Kelsea Ballerini Ups The Ante—Taps Shania For ‘Hole In The Bottle’ Remix

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Kelsea Ballerini has teamed up with one of her heroes, Shania Twain, on a sassy new version of her hit single “Hole In The Bottle.” Ballerini performed the song on Wednesday night’s CMA Awards and announced the new remix with Twain following the barn burner onstage.

The playful track is the third single from Ballerini’s 2020 album kelsea and is currently climbing the country charts. It’s accompanied by a stylistic video that pops with bright colors and roaring ’20s inspired black-and-white scenes, directed by Hannah Lux Davis.

“They say don’t meet your heroes…unless your hero is Shania Twain…then meet her, know her, and make music with her,” said Ballerini of the fun new collab. “She’s inspired me in every way and has become a mentor and friend and added some major sass and spice to ‘hole in the bottle’ the way only Shania could.”

“Kelsea and I have had some fun laughs together over the last couple of years! She joined me on stage back in 2017 when I headlined Stagecoach and we’ve had a chance to catch up over a glass of wine a couple of times since,” said Twain. “We’ve also sent pieces of songs back and forth to each other and I have to say, she’s an incredible raw talent. I love ‘hole in the bottle,’ it really speaks to my own sense of humor and it was so cool to get to do it with a friend.”

CMA Awards Ratings Slip

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The ratings for Wednesday evening’s CMA Awards slipped by 40 percent, reports Variety, earning 6.8 million total viewers, and a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49—an all-time low in viewership for the program. The 2019 awards show brought in 11.3 million viewers, earning a 2.0 rating in the 18-39 demo.

The previous lowest-viewership for the show was in 2018, when 10.06 million viewers tuned in, earning the show a 2.1 rating in the 18-49 demo.

Variety also reports that many awards shows saw viewership fall by double-digits this year, with the Oscars slipping 20 percent, the ACM Awards ratings falling by more than 30 percent and the Billboard Music Awards ratings slipping by 55 percent.

Wyatt Durrette III, Matt McGinn Discuss Taking Top SESAC Honors

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Earlier this week, SESAC honored many of its star writers and artist-writers, including Wyatt Durrette III and Matt McGinn. McGinn was named Songwriter of the Year for his work on songs including Kane Brown’s “Homesick” and “One Thing Right,” while Durrette was honored as a co-writer on Luke Combs’ “Even Though I’m Leaving,” which was also nominated for Song of the Year at Wednesday evening’s CMA Awards. MusicRow spoke to the writers about their accomplishments.

McGinn says he signed with SESAC around 2015, after meeting with Lydia Schultz and former SESAC exec Shannan Hatch.

“They made a great impression on me and that decision to sign with SESAC just keeps proving itself right,” he says. “Everyone over there is great and it is just very family-oriented and they do a really good job.”

SESAC’s president and COO Kelli Turner surprised McGinn with the news of his recent win at her home, where McGinn visited under the ruse that he was picking up a cake. McGinn calls his contribution to “One Thing Right” a “happy accident” during a writing retreat.

“I was upstairs writing the chorus with Kane and Jesse Frasure ,and then went downstairs to write another song for the record, and he and Jesse and Josh Hoge finished the song,” McGinn recalls. Brown later invited rapper Marshmello to be part of the track and it has been certified 2x multi-Platinum by the RIAA.

SESAC Songwriter of the Year Matt McGinn

McGinn also co-wrote Brown’s hits including “What Ifs” and “Heaven.”

“‘What Ifs’ was awesome and it did a lot of good things for all of us,” McGinn says. “And then we all wrote ‘Heaven.’ We all connected as writers and I’ve been lucky enough to continue to get to be a small part of the team.”

When asked what advice he has for new songwriters, McGinn says to thine own self be true. “I think the best advice I was given was from Shane McAnally. He said just to stay yourself. I’m a huge fan of all these writers that are far more successful or have just been doing it longer and have amazing track records. But they’re better at doing their thing than you are. And I feel like for a long time I tried to chase people and be a young version of them and that just doesn’t work. So I think the best advice was to figure out what you do best, and do it the best you can, because no one’s going to do it better.”

