58th Annual Country Music Association Awards

58th Annual Country Music Association Awards
Date	November 20, 2024
Location	Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Hosted by	Luke Bryan Peyton Manning Lainey Wilson
Most awards	Chris Stapleton (3)
Most nominations	Morgan Wallen (7)
Television/radio coverage
Network	ABC, Hulu
←  57th  · CMA

The 58th Annual Country Music Association Awards were held on November 20, 2024, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The ceremony was broadcast live on ABC and was available to stream the next day on Hulu. ^[1]

Background

On September 30, 2024, the association announced that Lainey Wilson, would join fellow CMA award winner Luke Bryan and NFL superstar Peyton Manning as the pair would once again return as the hosts for the upcoming ceremony. Nominee eligibility ran from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024. ^[2] Voting for the CMA Awards Final Ballot ends Tuesday, Oct. 29.

George Strait was announced as the recipient of the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award on November 12, 2024. A statement by the CMA chief executive officer Sarah Trahern read “There have been few other artists as authentically Texas and authentically country as George Strait, and country music fans all over the world have been better for it. As a three-time CMA entertainer of the year and the most nominated artist of all time, he serves as an inspiration and icon to many of the great, new artists we know today. I am thrilled we are awarding him with this deserving honor.” ^[3]

Winners and nominees

On August 28, CMA announced that the list of nominees will be released on, Monday, September 9. ^[4] Morgan Wallen leads in nominations with 7 nods.

George Strait received the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.

Entertainer of the Year	Album of the Year
Morgan Wallen Luke Combs Jelly Roll Chris Stapleton Lainey Wilson	Leather — Cody Johnson Higher — Chris Stapleton Deeper Well — Kacey Musgraves Fathers & Sons — Luke Combs Whitsitt Chapel — Jelly Roll
Male Vocalist of the Year	Female Vocalist of the Year
Chris Stapleton Luke Combs Jelly Roll Cody Johnson Morgan Wallen	Lainey Wilson Kelsea Ballerini Ashley McBryde Megan Moroney Kacey Musgraves
Vocal Group of the Year	Vocal Duo of the Year
Old Dominion Lady A Little Big Town The Red Clay Strays Zac Brown Band	Brooks & Dunn Brothers Osborne Dan + Shay Maddie & Tae The War and Treaty
Single of the Year	Song of the Year
"White Horse" — Chris Stapleton “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” — Shaboozey “Watermelon Moonshine” — Lainey Wilson “Dirt Cheap" — Cody Johnson “I Had Some Help” — Post Malone (ft. Morgan Wallen)	"White Horse" — Chris Stapleton , Dan Wilson “Burn It Down” — Hillary Lindsey, Parker McCollum, Lori McKenna and Liz Rose “Dirt Cheap — Josh Phillips “I Had Some Help” — Louis Bell, Ashley Gorley, Charlie Handsome, Jonathan Hoskins, Post Malone, Ernest Keith Smith, Morgan Wallen and Chandler Paul Walters “The Painter” — Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins, Ryan Larkins
New Artist of the Year	Musician of the Year
Megan Moroney Shaboozey Nate Smith Mitchell Tenpenny Zach Top Bailey Zimmerman	Charlie Worsham , Guitar Tom Bukovac, Guitar Jenee Fleenor, Fiddle Paul Franklin, Steel Guitar Rob McNelley, Guitar
Music Video of the Year	Musical Event of the Year
“Wildflowers and Wild Horses” — Lainey Wilson “Dirt Cheap" — Cody Johnson “I Had Some Help” — Post Malone (ft. Morgan Wallen) “I'm Not Pretty" — Megan Moroney “The Painter” — Cody Johnson	“You Look Like You Love Me” — Ella Langley (ft. Riley Green) "Cowboys Cry Too" — Kelsea Ballerini (with Noah Kahan) “I Had Some Help” — Post Malone (ft. Morgan Wallen) “I Remember Everything” — Zach Bryan (ft. Kacey Musgraves) “Man Made a Bar” — Morgan Wallen (ft. Eric Church)
Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award
George Strait

