
For some fans, the show was a thrilling chance to see a (presumably) once-in-a-lifetime set, while for others, it was too much of a deviation from his regular live show. To be fair, Church has mixed it up on festival gigs before: at the 2019 CMA Fest he did a 17-song acoustic medley, and at last year’s CMA Fest he played a seven-song set that featured some hits with new arrangements and some covers, including Little Feat’s “Sailin’ Shoes,” that left some casual attendees scratching their heads, which surprised Church. “I was shocked because I played the show that I went out there to play,” he told Rolling Stone. “We had a time slot and I went out there to play that slot and try to show a little bit, a peek, as to what I was working on for this tour.”
Some attendees were exhilarated by the one-of-a kind show at Stagecoach:
Others, not so much, with reports on social media of attendees leaving mid-show to to attend Nickelback’s performance at the Palomino stage. Palm Springs Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye described the scene as an “unplugged jam session” that “sent festivalgoers for the exit of the Empire Polo Club starting about 15 minutes in, a sight that could be best described as Moses parting the Red Sea” in his review.
Obviously Stagecoach didn’t learn their lesson from having Eric Church headline Friday night in 2016 and being a complete energy suck because he’s doing it again tonight. The stream not showing any crowd shots because they are probably leaving in droves 🤣— Robert Wedge IV (@rtwedge4) April 27, 2024
Eric Church might be the most disappointing festival headliner ive ever seen??? It’s like a gospel set?? I’m so lost.— kb (@KennethBaker97) April 27, 2024
Representatives for Stagecoach did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for Church said he declined to comment beyond Church’s statement.
Following well-received sets Saturday night (April 29) by Post Malone (who was joined by Dwight Yoakam, Sara Evans and Brad Paisley) and Miranda Lambert (who was joined by Reba McEntire), Stagecoach concludes Sunday with a closing set by Morgan Wallen.
California got a little bit more of Lana Del Rey this weekend, with her making an unannounced appearance at Stagecoach following two weekends of headlining Coachella. Paul Cauthen welcomed the Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd songstress to the stage for a stirring rendition of “Unchained Melody” on Friday (April 27). […]
Jelly Roll was full of surprises at Stagecoach 2024.
During his wild evening set on the country music festival‘s opening day Friday (April 26), the “Need a Favor” singer welcomed numerous unexpected guests onto the stage, including T-Pain, Ernest and Maddie & Tae.
Jelly Roll’s performance took place on the T-Mobile Mane Stage at Empire Polo Field in Indio, Calif., shortly before Eric Church’s headlining slot.
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Halfway through his 50-minute set, Jelly Roll was joined by T-Pain for their cover of Toby Keith‘s hit song “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.” The pair dropped a recorded version of the cover for Amazon Music a day earlier. The country star shared his thoughts on the classic track leading up to the music fest.
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“I had been covering ‘Should’ve Been a Cowboy’ for about a year now at most of my shows, just kind of honoring Toby as he was getting sick before he passed away,” Jelly Roll told Variety. “Then I really started chewing on, man, what better place to honor Toby than Stagecoach? Plus, Toby Keith was one of the artists that from afar, even though he would never have known it, encouraged me to do country music.”
Funds raised from the “Should’ve Been a Cowboy” cover will go toward the Toby Keith Foundation, which aids pediatric cancer patients. Keith died earlier this year following a battle with stomach cancer.
Elsewhere during his Stagecoach set, Jelly Roll welcomed collaborator Ernest for a performance of “Son of a Sinner,” which reached No. 1 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart in 2022. Jelly Roll was also joined by Maddie & Tae on what he called a brand new song titled “Liar.” The country duo will perform their own set on Saturday (April 27).
Jelly Roll ended his performance by bringing out his wife, Bunnie XO, and daughter, Bailee Ann, is turning 16 years old. To celebrate her birthday next week, the country star asked the thousands of fans to join him in singing happy birthday.
Earlier in the day, Jelly Roll visited celebrity chef Guy Fieri at the Smokehouse Cooking Demo stage for a cooking lesson.
Stagecoach continues with headlining performances by Miranda Lambert and Morgan Wallen, as well as sets by Elle King, Post Malone, Willie Nelson, Hardy and Bailey Zimmerman, among many others. The festival is streaming live on Prime Video or Amazon Music’s Twitch channel.
Fans have been speculating that Beyoncé could be making a surprise appearance at Stagecoach under the name “DJ Backwoods Barbie,” an unknown performer listed on the roster. Backwoods Barbie happens to be the name of a Dolly Parton album and Bey collaborated with Parton on Cowboy Carter.
With her landmark 2018 headlining performance, Beyoncé has already dominated Coachella and effectively reshaped the iconic festival in her image. Could Stagecoach be next? Fans think so!
A sister event to Coachella, this year’s Stagecoach Festival will be held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., April 26-28, the weekend after Coachella wraps. This year marks the 16th edition of the festival (the COVID-19 pandemic put it on pause in 2020), and headliners include country music superstars Miranda Lambert, Eric Church and Morgan Wallen.
Of course, Queen Bey recently dropped her Billboard 200-topping Cowboy Carter album (March 29), which pulled heavily from country and Americana, propelling it to simultaneous No. 1 debuts on Top Country Albums and Top Americana/Folk Albums. Introduced by the historic Billboard Hot 100-topping “Texas Hold ‘Em,” the album features appearances by myriad country music icons and ascendant stars, several of which are currently scheduled to perform at Stagecoach this weekend.
