Pop music may have ruled the field at Super Bowl XLVI–what with Kelly Clarkson kicking things off with the National Anthem, and Madonna handling halftime duties. But that’s not to say country music wasn’t well represented at the big game.
It was, and quite nicely indeed, when husband-and-wife team (aka Nashville’s it couple) Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert took to the field to perform a stirring pre-game rendition of “America The Beautiful.”
Reception to the performance was across-the-board positive, with country stars including Reba McEntire, Dierks Bentley, and Martina McBride tweeting congratulations to the pair for their stellar performance. Industry publication Billboard even tweeted praise, with hashtag “adorable.”
Lambert herself tweeted post-appearance “That was so cool”; while her husband–in his typical manner–took a joking approach, tweeting “As @Miranda_Lambert walked out on the field a football flew past my head…Then I heard ‘Don’t worry Blake I got your back’…Tom Brady!!!”
Lambert and Shelton’s duet of “America The Beautiful” is available for download on iTunes (a pre-recorded version, not the live game version)–you can get it here. The telecast of Super Bowl XLVI will be immediately followed by the Season 2 premiere of The Voice, on which Shelton holds a starring role as music coach.