A star-studded group tipping their cowboy hats to the King, George Strait.
The 58th Annual CMA Awards show is tonight at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, and will be hosted by Lainey Wilson, Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning.
In terms of nominees, Morgan Wallen leads the pack with seven nominations in total, and Chris Stapleton and Cody Johnson are right behind him with five each. Reigning entertainer of the year Lainey has four, tying with Post Malone who received his first-ever CMA nods.
But what will easily be the highlight of the night, George Strait will be very deservedly honored with the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, which is a prestigious honor that goes to an iconic artist as one of the highest degrees of recognition in country music. It recognizes artists who’ve reached a certain level of both national and international prominence, through concert performances, humanitarian efforts, philanthropy, streaming numbers, record sales, and public representation.
Previous recipients of the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award include Willie Nelson (2012), Kenny Rogers (2013), Johnny Cash (2015), Dolly Parton (2016), Kris Kristofferson (2019), Charley Pride (2020), Loretta Lynn (2021) and Alan Jackson (2022).
Very fine company, indeed…
And obviously, that type of award deserves a huge celebration, and some of country’s biggest names will take the stage tonight to perform a star-studded, very Texas medley of his biggest hits. Jamey Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Parker McCollum, Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson are slated to honor Strait with a tribute, which is especially notable considering that Jamey was just arrested on Sunday for speeding and drug possession charges.
I’m sure fans will be excited to see Johnson already back to performing, especially to take the stage to honor his friend, seeing as Jamey has written hits for Strait like his 2006 song “Give It Away”:
“Join us as we celebrate the legendary George Strait as he accepts the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, followed by an unforgettable all-star tribute featuring Jamey Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Parker McCollum, Chris Stapleton and Lainey Wilson.
Don’t miss the CMA awards TONIGHT at 8/7c on ABC Network.”
It’s an amazing group of artists, and this might be the only part I actually watch in-full:
Join us as we celebrate the legendary George Strait as he accepts the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, followed by an unforgettable all-star tribute featuring @Jamey_Johnson, @MirandaLambert, @ParkerMcCollum, @ChrisStapleton and @LaineyWilson. Don’t miss the… pic.twitter.com/5qsvvjhQJk
— CMA Country Music (@CountryMusic) November 20, 2024
In terms of other performers at this years CMA Awards, the first round announced included Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Sierra Hull, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Ashley McBryde, Post Malone, Shaboozey, Chris Stapleton, Teddy Swims, Thomas Rhett, Molly Tuttle and Lainey Wilson are all slated to take the stage.
The second group is super solid too, including Eric Church, Brooks & Dunn, Luke Combs, Riley Green, Kacey Musgraves, Meg Moroney, Cody Johnson Ella Langley Kelsea Ballerini, Noah Kahan, Jelly Roll and Bailey Zimmerman, which in my opinion, is probably the best overall (minus a few, obviously) they’ve had in a long, long time.
The show airs tonight at 8PM EST.