—————–

Meanwhile, Wyatt Durette III was honored as a co-writer on the Song of the Year “Even Though I’m Leaving.”

“It was a good day,” he says of the writing session, which took place at Southern Ground studios. “I was in the mood to write that kind of song. My son was getting up around the college years and my father is getting up in years too. I was thinking of the idea of writing a song about, even though you go out and leave, I’m always right here. And that was my idea. Luke had that title, that hook, ‘Even though I’m leaving, I ain’t going nowhere,’ that he had been holding on to and it fit.”

“So we were like, ‘Okay, let’s write that.’ And then two to three hours later, we had it. It was one of those where you’re looking at each other and go, ‘Wow, this is powerful.’ You can kind of tell and everybody gets a little wide-eyed about halfway through the song, but yeah, it was great. It’s a lot of fun.”

SESAC Song of the Year winner Wyatt Durette III

The track depicts a young boy who is afraid of his father leaving the room at night, with the song‘s storyline revolving around scenarios of loss, culminating in the father’s death.

“We are all big fans of old country, and love story songs. And that has disappeared a little bit. Not saying the other stuff isn’t great too, but just that [style of songwriting] doesn’t seem to be as mainstream,” Durrette said.

Durrette grew up listening to country and bluegrass music, and wrote his first song around age 10. “Writing was always a release. I never really wanted to be onstage or anything like that.”

Durette was running a bar in Atlanta when he met Zac Brown. Their musical kinship eventually helped bring Durette’s music to Nashville. Durette spent many years on the road with Zac Brown Band, and co-wrote many of the group’s hits such as “Colder Weather” and “Highway 20 Ride.”

Durrette was introduced to Luke Combs by River House Artists’ Lynn Oliver-Cline, who previously served as PRO rep for Zac Brown and Durrette, before becoming day-to-day manager for Zac Brown Band. Durette’s co-writes with Combs resulted in “Beautiful Crazy,” which earned Durrette SESAC’s Song of the Year honor in 2019.

“I’ll never forget the first day I wrote with Luke, when we wrote ‘Beautiful Crazy.’ Because someone had told me, ‘You got to be careful with Luke. He can sing any lyric and it will sound amazing.’ But music wise, we really liked the same kind of music, but more importantly, he’s a songwriter, a really good one. And he really cares about getting the song right. And he really cares that his songwriting peers consider him a good songwriter. And I think that’s why he’s having all the success.”

Durrette is unique in Nashville circles, in that he doesn’t play an instrument when he writes songs—no guitar, no piano. “I’ve never played an instrument in my life. For me the words and melody come at the same time. Like whenever I write anything, I sing it as I write it. So with Zac—because we’ve written hundreds of songs—I would just start singing and he would follow where I was going. And then we’d slowly make it a song and then bring it to the band and they would put their thing on it.

“Finding a melody, I think that’s one of my strengths. Because I don’t play an instrument I don’t get caged, thinking that this chord has to go to this chord and this melody can’t happen. And so it makes my mind a little bit easier to chase out-of-the-box melodies.”

Bart Herbison To Be Honored By L.A. AIMP Chapter

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Bart Herbison

The Los Angeles Chapter of the Association of Independent Music Publishers will honor Bart Herbison, Executive Director of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, as the recipient of its Individual Award in Support of Songwriters & Publishers.

The awards will be presented during the AIMP LA Chapter Holiday Awards & Annual Meeting of Members, which will be held online Dec. 3 at 5 p.m. PT. Primary Wave Music will also receive the 2020 Indie Publisher of the Year Award during the ceremony.

“While COVID-19 has hugely impacted the world, Primary Wave Music and Bart Herbison have both worked hard to keep moving the independent music publishing industry forward, and we are proud to recognize them with our 2020 AIMP LA Awards,” said Teri Nelson Carpenter, National Chair and Los Angeles Chapter President of the AIMP. “Whether fighting hard to secure placements and proper payment for their songwriters or ensuring The MLC serves the interests of independent publishers when it launches in January, we are heartened by their efforts in this difficult time.”

