Ahead of his opening performance at the 2018 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Brooks met up with Tracy Dyson, a NASA astronaut who caught the country star’s attention last year when he saw a clip of her singing “The River.” Dyson sings it before every space launch. She’s also the lead singer of Houston-based band Max Q, an all-astronaut group of singers and musicians.

Brooks invited his new friend to appear on his weekly Facebook Live session as he prepared for his rodeo gigs, and he even let her take lead on his song while offering guitar accompaniment.