Cole Swindell gave one of the most memorable performances of the night at the CMA Awards, when he surprised the crowd by bringing Jo Dee Messina on stage, during his performance of his multi-week, No. 1 hit,  “She Had Me At Heads Carolina.”

Messina was met with thunderous applause when she joined Swindell during his performance. Swindell also just dropped a remix of the song, featuring Messina, which was a play on her 1996 debut single, “Heads Carolina, Tails California.”

Messina also appears in the video for “She Had Me At Heads Carolina,” starring as a bartender. Swindell wrote the song with Thomas Rhett, Ashley Gorley and Jesse Frasure, adding the “Heads Carolina, Tails California” writers, Tim Nichols and Mark D. Sanders, in the credits as well. The song, from Swindell’s latest record, Stereotype, released in April, was his way to pay homage to oen of his favorite ’90s artists.

“I was so excited when I got the chance to talk to Jo Dee and let her know that I’ve been a fan of hers for a long time. Now I to get to call her a friend,” Swindell tells MusicRow. “We wouldn’t have this song without her.”

“She Had Me At Heads Carolina” was already finished when Swindell was finally able to connect with Messina.

“I finally got her contact info,” Swindell recalled earlier this year. “I had been wanting to reach out to her, and tell her what a fan I was. I think I might have met her at a festival years ago, briefly, when I was selling t-shirts. We don’t really know each other … I just got her number and just sent her a text letting her know that it was me and that I’ve been wanting to reach out and that I finally got her contact. [I] just let her know what a fan I was and that you know, the original song, without that, obviously, I would have never had this idea. I just wanted her to know I wanted her to be as much of a part of it as she wanted to be. Or if not at all, that’s fine too.”

All of Swindell’s music and upcoming shows can be found by visiting his website.