Eric Church and Ashley McBryde team up for "The Snake" at 2019 ACMs

Eric Church and Ashley McBryde rocked the 2019 ACM Award Sunday evening (April 7th). Together, they performed a nervous and threatening version of "The Snake" at the awards ceremony in Las Vegas, Nev.

The duo began with percussions that sounded like a real rattling snake and Church was picking strident riffs on an acoustic guitar. McBryde then added her own acoustic guitar riffs, while she appeared on the stage next to Church.

Throughout the song, the two musicians speak and sing the lyrics one with the other, in clear, pinched tones, thus winking at the scathing political message of the song . McBryde's saying was particularly precise and pointed, as if it was broken into a grid.

While the duo were playing, a three – dimensional video of real snakes appeared behind each of them, amplifying the dangerous atmosphere of the song.

From Church's newest album – and nominated at ACM – Desperate man"The Snake" is an allegory of the bipartisan political system that divides the country. "I think most of them feel like me – regardless of their voter registration." Church said the current political climate.

"Some of that stuff you look at and go," What is the f – k? Why is it difficult? The artist shares. "Why can not we put the infrastructure in place? Why do not we do more clean energy? Why are [prescription] drugs so expensive? Because it's a lobbyist-based system. It is a system based on money. Anyway, we are crazy. "

The church has long been one of McBryde's biggest self-proclaimed fans: they are subscribed to the same label and the same management company, and the ACM recently named new female artist of the year joined the Church on stage in the past.

In addition to her victory in the New Female Artist of the Year category, McBryde is also nominated for the Female Artist of the Year at the ACM Awards 2019. Church, meanwhile, is in place for the album of the year.