Chris Stapleton’s White Horse won Single of the Year at the 58th Annual Country Music ᴀssociation Awards at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday in Nashville, marking the vocalists third win in the category.
Stapleton, 46, said while accepting, ‘Well, amazing – so many great and very, very popular songs in this category – I’m very humbled to win this award.’
Stapleton followed his first win with a second for Song of the Year for White Horse, his collaboration with Dan Wilson, 63.
The Lexington, Kentucky-born artist thanked his wife Morgane Stapleton, 41, as he collected his second trophy on the evening.
‘I owe my wife an apology – that last award belonged to her, too, and she didn’t come up here,’ Stapleton said. ‘It all happened so quick. I love you, honey, backstage, wherever you are, getting ready right now.
”All of my music, I owe a lot to her, so, I want to say thank you to her for always supporting me.’
Chris Stapleton’s White Horse won Single of the Year at the 58th Annual CMA Awards at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday in Nashville, marking the vocalists third win in the category
Stapleton, 46, said while accepting, ‘Well, amazing – so many great and very, very popular songs in this category – I’m very humbled to win this award.’
Next up, Megan Moroney, 27, was emotional in accepting the honors for New Artist of the Year.
‘I’m going to try to get through this without crying: Thank you, Jesus, for putting this dream on my heart, and thank you for the gift of songwriting,’ she said.
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The Savannah, Georgia-born musical artist continued, This is for my fans – I would say they’re a large reason of why I’m up here right now, the way they show up for me, the way they care about my songs and make signs and t-shirts and wait outside the venue starting at 3:00 a.m. – it’s really insane to me.’
Old Dominion won Vocal Group of the Year for the seventh time, with vocalist Matthew Ramsey, 47, declaring that ‘very nature of being in a band is working together.’
He added, ‘We’ve collaborated with each other, and with songwriters and our management and our label, and our fans and our families and our friends, and anyone that we’ve ever said I love you to has brought us here to this moment. And it’s a really beautiful moment for us.’
Ramsey said that ‘it’s a really beautiful thing to be in a band’ and called upon artists to continue to ply their craft amid the changing times.
‘If you are an artist of any type, or a creator, a musician, this is when the world needs you the most – when it’s weird like it is right now – so get out there and get together and create,’ Ramsey said.
Cody Johnson’s Leather was crowned Album of the Year, with the artist saying he thought he was overmatched by fellow nominees in the category such as Jelly Roll and Stapleton.
The Lexington, Kentucky-born artist followed his first win with a second for Song of the Year for White Horse, his collaboration with Dan Wilson, 63; Stapleton thanked his wife Morgane Stapleton, 41, as he collected his second trophy on the evening.
The couple was pictured on the red carpet during entrances at the show
Megan Moroney, 27, was emotional in accepting the honors for New Artist of the Year
She said in her speech, ‘I’m going to try to get through this without crying: Thank you, Jesus, for putting this dream on my heart, and thank you for the gift of songwriting’
‘I did not expect that,’ the Texas-born vocalist, 37, said while accepting the honors. ‘I truly expected for Chris Stapleton or Jelly Roll to be announced, I’ll be honest; I looked at my wife, I said, “Jelly roll’s got that.”‘
Johnson added that there are ‘very few moments when, in your career and life [when] the “Ric Flair” is appropriate but, “Woo!”‘
Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s collaboration I Had Some Help could make both men big winners at Wednesday’s night’s Country Music ᴀssociation Awards.
The huge hit from the rapper-singer and one of country’s biggest stars helped make Wallen the night’s top nominee and puts a spotlight on the crossover moment country is having – despite the absence of Beyoncé from the nominations.
I Had Some Help is up for four awards: single, song, musical event and music video of the year, making Malone a first-time CMA nominee.
Wallen is up for seven total, including the night’s top prize, entertainer of the year, where his compeтιтion consists of Stapleton, Luke Combs, Jelly Roll and last year’s winner Lainey Wilson. Like Malone, she’s up for four awards.
Collaborations will be all the rage at the show that began airing at 8 p.m. eastern on ABC, with streams starting Thursday on Hulu.
Wilson will host in combination with Luke Bryan and NFL Hall-of-Famer and University of Tennessee alum Peyton Manning.
The show opened with a dual performance from Malone and Stapleton.
And the telecast will feature performances from artist combos throughout the night including Shaboozey, Combs and Eric Church; Kelsea Ballerini and Noah Kahan; Thomas Rhett and Teddy Swims; and Brooks & Dunn with Jelly Roll.
The evening will also have a multi-artist tribute to George Strait as he receives the ᴀssociation’s Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.
