Chris Stapleton was the night’s big winner. He took home three trophies, including the hardware for Male Vocalist of the Year (for the third year in a row) and for Single and Song of the Year for “Broken Halos,” which he co-wrote with his friend Mike Henderson.

He says he’s always surprised to hear his name called when it comes to awards. “These things are always fantastic to win, but when you get nominated or invited to these parties, in my estimation, you’ve already won and you’ve already gotten to be far beyond anything, you know, anybody who’s a musician could ever dream of getting to do, and we get to do that every day, we get to live it every day. As far as thinking about going into anything, I’m always genuinely surprised to win anything, and I’m always grateful for it.”

Chris is making his way up the country charts with his latest song, “Millionaire,” which is from his current album, From A Room: Volume 2.

Carrie Underwood pulled triple-duty during this year’s CMA Awards as host, performer and winner. She picked up the award for Female Vocalist of the Year this year, an award she previously won four times (2006-2008, 2016).

She said backstage that this award means a lot to her. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t want awards because I’m a competitive person and I love these,” says Carrie. “I love these shows. I love the CMAs. I have such respect for this show and this organization, but when you’re making an album, you want it to be better. You want to push yourself as an artist. For me, with all the ups and downs we’ve been through, plus making an album on top of all of that, I mean this one definitely means a lot.”

Last night was a dream…one I’m still doing my best to not wake up from. Today (and every day) I am thankful for all those in my world who make this life happen! Thank you, fans, for the constant support and encouragement. YOU give… https://t.co/EJ6kr8qROC pic.twitter.com/TozvM8v0ma

— Carrie Underwood (@carrieunderwood) November 15, 2018

Carrie performed her current single, “Love Wins,” on the CMAs and it earned the first standing ovation of the night.

The fourth edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live’s Mean Tweets aired after the 52nd Annual CMA Awards, and several of your favorite country artists read some pretty twisted tweets about themselves, including Dierks Bentley, Kacey Musgraves, Brothers Osborne, Jon Pardi and Lauren Alaina, among others.

Kacey Musgraves earned her first CMA Album of the Year award for her latest offering Golden Hour. During her acceptance speech, she explained it was a very special anniversary. “I just realized this morning…it sounds like a lie, 10 years ago today, I moved to Nashville. That’s so crazy.Ian Fitchuk, Daniel Tashian, my two co-pilots and co-producers, made this record with me. We poured everything we have into this, and I’m so proud of it. It’s inspired by, just this beautiful…this beautiful universe, all of you, and just most of all…love.”

Golden Hour, which was released earlier this year, is a very special album to the artist who crafted it. “It was really important for me to kind of give people a little bit of a hiding place with this record,” says Kacey. “We live in such a tumultuous and chaotic time, and I think a lot of people may have expected some social commentary out of me, and not that there isn’t in some ways on this record, but I wanted to turn away from that because I was really inspired to write about just like this beautiful world we live in, all these wonderful people, my husband, getting married, leaving my 20s, looking ahead to my 30s and just this really open-hearted, really positive time and the music is directly inspired by that.”

Brothers Osborne picked up their third consecutive CMA Award for Duo of the Year. The two are completely humbled by the support they’ve received from their peers and the music industry. “I am genuinely just as shocked as I was the first year we won one of these,” says TJ Osborne. “I’m humbled. I’m very grateful.”

“I don’t know why we keep winning this,” said John Osborne after their name was called. “If this was in Florida, there would definitely be a recount,” TJ added.

During their acceptance and backstage in the pressroom, the two gave props to another duo in the category, Dan + Shay, who have had a huge year on the charts. “The Duo category can go any which way. I mean, you look at us, comparatively speaking, we’re kind of maybe somewhere in the middle in terms of the numbers and I don’t know (laughs) what it is. I don’t really know why we’re holding these up here and it’s super rad and I’m definitely going to be putting this on my mantle, but you look at somebody like Dan+ Shay and I just love to see good people win and succeed and people that work really hard at what they do and they’re kind to people along the way and they’re immensely talented,” says John. “I think one of the most amazing pieces of advice I was ever given was to work hard and be nice to people, and I think that’s why we have these. We work really hard and we try to be respectful to everyone around us. Dan + Shay are the same way, and also they have HUGE songs out on the radio too. They actually have a step above us on that, and we just love those guys. They’re very sweet. They’re very supportive. One of the things that I love about the country music genre is that it’s a family and we’re all really, really close. We’re all a bunch of misfits thrown together. We’re all a little different, but we love one another and respect one another. I’m just honored for the both of us to be a part of this awesome family.”

The two tweeted their fans, “The immense amount of gratitude and overwhelming feeling of love and support is something that will stick with us for the rest of our lives. We’re eternally grateful to be part of the country music community and can’t thank our fans enough for the gift they keep giving us.”

The guys have hit the country charts with their new song, “I Don’t Remember Me (Before You), and recently announced an extension of their headlining world tour. The guys kick off 2019 in Chicago January 10th and will hit more than 40 additional markets including New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville.