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A quick browse through the “lineup” tab on the official Stagecoach website reveals forthcoming sets from Cowboy Carter collaborators such as Brittney Spencer, Post Malone (performing a special set of country covers), Tanner Adell, Willie Jones and Willie Nelson. Even Brandi Cyrus, sister of Miley Cyrus, who’s featured of Cowboy Carter’s latest radio single “II Most Wanted,” is slated to hit the stage. But there’s one performer in particular that has piqued fans’ curiosity: Backwoods Barbie.
Every performer listed on the Stagecoach website received a feature that links all of their social media accounts. For Backwoods Barbie, only one Instagram account is linked. On that Instagram account (@djbackwoodsbarbie) currently lies 15 pictures — plenty of which directly reference Beyoncé and Cowboy Carter.
The account’s very first post — a graphic of the Stagecoach lineup captioned “Giddy Up,” a possible reference to “Tyrant” — arrived the same day that Cowboy Carter hit DSPs. Later posts include a major emphasis on the disco balls and sliver sequins (after all, Cowboy Carter and 2022’s Renaissance are connected), images of Beyoncé in her most Western attire, pictures of Dolly Parton and Grace Jones (who were featured on Cowboy Carter and Renaissance, respectively), and one post cheekily captioned “Disco cowgirls report for duty.” The Backwoods Barbie Instagram account also follows just six people: Beyoncé, Parton, Wallen, Diplo, the Stagecoach Festival and, curiously, restauranteur and television personality Guy Fieri.
The Backwoods Barbie moniker is seemingly sourced from the title of Parton’s 42nd solo studio album of the same name, which reached No. 17 on the Billboard 200 back in 2008 and marked both her first release on her own label and her first mainstream country record in a decade. Coincidentally, Beyoncé celebrated her 42nd birthday last fall (Sept. 4) during her record-breaking Renaissance World Tour.
The most recent Backwoods Barbie post features a map of the Stagecoach Festival Grounds with the caption, “Catch me on Saturday night at 7pm out in Diplo’s Honky Tonk!” Should Queen Bey make an appearance at Diplo’s set, it would make sense given that the two Grammy-winning artists have collaborated several times before, including 2012’s “End of Time” and 2016’s “Hold Up” and “All Night.”
With a Cowboy Carter promotional banner flying over the Coachella grounds during Weekend One and a massive promotional hauler on the ground during Weekend Two, the coincidences are certainly starting to pile up.
All of the Beyhive’s questions will be answered on Saturday (April 27), but for now, check out some more reactions to the Backwoods Barbie theory.
Can someone explain to me why I had a dream that Jay Z and I were investigative journalists chasing down random people on the street to ask if they were Backwoods Barbie? I need to stop going down Bey rabbit holes right before falling asleep pic.twitter.com/PCdCK4BUIz— Allie 𐚁 (@Fergyonce) April 24, 2024
who is backwoods barbie???????? bitch if its beyonce imma scream😂😂😂😂— m$ do the da$h👻 (@bossmanrae_) April 24, 2024
Dj Backwoods Barbie on Ig is def giving very much Beyonce lol we see you gworl 😂😂😂— Indica Badu 🔮 (@NostalgicxSouls) April 24, 2024
Now they’re saying Beyoncé is allegedly djing at stagecoach under the name DJ Backwoods Barbie and they found the ig and let’s just say…WE ONTO YOU LADY pic.twitter.com/zT8a1gr7ru— briyoncé🇵🇸 (@babygrlbri) April 24, 2024
If that lady from Houston is Dj Backwoods Barbie I’m going to be gagged— Cowboy Kenya (@Kenyayyy) April 24, 2024
I’m convinced Beyonce is performing at stagecoach under backwoods Barbie— Cowboy X 🤠 (@Xaviii_j) April 24, 2024
Stagecoach’s iconic Palomino Stage is getting the star treatment in 2023 with scheduled performances from Tyler Childers, Bryan Adams, Melissa Etheridge and more. The Palomino Stage, which offers an alternative sound to the main stage acts, will also feature sets from ZZ Top, Marty Stuart, Turnpike Troubadours and Nikki Lane, among others.
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Stagecoach festival will take place from April 28-30 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif., following two weekends of Coachella on the same grounds. Ian Munsick, Keb’ Mo’, Valerie June, Sierra Ferrell, Jaime Wyatt, Sammy Kershaw and more will also take the Palomino Stage in 2023.
The country festival celebrates its 15th anniversary with a Palomino Stage that rivals previous years. The Palomino Stage has welcomed Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, George Jones, John Prine, Jerry Lee Lewis, Smokey Robinson, Emmylou Harris, Glen Campbell, Kenny Rogers, Charley Pride, Tom Jones and Dwight Yoakam as well as today’s hottest, award-winning talent including Sturgill Simpson, Cody Jinks, Zach Bryan, Cody Johnson, Colter Wall, Charley Crockett, Margo Price and more over the years.
The 2023 edition of Stagecoach will also see headlining performances from superstars Luke Bryan, Kane Brown and Chris Stapleton. Additional artists on the Mane Stage include Brooks & Dunn, Jon Pardi, Old Dominion, Riley Green, Lainey Wilson, Gabby Barrett, Parker McCollum, BRELAND, Elle King, Morgan Wade, Niko Moon and Kameron Marlowe.
Three-day passes for the country festival begin at $389 with VIP, camping and parking passes also available. New to this year’s festival is the Saloon pass, which offers fans access to standing room only areas on both sides of the Corral and access to the Rhinestone & Cowboy Saloons featuring specialty food and drink vendors, air-conditioned restrooms, shaded seating areas, and full bars. For more information on tickets and lineup, head here.
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