Staff Writers
The Academy of Country Music Awards — colloquially dubbed country’s “party of the year” — kicked off in Frisco today.
The star-studded affair began 7 p.m. at the Ford Center at The Star and is being hosted by Reba McEntire for the 18th time. For those tuning in remotely, the show is being livestreamed on Prime Video and Amazon Music‘s Twitch channel.
Performers walked the red carpet this afternoon and The Dallas Morning News was stationed there to chat with them and capture any eye-grabbing looks.
The red carpet show was streamed on Twitch from 6 to 7 p.m.
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The two super groups teamed up for hits from their respective catalogs including “What Hurts the Most,” “Larger Than Life,” and “Life Is a Highway.”
Lainey Wilson wins the most-coveted award at the ACMs for the second straight year.
Ella Langley continued her success at the ACMs with another win for her smash-hit duet with Riley Green, “You Look Like You Love Me.”
Also nominated was “I Had Some Help,” by Grapevine-raised rapper-turned-country singer Post Malone and featuring Morgan Wallen. The song was from Malone’s 2024 country crossover album, F-1 Trillion. Malone was nominated in five categories and has been shut out of the awards.
The Arlington native gets a shoutout from broadcaster Bobby Bones for being honored at the ACM‘s “I’m Just Me: A Charley Pride Celebration of Inclusion” luncheon earlier this week.
Lainey Wilson wins with Whirlwind. Also nominated was Post Malone’s F-1 Trillion.
Urban became the first artist since 2010 to win this prestigious honor. The award is given to those who have won new artist of the year, artist of the year and entertainer of the year.
Urban, who came to the show with his wife, Nicole Kidman, filmed his CBS music competition series, The Road, earlier this year at the Factory in Deep Ellum and Tannahill‘s Tavern and Music Hall in Fort Worth. The reality TV show is expected to premiere in the fall and aims to find “the next big musician.”
Lainey Wilson was named female artist of the year for the third straight year. Also nominated was Kacey Musgraves, who grew up in the small town of Golden, about 80 miles east of Dallas.
Jackson, who brought his farewell tour to Fort Worth in February, sang his soulful ballad “Remember When” after McEntire announced him as the winner of an inaugural lifetime achievement award named after him.
Alabama natives Ella Langley and Riley Green won with their smash-hit duet, “You Look Like You Love Me.” Also nominated was Post Malone and Morgan Wallen’s “I Had Some Help.”
Ella Langley, who was awarded the honor before the awards show, performed “weren’t for the wind.” The breakout singer had the most nominations of any artist this year, with eight. Six of her nominations were for her duet with Green.
Country legends Brooks & Dunn take home the award for duo of the year.
Chris Stapleton wins the award for male artist of the year for the fifth time and the second consecutive year.
Shelton, an Oklahoma native, sang his “Texas,” which reckons his girl is “probably in Texas.” Wilson, the reigning entertainer of the year, followed with “Whirlwind,” which talks about “cuttin’ through a Texas town.”
Old Dominion wins group of the year for the eighth year in the row. Also nominated was Lubbock sextet Flatland Cavalry.
Zach Top, who was named new male artist of the year before the awards show, performed his ballad “Use Me.”
East Texas native Miranda Lambert performed “Run” from her 10th studio album, Postcards from Texas. Lambert spent her early childhood in Van Alstyne, north of Dallas, before her family moved to Lindale.
Cody Johnson from Sebastopol was awarded song of the year for “Dirt Cheap.” He said he started his career as a songwriter in Texas when accepting the award. Lionel Richie presented.
Post Malone was also nominated in this category for “I Had Some Help,” with Wallen. Musgraves, the Golden native, was nominated as well, for her single “The Architect” off the album Deeper Well.
The awards show began with a 12-minute medley of ACM songs of the year from the last six decades. Performers included McEntire, Clint Black, Wynonna Judd and Garland native LeAnn Rimes.
Before Jelly Roll lit up the ACM stage with Shaboozey, he dished out a hot take on the red carpet: Tex-Mex is superior to Texas BBQ.
“I don’t want the Texas barbecue lovers to come for me right now, but Tex-Mex is different. It’s better than Mexican food by a bunch,” he said.
