REWARDING TALENT
A SURPRISE duet between Luke Combs and Ed Sheeran marked the highlight of the ACM Awards in Texas. The show celebrated country music’s biggest stars and emerging talent and featured 18 show-stopping performances from 25 artists. It was hosted by global superstars Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks and was broadcast on Amazon Prime, direct from the HQ of the Dallas Cowboys at The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The Academy of Country Music’s highest honour, Entertainer of the Year, was awarded to Chris Stapleton. Lainey Wilson and HARDY led the night in total wins with four awards apiece, followed by Cole Swindell with three. This is Stapleton’s first win for Entertainer of the Year, and his success qualifies him for the coveted ACM Triple Crown Award, celebrating artists who have won New Female/Male Artist of the Year, Female/Male Artist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year. His win brings his total ACM Awards count to 15. “I’m shocked, truly. By any imaginable metric, I don’t deserve this,” he said from the stage. “There are so many other great people in this category. I get up there and try to play music every night. I write songs and make records and I never thought of myself as someone who would win this award.” This year marks Lainey Wilson’s first wins for Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Music Event of the Year, and Visual Media of the
Year. Her four wins bring her total
ACM Award count to seven. After being named Artist-Songwriter of the Year and winner of the Visual Media of the Year award in pretelevised categories, HARDY took home an additional two ACM Awards during the show for
Music Event of the Year, where he won both as an artist and a producer for wait in the truck. In honour of the ACM Awards’ return to Texas, Keith Urban opened the show with an electrifying performance of his song Texas Time that included him being raised into the air on a platform while shredding a guitar solo. Cole Swindell and Jo Dee Messina moved the sold-out crowd to enthusiastically sing along to their hit She Had Me At Heads Carolina. ACM Awards host Dolly Parton delivered one of her biggest performances to date with the premiere of World On Fire, the lead single from her highly anticipated forthcoming rock album Rockstar. Luke Combs gave a heartfelt performance of his current radio single, Love You Anyway, before global superstar Ed Sheeran performed Life Goes On from his newly-released album - (Subtract). Sheeran surprised the crowd when he brought Combs back to the stage to join him in a sweet moment that immediately became a fanfavourite across social media worldwide. In an interview with Billboard at the ACMs, Sheeran suggested he may pivot to the country genre. He said: “I would love to transition into country. I love the culture of it - I just love the songwriting.”