Performances

Performer(s)	Song(s)
Post Malone Chris Stapleton	"California Sober"
Megan Moroney	"Am I Okay?"
Shaboozey	"Highway" "A Bar Song (Tipsy)"
Ella Langley Riley Green	"You Look Like You Love Me"
Thomas Rhett Teddy Swims	"Somethin' 'Bout a Woman" "Lose Control"
Luke Combs	"Ain't No Love in Oklahoma"
Kelsea Ballerini Noah Kahan	"Cowboys Cry Too"
Cody Johnson Carrie Underwood	"I'm Gonna Love You"
Chris Stapleton	"What Am I Gonna Do"
Kacey Musgraves	"The Architect"
Brooks & Dunn Jelly Roll	"Believe"
Post Malone	"Yours"
Lainey Wilson	"4x4xU"
Bailey Zimmerman	"New To Country"
Lainey Wilson Jamey Johnson Miranda Lambert Parker McCollum George Strait Chris Stapleton	Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award honoring George Strait "Amarillo By Morning" "Give It Away" "Troubadour" "Honky Tonk Hall of Fame"
Ashley McBryde	Tribute to Kris Kristofferson "Help Me Make It Through the Night"
Luke Bryan	"Love You, Miss You, Mean It"
Eric Church	"Darkest Hour"
Jelly Roll Keith Urban	"Liar"
Dierks Bentley Molly Tuttle Sierra Hull Bronwyn Keith-Hynes	"American Girl"

Presenters

Presenter(s)	Notes
Billy Bob Thornton and Mark Collie	Presented "Single of the Year"
Jordan Davis, Carly Pearce, and Daniel Sunjata	Presented "Song of The Year"
Clint Black and Caleb Pressley	Presented "New Artist of the Year"
The Oak Ridge Boys	Presented "Vocal Group of the Year"
Don Johnson and Katharine McPhee	Presented "Album of the Year"
Mitchell Tenpenny and Taylor Frankie Paul	Presented "Vocal Duo of the Year"
Little Big Town and Freddie Freeman	Presented "Male Vocalist of the Year"
Simone Biles	Presented "Female Vocalist of the Year"
Jeff Bridges	Presented "Entertainer of the Year"

Milestones

• Little Big Town holds the longest consecutive nomination streak for Vocal Group. They have been on the Final Ballot since 2006—19 years in a row.
• Old Dominion set the record for consecutive Vocal Group of the Year wins this year with their seventh win.
• Lainey Wilson became just the 6th woman to win Female Vocalist of the Year three years in a row. Only Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Reba McEntire, and Tammy Wynette have accomplished the feat.
• Chris Stapleton won his eighth award and extends his record as the most decorated Male Vocalist of the Year.
• Brooks & Dunn and Chris Stapleton became the most decorated CMA Awards artists of all time with nineteen each: Brooks & Dunn winning Vocal Duo of the Year and Chris Stapleton winning Single of the Year, Song of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year.
• Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood had their nomination streak ended after nearly two decades of being nominated in every ceremony since 2005 and 2006 respectively.

Controversy

Following the Country Music Association's announcement of the nominations, numerous US and international publications and music websites criticized the awards ceremony's decision not to nominate Beyoncé and her eighth studio album Cowboy Carter , as well as the lead single "Texas Hold 'Em", in their respective categories, despite the cultural impact ^{[ broken anchor ]} and commercial performance to the country genre of the entire project. ^{[5] [6] [7]} The event was blamed for conservatism and racism against black artists, ^{[8] [9] [10]} also referring to the singer's performance of "Daddy Lessons" with The Chicks at the 2016 CMAs, in which the artist herself said she did not feel welcomed by the award ceremony. ^{[11] [12] [13]}

Aja Romano of Vox wrote that although there may be "logistical reasons" behind the snub, "the CMA has a noticeable pattern of erasing and sidelining Black women" and that "Beyoncé is actively aware of this gatekeeping, [...] It's hardly any wonder she distanced herself and her album from the country establishment from the start; she likely knew well before the rest of us that the CMAs were never going to let her in the door". ^[14] Highlighting that the first black woman to win an award at the CMAs was Tracy Chapman for Luke Combs' cover of "Fast Car" in 2023, Larisha Paul of Rolling Stone wrote that it "feels less like honorable accomplishments and more like bright red indicators of the sectors of the industry that are most resistant to change" and stating that "the institution has barely made an effort to recognize Black artists to begin, so at some point the snubs begin to register as expected rather than surprising". ^[15]