As Executive Director of the NSAI, Herbison leads the world’s largest nonprofit songwriters trade organization and advocacy group dedicated to the songwriting profession. In addition to overseeing the NSAI’s 100-plus chapters throughout the U.S. and the world, which count over 5,000 aspiring and professional songwriters in all genres of music as members, Herbison is a member of the Board of Directors at The MLC, where he works to ensure successful implementation of the Music Modernization Act. His efforts have established the NSAI as a major force in the national legislative arena, having played a key role in the passage of the MMA in 2018.

“This award means a lot to me because of the respect I have for AIMP. We’ve effectively joined together on the Music Modernization Act and a number of initiatives — fighting for fair compensation for songwriters and music publishers. It is presently my honor as a board member of the Mechanical Licensing Collective to work alongside AIMP and its members, who have a huge stake in implementation of The MLC. While Nashville is proudly in our name, NSAI, like AIMP, impacts the rights of all publishers, songwriters, and rights-holders, no matter where they live,” said Herbison.

Morgan Wallen Announces Sophomore Double Album Set For January

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Morgan Wallen is having a big week this week, with his CMA win last night (Nov. 11) for New Artist of the Year and the news that he’ll release his brand new two-album sophomore project, Dangerous: The Double Album, on Jan. 8.

He announced the release on his socials last night. The 30-track album is nearly three years in the making, and features songs penned by an arsenal of writers ranging from Ashley Gorley, Shane McAnally, Hillary Lindsey, and Josh Osborne, to two of Wallen’s biggest musical inspirations, Eric Church and Jason Isbell, along with his closest musical confidants HARDY, ERNEST and Ryan Vojtesak (aka Charlie Handsome).

The vast double album holds both of Wallen’s current country singles, “More Than My Hometown” and “7 Summers,”as well as his acclaimed cover of Isbell’s “Cover Me Up,” the New Year’s surprise release “This Bar,” and the countrified album version of the triple Platinum Diplo collaboration, “Heartless.”

“As y’all may have heard, I announced a double album last night, and I couldn’t be more excited about it,” shared Wallen. “The ‘double album’ idea started off as just a joke between me and my manager because we had accumulated so many songs over the past couple of years. Then quarantine hit, and we realized it might actually be possible to have enough time to make it happen. I also ended up writing quite a few more songs during the quarantine with some of my good buddies. After a few months of production and fine tuning, I am so proud of what we came up with. I know 32 (eventual) songs sounds like a lot to digest, but I truly did my best to make sure there’s not a song that I would press ‘next’ on. I also wanted the songs to speak to multiple phases of life and have multiple different sounds based on my influences and based on what I enjoy. The three songs that we will put out next week will hopefully encapsulate a lot of the project for you and hold you off until January. Thank y’all!!”

Dangerous: The Double Album Track List:
DISC 1 –
1. “Sand In My Boots” (Ashley Gorley, Michael Hardy, Josh Osborne)
2. “Wasted On You” (Morgan Wallen, Ernest Keith Smith, Josh Thompson, Ryan Vojtesak) *
3. “Somebody’s Problem” (Morgan Wallen, Rodney Clawson, Jacob Durrett, Ernest Keith Smith)
4. “More Surprised Than Me” (Ben Burgess, Lee Thomas Miller, Niko Moon)
5. “865” (John Byron, Blake Pendergrass)
6. “Warning” (Ashley Gorley, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak) +
7. “Neon Eyes” (Morgan Wallen, Ben Burgess, Mark Holman)
8. “Outlaw” feat. Ben Burgess (Ben Burgess, Patrick Davis, Josh Kerr, Jordan Reynolds)
9. “Whiskey’d My Way” (Matt Dragstrem, Josh Miller, Thomas Rhett, Josh Thompson)
10. “Wonderin’ Bout The Wind” (Morgan Wallen, Ernest Keith Smith)
11. “Your Bartender” (Rhett Akins, Matt Dragstrem, Thomas Rhett, Josh Thompson) ^
12. “Only Thing That’s Gone” feat. Chris Stapleton (Morgan Wallen, Matt Dragstrem, Chase McGill, Josh Thompson)
13. “Cover Me Up” (Jason Isbell) •
14. “7 Summers” (Morgan Wallen, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne)
15. “More Than My Hometown” (Morgan Wallen, Michael Hardy, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak)

