HARDY, Lainey Wilson, Chris Stapleton, and more won awards at the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards 2023. The event was held on Thursday, May 11th, at the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas. The former winners of the ‘Entertainer of the Year Award, both Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton co-hosted the show.
It was a fast-paced event that lasted for about two hours, including the awards ceremony and feature performances from Keith Urban, Jason Aldean, Jelly Roll, Carly Pearce, Trisha Yearwood, Ashley McBryde, Miranda Lambert, and other artists.
HARDY and Lainey Wilson both won four awards each, with Cole Swindell and Ashley Gorley also winning three and two awards, respectively, at the 2023 ACM. Chris Stapleton was presented with an award too.
HARDY won 2 awards for the “Music Event of the Year” as an artist and co-producer (for the song ‘Wait in the Truck’, a collab with Wilson), and one for the “Visual Media of the Year” for the same hit song with Lainey. While being awarded at the ceremony, he talks about his music video and about his close friend and touring mate Morgan Wallen.
Although the music video for the song ‘Wait in the Truck’ portrays domestic violence and abuse, he mentions that the set atmosphere was kept lighthearted with jokes and playful moments during the production. He also expresses his concern for Wallen, who has been prescribed to rest his voice by the doctors. Wallen had won the award for the “Male Artist of the Year”, though he wasn’t able to come to receive it for himself due to his health issues.
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And HARDY won the fourth award for the “New Artist-Songwriter of the Year”, which is no surprise since he had also won the “Songwriter of the Year” Award at the 57th Academy Country Music Awards held last year. However, HARDY has been nominated for seven categories this year, out of which he won four.
Other than the two awards Lainey Wilson won along with HARDY, she won two more. Her ‘Bell Bottom Country’ won her the award in the “Album of the Year” category. It is the first album to win in this category since Kacey Musgrave’s ‘Golden Hour’ won in the ACM 2019.
Last year, Wilson won in the “New Female Artist of the Year” category, and this year she got her well-deserving first win, “Female Artist of the Year”. That is the fastest climb from a new female artist to the female artist of the Year award, and it has been 16 years since the same thing happened with Carrie Underwood, who also took one year’s time to do this climb.
She expressed her gratitude for all the love and support she received along with the recognition of her writing, which she describes as her “first true love”. She reminisces about her journey from impersonating Hannah Montana in high school to making money to this day. She also speaks about how achieving success in the music industry requires a borderline-crazy level of belief and determination.
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As for Chris Stapleton, he won the coveted “Entertainer of the Year” Award for the first time. He admitted that this unexpected victory shocked him as he shared that he viewed himself as less entertaining than the others in this field. But he showed his excitement and gratitude for the recognition, even if he is not sure what this is going to mean for him in the future.
It was his 5th nomination in this category. Seven years ago, he was awarded the “New Male Artist of the Year.” He has also won the “Male Artist of the Year” Award three times, therefore, qualifying him for another award called the “Triple Crown” by the ACM.
Cole Swindle spoke about the hard work that went into creating a hit song and how he felt about winning such a prestigious award. He won two awards, which were “Single of the Year” and “Song of the Year” for his hit ‘She Had Me at Heads Carolina’.
Hailey Whitters and Zach Bryan won the new female and male artist of the year categories, respectively. The ceremony concluded with the Brothers Osborne winning “Duo of the Year” and Old Dominion winning the “Group of the Year” award.
The 58th ACM Awards was a high-energy event that celebrated the best in country music. With multiple award winners, including Lainey Wilson, HARDY, Cole Swindell, and Ashley Gorley, the ceremony highlighted the amount of talent and hard work that goes into creating hit songs and albums. The event was a testament to the increasing popularity of country music and the dedicated musicians who created it.