US nonprofit civil rights organization Color of Change president Rashad Robinson accused the ceremony to not recognized African Americans country musicians and the history of the genere, stating: "Recognizing Beyoncé at the CMAs would force everyone to confront a multitude of truths: the roots of country music in Black music, the history of racism in country music and the prospect of having to give up not only their white audiences but the part of their audience that can't stand to see Black excellence succeed in this country. It would also force them to confront the one enclave of culture they use as an escape from ever having to see Black people: their music". ^[16]

On September 17 in an interview with Variety, nine-time CMA award winner, country music legend, and Cowboy Carter collaborator, Dolly Parton spoke on Beyonce's apparent snub, "She's a country girl in Texas and Louisiana, so she grew up with that base. It wasn't like she just appeared out of nowhere [...] There's so many wonderful country artists that, I guess probably the country music field, they probably thought, well, we can't really leave out some of the ones that spend their whole life doing that [...] I think it was just more of what the country charts and the country artists were doing, that do that all the time, not just a specialty album." ^[17]

References

1. Stace, Madi (2024-08-26). "Nominations For "The 58th Annual CMA Awards" To Be Announced Monday, September 9". CMA Awards. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
2. cholbrook (2024-05-01). "CMA Announces 2024 CMA Awards Ballot Schedule". CMA Awards. Retrieved 2024-08-27.
3. Nicholson, Jessica (2024-11-12). "George Strait to Receive 2024 CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award". Billboard .
4. Nicholson, Jessica (26 August 2024). "CMA Awards Nominations to Be Revealed Sept. 9". Billboard . Retrieved 27 August 2024.
5. Cain, Sian (10 September 2024). "Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter snubbed at Country Music Awards". The Guardian . ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 10 September 2024.
6. McClay, Caché (9 September 2024). "Beyoncé snubbed with no nominations for CMA Awards for 'Cowboy Carter'". The Tennessean . Retrieved 10 September 2024.
7. Sisario, Ben (9 September 2024). "Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' Gets Zero CMAs Nominations: the country-plus-everything-else album was given only limited promotion on country radio, with the success of the song "Texas Hold 'Em" driven by streaming and downloads". The New York Times . Retrieved 10 September 2024.
8. Toma, Tommaso (10 September 2024). "Houston abbiamo un problema: la difficoltà del country di accettare Beyoncé (e non solo)". Billboard Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 10 September 2024.
9. Liptak, Carena (9 September 2024). "Why Was Beyoncé Shut Out at the 2024 CMA Awards?". Taste of Country . Retrieved 10 September 2024.
10. Siroky, Mary (9 September 2024). "Beyoncé's Shutout at the CMAs Proves Country Music's Gatekeeping Is Alive and Well". Consequence . Retrieved 10 September 2024.
11. "Beyoncé snobbata dai Country Music Awards, nessuna nomination per 'Cowboy Carter'". Rolling Stone Italia (in Italian). 10 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
12. Murray, Conor (9 September 2024). "Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' Snubbed By CMA Awards—Years After She Faced Backlash For Performance". Forbes . Retrieved 10 September 2024.
13. Arnold, Chuck (9 September 2024). "Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' snubbed for 2024 CMAs nod despite topping country charts". New York Post . Retrieved 10 September 2024.
14. Romano, Aja (9 September 2024). "Beyoncé's shocking, predictable CMA snub, explained". Vox . Retrieved 10 September 2024.
15. Paul, Larisha (9 September 2024). "'Cowboy Carter' Was Never Going to Change the CMA's Mind About Beyoncé". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 10 September 2024.
16. Fekadu, Mesfin (10 September 2024). "Civil Rights Group Color of Change Calls Out CMA Awards for Beyoncé Snub (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 10 September 2024.
17. Woerner, Meredith (2024-09-17). "Dolly Parton on 'Good Lookin' Cookin',' Beyoncé's CMA Shutout and the 'Inspiring' Taylor Swift: 'Lord Knows We Need Some Uplifting People'". Variety. Retrieved 2024-10-06.