DISC 2 –
1. “Still Goin Down” (Morgan Wallen, Michael Hardy, Ryan Vojtesak)
2. “Rednecks, Red Letters, Red Dirt” (Matt Dragstrem, Chase McGill, Josh Thompson)
3. “Dangerous” (Morgan Wallen, Ernest Keith Smith)
4. “Beer Don’t” (Morgan Wallen, Michael Hardy, Jake Mitchell)
5. “Blame It On Me” (Ashley Gorley, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak)
6. “Somethin’ Country” (Morgan Wallen, Michael Hardy, Daniel Ross, Ernest Keith Smith)
7. “This Bar” (Morgan Wallen, Michael Hardy, Jackson Morgan, Jake Scott, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak)
8. “Country A$$ Shit” (Morgan Wallen, Chase McGill, Jordan Schmidt)
9. “Whatcha Think Of Country Now” (Dallas Davidson, Devin Dawson, Kyle Fishman, Mark Holman, Justin Wilson)
10. “Me On Whiskey” (Rodney Clawson, Mark Holman, Ernest Keith Smith)
11. “Need A Boat” (Morgan Wallen, Matt Dragstrem, Hillary Lindsey)
12. “Silverado For Sale” (Dallas Davidon, Marv Green, Ben Hayslip)
13. “Heartless” (Wallen Album Mix) (Morgan Wallen, Henry Agincourt Allen, Ryan Hurd, Thomas Wesley Pentz, Ernest Keith Smith, Ryan Vojtesak)
14. “Livin’ The Dream” (Morgan Wallen, Ben Burgess, Jacob Durrett, Michael Hardy)
15. “Quittin’ Time” (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Josh Thompson)

TARGET EXCLUSIVE BONUS TRACKS**
1. “This Side Of A Dust Cloud” (Morgan Wallen, Matt Dragstrem, Chase McGill, Josh Thompson)
2. “Bandaid On A Bullet Hole“ (Morgan Wallen, Jacob Durrett, Ashley Gorley)*

New Winners Abound At CMA Awards

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Eric Church accepts award for Entertainer of the Year at The 54th Annual CMA Awards. Photo: Donn Jones/CMA

New winners abounded at last night’s (Nov. 11) Country Music Association Awards.

Most notably, Eric Church cinched his first CMA Entertainer of the Year honor after three previous nominations.

He humbly accepted the honor, reflecting on what 2020 has meant to to him.

“If there was ever a year not to win…” Church laughed as he took the stage. “This year, at least for me, has been about loss – loss of life, loss of playing shows, loss of freedom, loss of kids being in school… And you know what the win is? The win is we all were here tonight, together as Country music – in person, live and I believe this, I really believe this: It’s gonna be music that brings us out of this. That is the one thing that’s gonna save the world. Politicians are about division; music is about unity.”

Maren Morris, a three-time winner this year, took home her first wins for Female Vocalist of the Year, as well as Single of the Year and Song of the Year for “The Bones.” Songwriter Laura Veltz, a first-time nominee this year, also earned her first win for Song of the Year as a co-writer on “The Bones”, and Jimmy Robbins won his first CMA Award with the song.

Morris’ Sony labelmate Luke Combs took home his first Album of the Year win (for What You See Is What You Get), along with his second Male Vocalist of the Year honor.

Luke Combs. Photo: John Russell/CMA

Morgan Wallen, Carly Pearce, and Lee Brice also picked up their very first CMA Awards honors, with Pearce and Brice earning Musical Event of the Year for “I Hope You’re Happy Now.” Wallen was awarded New Artist of the Year.

Due to COVID-19 precautions, this year’s CMA Awards looked vastly different—no Bridgestone Arena filled with fans cheering, but rather the show harkened back to its more modest beginnings in 1967, a non-televised banquet and show.

Held this year at Music City Center, nominees and performers were socially distanced at tables throughout the room, with two performance stages flanked either end of the room with a smaller center stage for awards acceptance speeches.