Old Dominion won Vocal Group of the Year for the seventh time, with vocalist Matthew Ramsey, 47, declaring that ‘very nature of being in a band is working together’
CMA hosts (L-R) Luke Bryan, 48, Lainey Wilson, 32, and Peyton Manning, 48, opened the 58th Annual CMA Awards at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday in Nashville
The CMA Awards are nominated and voted on by members of the Country Music ᴀssociation, which includes music executives, artists, publicists, songwriters and other industry professionals.
Ahead of the nominations, some fans speculated that Beyonce, whose landmark country-and-then-some reclamation Cowboy Carter was released during the eligibility window, could receive a nomination at the 2024 CMAs. She did not.
Earlier this year, the album hit No. 1 on the Billboard country albums chart, making her the first Black woman to top the chart since its 1964 inception.
Other big nominees include Stapleton and Cody Johnson, who got five apiece. But through the atypical math of the CMAs, Stapleton could go home with seven trophies if he wins his categories.
Stapleton is both an artist and producer on White Horse, up for single of the year, and Higher, up for album of the year.
At the CMAs, production credits are not counted as separate nominations, although they are factored into trophy counts.
2024 CMA Award Nominations
Entertainer of the Year
Luke Combs
Jelly Roll
Chris Stapleton
Morgan Wallen
Lainey Wilson
Album of the Year
Deeper Well – Kacey Musgraves; Producers: Ian Fitchuk, Kacey Musgraves, Daniel Tashian; Mix engineers: Shawn Everett, Konrad Snyder
Fathers & Sons – Luke Combs; Producers: Luke Combs, Chase Matthews, Jonathan Singleton; Mix engineer: Chip Matthews
Higher – Chris Stapleton; Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton; Mix engineer: Vance Powell
Leather – Cody Johnson; Producer: Trent Willmon; Mix engineer: Jack Clarke
Whitsitt Chapel – Jelly Roll; Producers: Andrew Baylis, Brock Berryhill, Zach Crowell, Jesse Frasure, David Garcia, Kevin “Thrasher” Gruft, Austin Nivarel, David Ray Stevens; Mix engineers: Jeff Braun, Jim Cooley
Morgan Wallen is the most-nominated artist this year with seven nods
Female Vocalist of the Year
Kelsea Ballerini
Ashley McBryde
Megan Moroney
Kacey Musgraves
Lainey Wilson
Male Vocalist of the Year
Luke Combs
Jelly Roll
Cody Johnson
Chris Stapleton
Morgan Wallen
Vocal Group of the Year
Lady A
Little Big Town
Old Dominion (WINNER)
The Red Clay Strays
Zac Brown Band
Vocal Duo of the Year
Brooks & Dunn
Brothers Osborne
Dan + Shay
Maddie & Tae
The War And Treaty
New Artist of the Year
Megan Moroney (WINNER)
Shaboozey
Nate Smith
Mitchell Tenpenny
Zach Top
Bailey Zimmerman
Single of the Year
A Bar Song (Tipsy) – Shaboozey; Producers: Sean Cook, Nevin Sastry; Mix engineer: Raul Lopez
Dirt Cheap – Cody Johnson; Producer: Trent Willmon; Mix engineer: Jack Clarke
I Had Some Help – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen); Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins; Mix engineer: Ryan Gore
Watermelon Moonshine – Lainey Wilson; Producer: Jay Joyce; Mix engineers: Jason Hall, Jay Joyce
White Horse – Chris Stapleton; Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton, Morgane Stapleton; Mix engineer: Vance Powell (WINNER)
Song of the Year
Burn It Down – Hillary Lindsey, Parker McCollum, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose
Dirt Cheap – Josh Phillips
I Had Some Help – Louis Bell, Ashley Gorley, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins, Austin Post, Ernest Keith Smith, Morgan Wallen, Chandler Paul Walters
The Painter – Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins, Ryan Larkins
White Horse – Chris Stapleton, Dan Wilson (WINNER)
Musical Event of the Year
Cowboys Cry Too – Kelsea Ballerini (with Noah Kahan); Producers: Kelsea Ballerini, Alysa Vanderheym
I Had Some Help – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen); Producers: Louis Bell, Charlie Handsome, Hoskins
I Remember Everything – Zach Bryan (ft. Kacey Musgraves); Producer: Zach Bryan
Man Made A Bar – Zach Bryan (ft. Kacey Musgraves); Producer: Joey Moi
you look like you love me – Ella Langley (feat. Riley Green); Producer: Will Bundy
Music Video of the Year
Dirt Cheap – Cody Johnson, directed by Dustin Haney
I Had Some Help – Post Malone (Feat. Morgan Wallen), directed by Chris Villa
I’m Not Pretty – Megan Moroney, directed by Jeff Johnson and Megan Moroney
The Painter – Cody Johnson, directed by Dustin Haney
Wildflowers and Wild Horses – Lainey Wilson, directed by Patrick Tracy
Musician of the Year
Tom Bukovac
Jenee Fleenor
Paul Franklin
Rob McNelley
Charlie Worsham
