Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson and Cody Johnson were the big winners at last night's (Wednesday, November 9th) 56th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville, each taking home two awards. Luke had a huge night as he won Entertainer of The Year for the second year in a row. Seemingly stunned by the win, he said, “I want to thank country music for making my dreams come true.” Earlier in the night, he also picked up the coveted Album of The Year award for Growin’ Up.
First time nominee, Lainey Wilson was a major winner and gave two of the most emotional speeches when she won Best New Artist and Best Female Artist. In tears, she talked about her dad recently being in the hospital but was able to walk the red carpet with her earlier in the evening.
Cody Johnson accepted Best Single for “‘Til You Can’t,” alongside his producer Trent Willmon and engineer Jack Clarke.
The show spotlighted several legendary artists including opening with a tribute to Loretta Lynn that featured Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood, and Miranda Lambert. Later, Alan Jackson was honored with the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement award. Jo Dee Messina performed with Cole Swindell, Patty Loveless joined Chris Stapleton, Jeannie Seely introduced Miranda Lambert‘s performance, and Ricky Skaggs played in Carly Pearce‘s band.
After hosting the show solo last year, Luke Bryan was joined by football’s Peyton Manning to co-host this year. The three-hour show aired live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
WINNERS LIST:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
- Luke Combs
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
- Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s) and Mix Engineer
- “‘Til You Can’t” – Cody Johnson
- Producer: Trent Willmon
- Mix Engineer: Jack Clarke
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
- Award goes to Artist(s), Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s)
- Growin’ Up – Luke Combs
- Producers: Luke Combs, Chip Matthews, Jonathan Singleton
- Mix Engineers: Jim Cooley, Chip Matthews
SONG OF THE YEAR
- Award goes to Songwriter(s)
- “Buy Dirt”
- Songwriters: Jacob Davis, Jordan Davis, Josh Jenkins, Matt Jenkins
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- Lainey Wilson
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
- Chris Stapleton
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
- Old Dominion
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
- Brothers Osborne
MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
- Award goes to Artist(s) and Producer(s)
- “Never Wanted To Be That Girl” – Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde
- Producers: Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
- Jenee Fleenor, Fiddle
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
- Award goes to Artist(s) and Director(s)
- “‘Til You Can’t” – Cody Johnson
- Director: Dustin Haney
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
- Lainey Wilson
BROADCAST SOUND
Jordan Davis accepts award for Song of The Year
- “We wrote a song about — we wrote a song about faith and family, and if that's not country music I don't know what is. Luke Bryan, come up here, bro. What are you doing? Come here. Cheers and applause Luke, come here, dude. This song isn't you without on it — cheers and applause I want to say thank you so much, CMA. Cheers and applause” :22 OC…so much, CMA Cheers and applause
Wynonna Judd presents Duo of the Year award
- “In death there is life, and here I am. Thank you. for your love and your support. Cheers and applause These past six months have been a time to grieve and a time to be grateful. And I am humbled and honored tonight to still have a seat at the table of country music. Cheers and applause” :22
Osborne Brother accepting Duo of the Year award
- “To be in the presence of wynonna. Absolutely. While winning this award. Will be one of the biggest highlights of my entire life. This is so crazy to me. Cheers and applause It's an absolute honor. We have learned so much from you and your family.” :14 OC…and your family
Old Dominion accepts award for Vocal group of the Year
- “Well, hmm. Listen. There's, obviously, we've lost a lot of legends, but there's nobody in this, in this category and really any category that would be here without Alabama, and we just lost Jeff Cook. Just got me thinking and just, there's nothing like being in a band, you know? I'm so grateful to have my friends, and I can't imagine losing one of you guys, and I'm so happy to be able to make music and be honored. We love you. And we love the opportunity do what we love doing. So thank you guys so much. For allowing us. Thank you. Cheers” : 52 OC…us. Thank you. Cheers
Cody Johnson accepts award for Single of the Year
- “I'm not going to take up too much time. Ben Stennis, Matt Rogers wrote in my opinion what is one of the greatest country songs. And I was so blessed to have it in my hands. Trent Willman, Jack Clark, These men standing behind me, are, in my opinion, the greatest producer and engineer in the business. I'm not going to take up too much time. I want you guys to speak. God bless country music. Thank you so much. Cheers and applause” :25 OC…you so much Cheers and applause
Luke Combs accepts Album of the Year award