The effect was intimate but energetic, a club lounge vibe with an arena-sized passion coming from the performing artists, who were clearly happy to be back onstage in front of an audience.

Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker. Photo: John Russell/CMA

Co-hosts Reba and Darius Rucker welcomed viewers and the limited in-house audience made of nominees and performers to the CMA Awards—“or as I like to call it, my favorite Wednesday of 2020,” Reba said.

“In 2020, it’s great to be anywhere,” she added. “Tonight’s a wonderful time to be together, sing together and be together.”

Even with the CMA’s COVID-19 precautions, two more acts dropped out as the show got underway, making for some last-minute adjustments. The evening’s co-host Rucker performed his single “Beer & Sunshine” without Lady A, who performed on the recorded version of the track. The trio pulled out of the CMA telecast just before the start of the show due to a COVID-19 exposure. As the show got underway, Rascal Flatts announced they would not be taking part in the CMA Awards due to a positive COVID test within the band. Fiddle player Jenee Fleenor, who picked up her second Musician of the Year honor last night, also dropped out of the show due to COVID-19. Lee Brice and Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard had dropped out of the awards show earlier in the week.

Sony Music Nashville artists took home the lion’s share of honors in several categories. Maren Morris launched the show with a pair of major wins, as “The Bones” earned Single and Song of the Year.

“This is very weird but I love this kind of setup because we can all hang out all night together and that’s a first…It has kind of been a medicine for this year, this crazy year,” she said.

Maren Morris. Photo: ABC

After her Female Vocalist of the Year win, Morris used her acceptance speech to honor Black female country artists and their musical contributions.

“There are some names in my mind that I want to give recognition to because I’m just a fan of their music and they are country as it gets. I just want them all to know how much we love them back and just check out their music after this: Linda Martell, Yola, Mickey Guyton, Rissi Palmer, Brittney Spencer, Rhiannon Giddens.

“There are so many amazing Black women that pioneer and continue to pioneer this genre and I know they are going to come after me, they’ve come before me, but you’ve made this genre so, so beautiful and I hope you know that we see you. Thank you for making me so inspired as a singer in this genre.”

In addition to Combs’ aforementioned wins, Sony labelmates Old Dominion picked up a third consecutive win for Vocal Group of the Year. Old Dominion also made tribute to the 40th anniversary of the film Urban Cowboy with Johnny Lee’s “Looking for Love.” Lee and Mickey Gilley were in attendance. Miranda Lambert picked up the Music Video of the Year honor for “Bluebird.”

The Vocal Duo of the Year category celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, with the first category honor being given to Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton in 1970. This year, Vocal Duo of the Year went to Dan + Shay. Performing from the Hollywood Bowl and eerily highlighting the empty seats, Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber performed a stripped-down rendition of their smash hit “10,000 Hours.”

Morgan Wallen. Photo: ABC

“I did not expect to get this,” Wallen said in accepting his New Artist of the Year honor. “I’d like to thank the Good Lord first of all. I’d like to thank my Mama for always being the one to push me to sing. My Dad for always making the sacrifices for me and my family so I could sing, and to my team and for Nashville for accepting me into your family. It’s been a great five years since I moved here,” said Wallen, who also performed “More Than My Hometown” during the show, and immediately after, announced a January release date for his upcoming album.

Many of the performances throughout the evening honored musical titans that died over the past year, including Kenny Rogers, Charlie Daniels, Mac Davis, and Joe Diffie.

Dierks Bentley started the show standing alone onstage, with a lone spotlight, as he performed “Long Haired Country Boy” in tribute to Daniels on center stage.

The show moved to a side stage as Brothers Osborne joined Bentley on “Trudy.” Then Ashley McBryde handled spitfire lyrics of “Texas” with ease, accompanied by John Osborne’s smoldering guitar licks. Jason Aldean followed with “Devil Went Down To Georgia.”

