Wilson Surprises Fans with Green and Big Little Town for “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” Performance

Lainey Wilson brought out Riley Green as a surprise guest during her headline set at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival in Indio on Saturday, April 25, 2026, performing a cover of Merle Haggard’s “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” alongside members of Little Big Town after Green’s scheduled performance was canceled due to high winds that forced an earlier evacuation of the festival grounds.

The festival resumed an hour later than scheduled after weather-related safety concerns prompted a temporary evacuation, with Wilson’s set beginning at 10:30 p.m. Instead of the originally planned 9:30 p.m. Start time. Sets by Gavin Adcock and Pitbull were also delayed, while Journey and Riley Green had their performances canceled altogether.

When Wilson took the stage, she acknowledged fans who had remained despite the challenging conditions, saying, “Hopefully you sat in y’alls cars for a bit and drank some tequila,” before declaring, “We came to Stagecoach to have a damn good time and that’s what we gonna do.” She opened her 90-minute set with “Can’t Sit Still” followed by “Dreamcatcher” and “Things a Man Oughta Know.”

During her performance, Wilson incorporated a personal touch by singing “Somewhere Over Laredo” — a variation of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” — while her fiddle player performed the classic melody, interpolating the hopeful tune into the chorus of her single from the deluxe re-issue of her album Whirlwind.

One of the most notable moments of Wilson’s set came when she invited Riley Green to join her on stage alongside Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild and Phillip Sweet of Little Big Town. Together, they performed the Merle Haggard cover “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink,” turning a canceled set into a standout collaborative performance that resonated with the audience.

The collaboration highlighted the camaraderie among country artists amid the festival’s weather-related disruptions, with Wilson using the opportunity to support Green whose set had been nixed by the evacuation. Little Big Town, who had performed earlier in the day, reunited with Wilson and Green for the impromptu rendition of the Haggard classic.

Wilson’s headline performance came on the second day of the Stagecoach Country Music Festival, which continues to be held annually in Indio, California, typically following the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The 2026 edition faced unusual weather challenges with high winds necessitating safety evacuations not typically associated with the desert festival known more for extreme heat.