Beyoncé may not have been at this year’s CMA Awards, but that didn’t mean she was forgotten.
The superstar’s country album Cowboy Carter didn’t make the list of this year’s CMA nominations, but her friends and collaborators who showed up on the red carpet made sure to speak her name and keep her top of mind in the country conversation.
“It’s awesome, she threw me the alley-oop and I went up there and tried to windmill that thang,” best new artist nominee Shaboozey told PEOPLE of Beyoncé, using a basketball analogy to describe how her featuring him on Cowboy Carter helped catapult his career.
After crooning on the star’s songs “Spaghettii” and “Sweet Honey Buckin’,” his own single “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” shot up the charts and became the longest-running No. 1 hit on The Billboard Hot 100.
In a word, he said this year has been “never-ending. I love it. It feels like it’s been like 10 years but it’s only been a couple months. We dropped our song half way through the year and it’s still going.”
When it comes to the genre-blending flavor he’s brought to country, “I feel like I’m just being myself,” he said. “I don’t really think about it like, ‘This is going to change the game.’ I just make the music that’s true to me and authentic to my experiences. They say country music is three chords and the truth and I love speaking the truth over three chords, or more.”
Another set of nominees, husband and wife duo The War and Treaty had similar sentiments to share about Shaboozey’s success ahead of the show, as well as thoughts on Beyoncé not being recognized this year.
“I think it’s very important that we acknowledge the CMAs doing representation,” said Michael Trotter, Jr. “I think it’s very important to acknowledge the hard work of someone who is outside of the Nashville system but to come here and do what he did and have the biggest single of the year, it’s very important.”
He continued, “We’re all standing on his shoulders, and to include the great and talented and phenomenal Beyoncé with Cowboy Carter, so tonight can feel like a retribution for a lot of different people.”
Singer Tiera Kennedy, who was also featured on Cowboy Carter told PEOPLE of her love and respect for Beyoncé, and further down the carpet the group Home Free started performing an a capella version of the star’s hit “Texas Hold ‘Em,” calling it “a song that should have been nominated.”
Beyoncé’s biggest fan, mom Tina shared a video of Home Free’s impromptu performance on Instagram, titling the clip “At the CMA’s Keeping it 100!” She added the caption, “Wow!!!!!! They sound great!!!!!”
For those in need of a Cowboy Carter Beyoncé moment, the star recently announced she’ll be headlining the halftime show of the Dallas Cowboys Christmas Day home game.
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