Jon Pardi brought ‘90s country intensity with his tribute to the late Diffie with a performance of “Pickup Man,” earning an enthusiastic standing ovation from many in the crowd. Little Big Town honored Kenny Rogers with their heavenly harmonies on a rendition of “Sweet Music Man,” while McEntire and Rucker paid tribute to Davis with a rendition of the Davis-penned Elvis classic “In The Ghetto.” Curiously missing from the evening’s tributes was any homage to singer-songwriter John Prine, who died earlier this year from COVID-19 complications and penned songs including George Strait’s “I Just Wanna Dance With You” (which earned Prine a CMA nomination for Song of the Year in 1998), as well as his own sterling classics such as “Sam Stone” and “Hello In There.”

Some performances, such as Brothers Osborne’s blues-rock soaked performance of  “All Night,” and Kelsea Ballerini‘s semi-theatrical performance of “hole in the bottle,” brought up the energy, but it was the evening’s quieter moments that often had the most impact, such as Ingrid Andress’ stunningly vulnerable rendition of “More Hearts Than Mine” which ended with the singer in tears, Allen’s soothing rendition of his breakthrough radio hit “Best Shot,” Chris and Morgane Stapleton‘s musical gut-punch of a performance on “Starting Over,” or Miranda Lambert‘s stripped-down take on “Settling Down.”

The evening’s highest tribute, the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, was given to Charley Pride. Between his chart debut in 1966, and 1989, Pride had 29 No. 1 country hits and over 50 Top 10 songs. In 1971, he was named CMA Entertainer of the Year as well as Male Vocalist of the Year in both 1971 and 1972. Pride was also the first Black man to co-host the CMA Awards, taking the reins in 1975 alongside Glen Campbell. He became a Grand Ole Opry member in 1993 and in 2000, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He holds three Grammy Awards and was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by The Recording Academy in 2017. Previous recipients of the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award include Willie Nelson (2012), Kenny Rogers (2013), Johnny Cash (2015), Dolly Parton (2016) and Kris Kristofferson (2019).

Jimmie Allen and Charley Pride. Photo: ABC

Jimmie Allen presented Pride with the honor and joined the legendary entertainer for Pride’s 1971 signature hit “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’,” as the audience rose and sang along (with the cameras panning to Thomas Rhett and his wife Lauren, who danced along to the tune).

“Thank you for all the songs and for breaking down so many barriers,” Allen said, calling Pride his “hero.”

The 86-year-old Pride humbly accepted his honor with an all-too-brief and sweet speech, saying “I want to thank CMA for this award,” also thanking Jack Clement, Jerry Bradley, among others. “To all my fans, I want to say thank you,” Pride summed.

Exclusive: Concord Music Publishing Signs Donovan Woods

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Donovan Woods

Concord Music Publishing has signed Donovan Woods to its writer roster. The new publishing agreement covers all future works, in addition to several songs from his latest project, Without People, which released Nov. 6, including singles “Seeing Other People” and “We Used To.”

The Ontario native has had his songs recorded by Tim McGraw (“Portland, Maine”) and Charles Kelley (“Leaving Nashville”), and as an artist, his catalog has earned more than 200 million streams to date.

“I’ve known Brad for a long while now, he was an early supporter when I arrived in Nashville, so I’m thrilled to get the chance to work closely with him and his squad,” said Woods. “I’ve heard nothing but great things about the team, so I’m very happy to get started and be a part of the excitement.”

“Donovan is a poet and a true craftsman. He has an uncanny ability to write songs that invariably make the listener feel he wrote it about their own life,” said Brad Kennard, Sr. VP, A&R at Concord Music Publishing in Nashville. “For years now, I’ve loved his artistry and have had so much respect for his songwriting. It’s a thrill to finally get the opportunity to work with him.”

Woods is managed by Michelle Szeto at Paquin Entertainment and represented by Paradigm Talent Agency (US), Paquin Artists Agency (Canada), The Orchard, WMA Agency and Shore Fire Media.

Woods’ new project features co-writes with Tucker Beathard, Ashley Monroe, Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson, Katie Pruitt and fellow Concord writer Thomas Finchum. Woods also recently launched the Donovan Woods With People project, which aims to support marginalized communities via collaborations with independent creators in an array of art mediums, to create visual interpretations for each song on Woods’ new album. His video for “We Used To” was created by Brooklyn-based artist and songwriter Ariana and the Rose as part of the project.