- “Oh, man. I was not expecting this. And I don't, I don't want to waste too much of your time. I'm so thankful anytime I get to stand up here. But the real people to be thankful for are these two gentlemen standing behind me. Chip Matthews and Jonathan singleton. These guys worked their tails off on this album. Chip might have slept two hours since we put this record out. So I want y'all to come up here and say something. Thank y'all so much. Cheers” :30 OC…y'all so much Cheers
Lainey Wilson accepts New Artist of the Year award
- “This is for those 11 years that I have been here in Nashville and not taken no for an answer. Thank you. This right here is for everybody who has believed in me and a little bit for the ones who even didn't.” :19 OC…who even didn't
Lainey Wilson accepts Female Artist of the Year award
- “I want to say a few months ago my daddy got real sick and we thought we were going to lose him. He spent two months in ICU. And he's walking the carpet with me tonight and he's here. Cheers and applause This one right here is for my daddy Brian Wilson. I ain't talking about the beach boy. I'm talking about the cowboy. Cheers and applause” :22 OC…about the cowboy Cheers and applause
Chris Stapleton accepts Male Artist of the Year award
- “It means so much. I got an award from my friends back here. I was sitting over there and all the guys in the category all deserve this award and everybody's killing it. And I'm so honored to be a member of the country music community. I promised my daughter if I got up here, it's her birthday tonight. So Ada, happy birthday. She's 12 tonight. I love you, baby. This is for you. Cheers and applause” :30 OC…is for you Cheers and applause
Alan Jackson accepts Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement award
- “One night watching television and this movie came on about the life of hank williams. It just really inspired me. Audience member: We love you! Jackson: I came to Nashville with nothing. Carrie was talking about three chords and the truth. Mine was more like three chords and a prayer. Laughter” :30 OC…and a prayer Laughter
Luke Combs accepts Entertainer of the Year award
- “I want to thank country music for making my dreams come true. My beautiful, beautiful wife Nicole. Our beautiful 4 1/2-month-old son Texas, at home right now. And this is a dream come true. There is nobody in this category that doesn't deserve to be standing up here.” :20 OC…standing up here
BACKSTAGE SOUND
Brothers Osborne's John Osborne on announcing his wife's pregnancy: “Lucy didn't know. I guess I got nervous. I didn't know what to say. Well, Wynonna was standing right next to us and you look up and see the clock going. I'm like so nervous right now. We never prepare a speech. We never expect to win, and I looked over out of the corner of my eye and saw Lucy sitting there and just my heart filled up and . . . I don't know. It's not really like me to do it but I just wanted to tell the world.”
Old Dominion's Matthew Ramsey on group taking home fifth Vocal Group win: “(I'm) pretty shocked every time. I will say, like, the third time might've been the time that we were like, 'Yeah, we got this.' Whatever. Now it's just insane that we're still getting to do this period, and that we're getting this award for the fifth time. It doesn't happen really in any other category where . . . it seems like this category is the one where you take it and you hold it, and we're just so happy to be holding it right now.”
Jordan Davis on co-writing “Buy Dirt” with his brother, Jacob: “Yeah, we've had some moments backstage to kind of just drink this in. We both moved to town to write songs, just try to make a living do that, so we'd have been crazy to think that this was even attainable, but now that we have it and I have it with my brother . . . I mean, I shared a room with the guy til I was 16 years old so we're pretty close, so this is something that nobody's ever gonna be able to take away from us.”
Cody Johnson on winning Single and not winning Male Vocalist: “Honestly, if I'm being honest, Single of the Year is the one that I wanted. That's a team victory. That's Warner Music Nashville pushing my first Number One double platinum single on Billboard and it couldn't have gone better, and as far as Male Vocalist goes, when you're in a category with Chris Stapleton you kind of already know who's gonna win, right? So I was pretty pleased. I'm feeling pretty happy at this moment.”
Lainey Wilson on Female Vocalist win: “Every single girl in the category I look up to in some way. A lot of the girls have given me advice. They have pointed me in directions. I mean, they have listened to me cry. It's really a sisterhood. It truly is and they are rootin' me on, and I feel the love. It's so genuine and it goes for them, too. It's something really, really special and no, I never in a million years expected it but I'll take it. I've been here a long time working hard and they know that about me, too, and I think they're really happy for me.”
Luke Combs on Entertainer and Album of the Year wins: “Entertainer is so huge. For everything that we do all the time that we spend away from home and it feels like such a huge award for me and my team and everybody on the road with me that spends all this time away to make sure that we do the best we can, and then the album is everybody that I write songs with, all the studio musicians, all the time that I've spent in there. I mean, I spent two years making that record, of my life — painstaking years — and so to be recognized for that, it just means the world to me and my team and my family. I just couldn't me more thankful. I'm just honestly blown away by tonight.”