At the 58th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards, the top honor, Entertainer of the Year, went to Chris Stapleton, even as Lainey Wilson and Hardy walked away tied for top honors with four awards apiece. — including split wins for their duet, “Wait in the Truck.”
Wilson was the big winner of the night, based on the number of categories in which she prevailed. The singer took home awards for Best Female Artist, Best Album (“Bell Bottom Country,” her second full-length release), Visual Media, and Music Event (the latter two for “Wait in the Truck”). Hardy won in three categories — best artist-songwriter, visual media and music event — but the ACMs counted him as a winner twice in the music event division, both as an artist and producer on “Wait in the Truck”, increasing his count for the night to four.
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(Scroll down for a full list of the night’s winners and a photo gallery of nominees and performers.)
The unofficial award for most buzz-worthy collaboration of the night, meanwhile, could have gone to Ed Sheeran and Luke Combs, who swapped verses on Sheeran’s latest single, “Life Goes On,” a ballad about accepting death as part of life. The pop star’s appearance had been teased days in advance, but not who he would sing with or what song. Fans of one or both immediately began clamoring for a duet version to be officially released. Naturally, this had been anticipated and a Combs/Sheeran duo was released on DSPs at midnight ET.
The ceremony was streamed live on Prime Video and Amazon’s Twitch channel from the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas. It will be available for repeat viewing starting Friday night on Amazon Freevee.
“I can’t believe I just met Dolly Parton, first of all,” Lainey Wilson exulted, accepting Best Female Artist. “I’m here because people like Dolly Parton paved the way.” She also praised her fellow nominees, who missed a lot of weddings, a lot of funerals — not that I want to go to all of them anyway. She encouraged “little girls” to believe in their dreams, with one caveat: “If you want to be a dreamer, you better be an actress.”
Hardy agreed with Wilson, the star artist of their double-winning song ‘Wait in the Truck’, saying: “Thank you, Lainey, you absolutely killed it. There was no doubt that you were always the one who made people believe that song. Wilson, speaking to the number’s theme of domestic violence, said, “I think it’s really important to sing about things that are hard to talk about. I didn’t want people identify with this song, but a lot of people do, and this is for all of you.
Accepting album of the year, Wilson said, “I wrote 300 songs during the pandemic.” Noting that some fans said listening to his “Bell Bottom Country” album helped save their lives, Wilson said, “Writing those songs saved mine.” She quoted one of her own lines: “Be who you are, because everyone’s taken.”
The top male artist went to Morgan Wallen, who had to step down due to being put on vocal rest, which he announced this week will force him to cancel around six weeks of shows, as well as his appearance at the ACMs. , “Winning and not being here has got to kill him,” Brooks said. “Let’s all celebrate for him tonight.”
After an opening number by Keith Urban, “Texas Time”, hosts Brooks and Parton did an opening comedy routine that started in earnest when Brooks called his co-host “the GOAT”. She drove a real goat on a cart, then got a little more racy as she related that Brooks had agreed with his wife Trisha Yearwood that Parton could be her “passport” and then that Yearwood had supposedly won the same pass. The punchline landed with the “T” in Goat standing for “trio”.
On a healthier note, a mention of the big names who died last year, including Parton’s friend Loretta Lynn, led the singer to seemingly spontaneously launch into an a cappella “Precious Memories.” “I just felt like I should sing that,” Parton explained. “Jiminy Christmas, we are so lucky to have you in this format,” Brooks replied.
Performance highlights included Cody Johnson doing ‘Mammas, Don’t Let Your Boys Grow Up to Be Cowboys’, after a brief exchange between Willie Nelson and the hosts (with a particularly forceful recommendation from the young Brooks star) ; Joined Cole Swindell on “She Had Me at Heads Carolina” by original singer of the “Heads Carolina, Tails California” tween, Jo Dee Messina; and a duet between last year’s singer Carly Pearce and Yearwood; and the IRL duo that knocks several duos out of the park every night on tour, war and treaty.
Wilson was also very successful doing his own “Cookin’ With Grease”. The show closed with Parton’s premiere of her own new single, “World on Fire,” from her upcoming album “Rockstar.”
A few of the winners were announced ahead of the ceremony, including Zach Bryan for Best New Male Artist and Hailey Whitters for Best New Female Artist.
A full list of winners awarded Thursday night:
HOST OF THE YEAR
Chris Stapleton
FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Lainey Wilson
MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Morgan Wallen
DUO OF THE YEAR
Osborne Brothers
GROUP OF THE YEAR
Old Dominion
NEW FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Hailey Whitter
NEW MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Zach Bryan
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
“Bell Bottom Country”, Lainey Wilson
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
“She got me at Heads Carolina”, Cole Swindell
SONG OF THE YEAR
“She Had Me at Heads Carolina”, writers: Ashley Gorley, Cole Swindell, Jesse Frasure, Mark D. Sanders, Thomas Rhett and Tim Nichols; Artist: Cole Swindell
VISUAL MEDIA OF THE YEAR
“Wait in the Truck”, Hardy featuring Lainey Wilson
MUSIC EVENT OF THE YEAR
“Wait in the Truck”, Hardy featuring Lainey Wilson
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Ashley Gorley
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Robust
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