Eric Church, Maren Morris, Luke Combs Lead CMA Awards Winners

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Maren Morris. Courtesy ABC

The 54th Annual CMA Awards were celebrated in Nashville tonight, airing live on ABC, and co-hosted by Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker.

Eric Church took home his first Entertainer of the Year honor, while Maren Morris earned three trophies, for Female Vocalist of the Year, as well as Single and Song of the Year, for “The Bones.”

Luke Combs earned his second Male Vocalist of the Year honor, and picked up his first Album of the Year honor, for What You See Is What You Get. Meanwhile Morgan Wallen earned New Artist of the Year.

Jimmie Allen honored Charley Pride with the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jimmie Allen and Charley Pride. Photo: Courtesy ABC

A full list of honorees is below:

CMA Awards Nominees (winners in RED):

Entertainer of the Year
Eric Church–WINNER
Miranda Lambert
Carrie Underwood
Keith Urban
Luke Combs

Female Vocalist of the Year
Miranda Lambert
Ashley McBryde
Maren Morris–WINNER
Kacey Musgraves
Carrie Underwood

Male Vocalist of the Year
Eric Church
Luke Combs–WINNER
Thomas Rhett
Chris Stapleton
Keith Urban

Vocal Group of the Year
Lady A
Little Big Town
Midland
Old Dominion–WINNER
Rascal Flatts

Vocal Duo of the Year
Brooks & Dunn
Brothers Osborne
Dan + Shay–WINNER
Florida Georgia Line
Maddie & Tae

New Artist of the Year
Jimmie Allen
Ingrid Andress
Gabby Barrett
Morgan Wallen–WINNER
Carly Pearce

Album of the Year (Awarded to Artist(s) and Producer(s))
Jon Pardi, Heartache Medication (Producers: Bart Butler, Ryan Gore, Jon Pardi)
Ashley McBryde, Never Will (Producers: Jay Joyce, John Peets)
Old Dominion, Old Dominion (Producers: Shane McAnally, Old Dominion)
Miranda Lambert, Wildcard (Producer: Jay Joyce)
Luke Combs, What You See Is What You Get (Producer: Scott Moffatt)–WINNER

Song of the Year (Awarded to Songwriters)
“Bluebird,” Miranda Lambert (Songwriters: Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby, Miranda Lambert)
“The Bones,” Maren Morris (Songwriters: Maren Morris, Jimmy Robbins, Laura Veltz)–WINNER
“Even Though I’m Leaving,” Luke Combs (Songwriters: Luke Combs, Wyatt Durrette, Ray Fulcher)
“I Hope You’re Happy Now,” Carly Pearce and Lee Brice (Songwriters: Luke Combs, Randy Montana, Carly Pearce, Jonathan Singleton)
“More Hearts Than Mine,” Ingrid Andress (Songwriters: Ingrid Andress, Sam Ellis, Derek Southerland)

Single of the Year (Awarded to Artist(s), Producer(s) and Mix Engineer(s))
“I Hope,” Gabby Barrett (Producers: Ross Copperman, Zach Kale; Mix Engineer: Buckley Miller)
“Beer Never Broke My Heart,” Luke Combs (Producer: Scott Moffatt; Mix Engineer: Jim Cooley)
“10,000 Hours,” Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber (Producer: Dan Smyers; Mix Engineer: Jeff Juliano)
“Bluebird,” Miranda Lambert (Producer: Jay Joyce; Mix Engineers: Jason Hull, Jay Joyce)
“The Bones,” Maren Morris (Producer: Greg Kurstin; Mix Engineer: Greg Kurstin)–WINNER

Musical Event of the Year
“10,000 Hours,” Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber (Producer: Dan Smyers)
“Be a Light,” Thomas Rhett with Reba McEntire, Lady A, Chris Tomlin and Keith Urban (Producer: Dann Huff)
“The Bones,” Maren Morris feat. Hozier (Producer: Greg Kurstin)
“Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” Miranda Lambert with Maren Morris, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes, Caylee Hammack and Elle King (Producer: Jay Joyce)
“I Hope You’re Happy Now,” Carly Pearce and Lee Brice (Producer: Busbee) — WINNER