“I’m finna get lit up on the Internet,” he said, wincing.
McEntire popped by for a quick photo-op on the red carpet and posed with the fawning fans in the section, according to Cheryl Kool. Kool and her fellow seat filler Brad Davidow also spotted the Backstreet Boys.
“I met all of them individually,” Davidow said. “I was like [a] fan boy.”
Kool chimed in: “He nearly passed out.”
They‘ve got the best spot on the carpet.
The red carpet is brimming with country‘s budding acts moving from press square to press square. Many women are wearing ball gowns while the men are largely garbed in Western chic attire. No sighting yet of Post Malone, but we may have spotted LeAnn Rimes.
Coffey Anderson, a singer-songwriter from Bangs, Texas — about three hours southwest of Dallas — stunned on the red carpet with pants he joked were made from his late grandmother’s couch (spoiler alert: they were from Fashion Nova’s men’s line). On his white cowboy hat he had tucked a turkey feather and a sliver of the American flag.
Anderson may be best known for his presence on social media, where he promotes some of his songs.
“I had record labels turn me down and I saw YouTube,“ he said. “I saw a monkey riding a unicycle … a million people watching a monkey. I was like maybe they‘ll listen to me sing.”
Standing on the red carpet, he said he feels “so much gratitude” for country music.
“This is so special to see some of my heroes become friends, some of my peers become legends,” he said.
He gave a shoutout to McEntire, tonight’s host, as well as Garth Brooks and Dwight Yoakam.
The Wilder Blue frontman Zane Williams wore a white long sleeve dress shirt with a scenic vista panel at the top — an eBay find his wife, Jodi, sourced.
The band, who hail from Texas, recently dropped a crowdfunded album Still in the Runnin’.
When asked what he was running toward, Williams replied: “Something better, something better than where you’ve been … You’ve been grinding a long time, but you still got a long way to go, so you can’t stop.”
Plano native Cheryl Kool, 58, and Brad Davidow, 52, from Chicago, met in a cordoned-off section for seat-fillers. Scattered cheers emerged from the area, as people posed for photographs near the entrance.
“You have no idea the work that goes into it, behind the scenes, and the number of people that put in sweat and tears to really make it all happen,” Kool said as the ceremony‘s organizers bustled around.
Davidow is looking forward to catching Jelly Roll on the red carpet while Kool is most excited to see McEntire, “the queen of country music.”
“I love that country music has surged because it’s always been my personal favorite,” Kool said. “I think because it just touches my soul in a way that no other music does for me.”
Among the Texas nominees were Post Malone and Kacey Musgraves.
Malone was competing in five categories, including album of the year with F-1 Trillion.
Meanwhile, Musgraves was a contender for female artist of the year and song of the year for her single “The Architect” off the album Deeper Well.
The Academy of Country Music Awards first arrived in Texas for their 50th show in 2015 at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium. The party migrated north to Frisco in 2023 and it’s stayed there since.
“We just really fell in love with The Star District,” said the ACM‘s CEO, Damon Whiteside in a recent interview, citing the area’s infrastructure and the stadium‘s 12,000-seat capacity.
He also praised the energy from Texas’ country fanbase (and those who traveled for the celebration).
“They come out and they’re there to have fun,” he said. “They’re on their feet the whole time. They‘re singing all the songs.”
Reflecting on this year’s milestone 60th show, Whiteside hinted at a program dedicated to the superstars of country music‘s past, present and future — a point brought home by the previously announced 12-minute medley of ACM songs of the year from the last six decades.
Over 30 performers were scheduled to take the ACM stage, according to the ceremony‘s executive producer, Raj Kapoor. The lineup featured up-and-comers like Jelly Roll and Shaboozey as well as established country artists like Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert.
Uwa is a breaking features reporter. She covers breaking and trending news related to arts and culture. She also writes features about subcultures, music, film and TV. Uwa previously reported on general assignment for NBC News Digital and wrote about politics for Slate. She also has work published in Vulture and Time Out.
Tim Diovanni edits coverage of arts, entertainment and science at The Dallas Morning News.
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