Lainey Wilson took home the honors for Female Artist of the Year, Music Event of the Year.

And Entertainer of the Year at Thursday’s Academy of Country Music Awards stemming from the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

The Baskin, Louisiana native, 31, said she’s received strong support from the women within the country music industry in her acceptance speech for Female Artist of the Year.

‘A lot of the women are some of my best friends and helped pull me over that wall,’ said Wilson.

Who won the honors over Kelsea Ballerini, Ashley McBryde, Megan Moroney and Kacey Musgraves.

‘It’s crazy to think, me and Wynonna Judd, we talk every week,’ Wilson said. ‘Iron sharpens iron and I want to thank all those women who do that.’

The Yellowstone star also thanked her label, her mother and her father in her initial acceptance speech. 

In her acceptance speech for Entertainer of the Year, an emotional Wilson said that the past few years for her have been ‘a complete whirlwind’ amid her career breakout.

‘I’ve been in Nashville for 13 years doing this,’ Wilson said, adding, ‘Thank you so much Lord Jesus Christ, thank you to my team who fights for me every single day, who work so hard, my band, they show up.’

Wilson looked back to her childhood as she remembered ‘being a little girl’ and sitting on her rooftop watching the stars and planes fly overhead, and dreaming of one day, being on one of the planes.

‘The funny thing is, is I still feel like that little girl – I really do,’ Wilson said. ‘I feel like I still climb out on the roof and I look at the stars except I feel like I’m a little more eye-level with them now.’

Reba McEntire was hosting the show a record 17th time, overseeing a night of memorable performances, including a tribute to the late Toby Keith. 

Jordan Davis claimed honors for Song Of The Year for Next Thing You Know, which had been nominated against Luke Combs’ Fast Car; Lainey Wilson’s Heart Like A Truck; Cody Johnson’s The Painter and Megan Moroney’s Tennessee Orange.

Dan + Shay claimed the win for Duo of the Year, besting fellow nominees Brooks & Dunn, Brothers Osborne, Maddie & Tae and The War And Treaty.

Dan Smyers thanked the fans and his family, while Shay Mooney thanked his wife, three boys and country community.

Smyers said, ‘Shay, I love you so much brother, I am so proud to be back up on this stage with you.

‘Thank you to the ACMs, everybody who voted, thank country radio, all the streamers, the fans, I gotta say thank you to my wife Abby whose holding it down in Nashville … Abby, I love you so much.’

Mooney said, ‘God bless Texas, God bless country music and God bless Reba McEntire!’

Old Dominion was named Group of the Year, besting fellow nominees Flatland Cavalry, Lady A, Little Big Town and Zac Brown Band. 

Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey said that the group has been trying to ‘take all of this in’ in terms of their long-running success.

Ramsey said, ‘We’re so proud of who our fans are,’ looking back on how he was in dire financial straits 12 years ago until the music ensemble’s professional breakout.

‘Thank you very much for allowing us to continue to do this, thank you so so much,’ he said.

Luke Combs won honors for Single of the Year for his rendition of Fast Car, originally released by Tracy Chapman in 1988. He was not in attendance to accept the honors Thursday.

Combs’ single had been nominated against Parker McCollum’s Burn It Down, Morgan Wallen’s Last Night, Jelly Roll’s Need a Favor and Jordan Davis’ Next Thing You Know.

Chris Stapleton took home the honors for Male Artist of the Year, defeating fellow nominees Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson and Morgan Wallen. 

Jelly Roll’s collaboration with Wilson, Save Me, was awarded Music Event of the Year.

The performance was nominated against Old Dominion and Megan Moroney’s Can’t Break Up Now; Riley Green and Luke Combs’ Different ‘Round Here; Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves’ I Remember Everything; and Morgan Wallen and Eric Church’s Man Made a Bar.

‘This song saved me, I was in a dark place, I wrote it from my soul,’ Jelly Roll said in his acceptance speech.

Stapleton won honors for Album of the Year, prevailing in a field that included Luke Combs’ Gettin’ Old; Cody Johnson’s Leather; Morgan Wallen’s One Thing at A Time; and Kelsea Ballerini’s Rolling Up the Welcome Mat (For Good). 

Reba McEntire told the AP, ‘I love the award show because it´s almost like a family reunion.’

This year’s nominees range from veteran acts to new talent, including the much-beloved Jelly Roll. 

This year marked his first-time receiving ACM nominations; he´s up for entertainer of the year, male artist of the year, single of the year (for Need a Favor, which won big at the CMT Music Awards last month), and music event of the year, for Save Me  featuring Lainey Wilson. 

The last time a musician was up for entertainer of the year in his first round of ACM awards nominations was Billy Ray Cyrus in 1992.

The ACM festivities actually began aead of Thursday’s event, when the new artist of the year awards were handed out at Tuesday’s ACM Country Kickoff fan festival at The Star: Megan Moroney took home new female artist of the year, Nate Smith won in the male category and Tigirlily Gold took home the prize for new duo or group.

The 2024 ACM Awards streamed on Prime Video and the Amazon Music channel on Twitch Live at 8 p.m. Eastern. 

Luke Combs led the pack of the 2024 nominations with eight nods. For a fifth year in a row, he´s up for both male artist of the year and entertainer of the year.

Combs´ eight nominations includes a first-time nomination for Tracy Chapman. His cover of her Fast Car is up for song of the year, a category that recognizes songwriters and publishers in addition to artists. 

Last year, Chapman´s 1988 song won song of the year at the Country Music Awards for Combs´ cover, making her the first Black songwriter to win in the category.

Morgan Wallen and Moroney closely follow Combs´ nominations with six each, while Cody Johnson, Chris Stapleton and Wilson are tied with five. Jordan Davis and Jelly Roll have four nominations.

Jason Aldean performed a tribute to Keith, who died in February.

‘I´ve been a fan of his since the beginning and his songs are some of the first songs I played back in clubs early in my career, including the one I´ll be performing on the show,’ Aldean said in a statement. ‘It means a lot to be able to honor him and properly celebrate his iconic career and legacy. He was one of a kind.’

In addition to Aldean: Kane Brown, Jelly Roll, Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett, Post Malone, Parker McCollum, Johnson, McEntire, Wilson and Stapleton performed during the telecast.

Fans can expect a few interesting collaborations as well – Kelsea Ballerini with Noah Kahan; Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani and Smith with Avril Lavigne.

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Source: CNN