Keith Urban picked up the night’s top honor for CMA Entertainer of the Year, an award he’s only won one other time – in 2005 when the show left Nashville for the bright lights of New York City. Keith gave an emotional speech, in which he thanked his family, fans, country radio and team, as well as his late father who passed away a few years ago. “I wish my dad was alive to see this because I think he’s watching over me tonight.”

Backstage, Keith, who was surprised he won, told the press being an entertainer is pretty extraordinary. “It’s an indescribable feeling to get that tonight, because I love playing, I love entertaining, I love putting on shows. I started playing guitar when I was six, so playing, and I came up playing in the clubs – four hours a night, five hours a night, five nights a week. I wasn’t writing songs. I was just schlepping my gear and playing cover tunes and learning my craft. To get to play three or four hours a night of original material is the most extraordinary feeling.”

Keith performed his latest song, “Never Coming Down,” on the show last night, is off the road for the rest of the year, but you can catch him (if you’re Down Under) hosting the ARIA Awards (Australia’s equivalent of the Grammy Awards) November 28th before he returns home to headline Music City’s New Year’s Eve show on December 31st.

THANK YOU!!! • #CMAawards pic.twitter.com/NSkxNT8sXz

— Keith Urban (@KeithUrban) November 15, 2018

Eric Church has just been added to the list of performers at Wednesday night’s CMA Awards. He joins previously announced performers Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Kacey Musgraves, Dierks Bentley with Brothers Osborne, Carrie Underwood, Lauren Alaina, Chris Stapleton with Maren Morris and Mavis Staples, Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Florida Georgia Line with Bebe Rexha, Midland, Old Dominion, Pistol Annies, Thomas Rhett, Brett Young and Brad Paisley with special appearances by Jon Pardi, Vince Gill, Ashley McBryde, David Lee Murphy, Lindsay Ell, Chris Janson, Marty Stuart and Cole Swindell, among others.

Eric is currently making his way up the country chart with “Desperate Man.”

The 52nd Annual CMA Awards will broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena November 14th at 8pm ET/PT on ABC.

Chris Stapleton is nominated for numerous awards at this year’s CMA Awards, including both Single and Song of the Year for his smash “Broken Halos.”

He is a seven-time CMA Awards winner with 16 total career nominations. He is the reigning Male Vocalist of the Year and Album of the Year winner. He returns this year as the most nominated artist of the night with nods in the Album of the Year, Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year, Single of the Year and Song of the Year categories.

Sam Hunt’s HUGE hit “Body Like a Back Road,” which broke numerous records and is still one of the best played and streamed songs, is nominated for Song of the Year. Sam wrote the tune with Zach Crowell, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne.

Sam was overwhelmed by the response from fans. “It’s awesome to have a reaction like that from a song, because that song was kind of uncharted territory for me,” says Sam. “So, it almost felt like I was putting out my first record for the first time where you conceptualize this idea and you’ve already conceptualized the reaction that you expect to have to this a song and you just hope that it all comes true. And this exceeded those expectations by a long shot, so it was just really great.”

The 52nd Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, will broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (November 14th) at 8pm ET/PT on ABC.

SINGLE OF THE YEAR
(Award goes to Artist, Producer(s), and Mix Engineer(s))

“Broken Halos” – Chris Stapleton
Producers: Dave Cobb, Chris Stapleton
Mix Engineer: Vance Powell

“Drinkin’ Problem” – Midland
Producers: Dann Huff, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne
Mix Engineer: Justin Niebank

“Drowns the Whiskey” – Jason Aldean (Feat. Miranda Lambert)
Producer: Michael Knox
Mix Engineer: Jeff Braun

“Meant to Be” – Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line
Producer: Willshire
Mix Engineer: Serban Ghenea

“Tequila” – Dan + Shay
Producers: Scott Hendricks, Dan Smyers
Mix Engineer: Jeff Juliano

SONG OF THE YEAR
(Award goes to Songwriter(s))

“Body Like A Back Road”
Songwriters: Zach Crowell, Sam Hunt, Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne

“Broken Halos”
Songwriters: Mike Henderson, Chris Stapleton

“Drowns the Whiskey”
Songwriter: Brandon Kinney, Jeff Middleton, Josh Thompson

“Drunk Girl”
Songwriter: Scooter Carusoe, Tom Douglas, Chris Janson

“Tequila”
Songwriter: Nicolle Galyon, Jordan Reynolds, Dan Smyers

Lauren Alaina is nominated for CMA New Artist of the Year, following her win for New Female Vocalist of the Year win at this year’s ACM Awards.

Lauren first burst on the scene in 2011 when she was on American Idol and won the hearts of millions of fans and says music is  all she’s ever wanted to do.

“My music is so important to me, and it’s been the only thing I’ve ever wanted,” says Lauren. “I’ve always wanted to be a singer and to be on the road and to be entertaining people.”

She is making her way up the country charts with her latest song, “Ladies in the ‘90s.”

The 52nd Annual CMA Awards, hosted by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, will broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (November 14th) at 8pm ET/PT on ABC.

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Lauren Alaina
Luke Combs
Chris Janson
Midland
Brett Young