Music Video of the Year (Awarded to Artist(s) and Director(s))
“10,000 Hours,” Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber (Director: Patrick Tracy)
“Bluebird,” Miranda Lambert (Director: Trey Fanjoy) — WINNER
“Homemade,” Jake Owen (Director: Justin Clough)
“I Hope You’re Happy Now,” Carly Pearce and Lee Brice (Director: Sam Siske)
“Second One to Know,” Chris Stapleton (Director: David Coleman)

Musician of the Year
Jenee Fleenor (Fiddle)–WINNER
Paul Franklin (Steel Guitar)
Rob McNelley (Guitar)
Ilya Toshinsky (Guitar)
Derek Wells (Guitar)

 

Luke Combs. Courtesy ABC

Morgan Wallen. Courtesy ABC

Lady A Cancels CMA Awards Appearances Following COVID-19 Exposure

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Lady A has announced they will not be taking part in the CMA Awards this evening (Nov. 11), due to COVID-19 exposure.

“Sadly, one of our immediate family members has just tested positive for COVID-19 this week,” Lady A stated via Instagram and Twitter.  “So far, the three of us continue to test negative, and out of caution and love for everyone involved with the CMAs, we’ve decided to stay home from the awards tonight. We’re bummed that we won’t be able to perform with Darius Rucker and Thomas Rhett, but luckily Charles already taped his performance with Carly Pearce so you will still be seeing him take the stage! We’ll be cheering on our friends at home like the rest of y’all! Stay safe out there.”

Lady A’s Charles Kelley previously taped a performance of “I Hope You’re Happy Now” with Carly Pearce, stepping in for Lee Brice, Pearce’s duet partner on the recorded version of the song, after Brice canceled his CMA appearance earlier this week after testing positive for COVID-19.

Lady A was set to perform with Darius Rucker on Rucker’s single “Beers & Sunshine,” while Lady A’s Hillary Scott was set to join Thomas Rhett for a performance of “Be A Light,” alongside Reba McEntire and Chris Tomlin.

Along with Brice, Florida Georgia Line’s Tyler Hubbard also revealed earlier this week that he would not be appearing on the CMA telecast due to a positive COVID-19 result.

See Lady A’s full statement below:

Joe Walsh To Welcome Jason Isbell, Vince Gill, Jewel, Willie Nelson For VetsAid Festival

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Joe Walsh will welcome more than two dozen artists for his fourth annual VetsAid festival, set to be streamed online on Dec. 12 at vetsaid.veeps.com.

This year’s lineup will include Jason Isbell, Vince Gill, Tim McGraw, Amanda Shires, Blake Shelton, Jewel, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, Ben Harper, Willie Nelson and the Boys, Billy Bob Thornton, Eddie Vedder and more.

“For the past three years we’ve held this glorious traveling circus in cities across the country with a day-long rock and roll festival and jobs fair to support our veterans and their families,” said Walsh.

“Typically, we fill up an arena, play for five hours, and raise a bunch of money – nearly $1.5 million to date – to help our veterans get the care and support they deserve. But because of COVID this year, we’re going virtual as so many things are,” Walsh continued. “Our veterans community already suffers from increased poverty rates, mental health issues, re-entry difficulties and personal crises in the best of times. During this pandemic they are especially vulnerable. I’m proud of this nationwide tradition we have built and I can’t think of a better way to remember and honor the men and women who have served our country this holiday season than by helping us raise funds to support their essential and basic needs. Join us online for a worldwide broadcast of unique musical performances of all kinds, never-before-seen VetsAid footage from years past and great stories from me and some of the greatest musicians in the world this Dec. 12.”

Walsh launched VetsAid on Sept. 20, 2017 with an inaugural concert at the EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia. VetsAid typically seeks to host the events in cities across the country with large veteran populations. Previous shows have included performances by musicians including James Taylor, Chris Stapleton, Don Henley, ZZ Top, Sheryl Crow, The Doobie Brothers, Zac Brown Band, Jason Isbell, Keith Urban, Haim, Gary Clark Jr. and Joe’s brother-in-law Ringo.

Tickets on-sale to the public Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020 at 12 p.m. ET.