The 59th annual Country Music Awards took place on Wednesday (November 19) in Nashville, Tennessee with ceremony host Lainey Wilson dominating the night with multiple performances and three wins.
As well as picking up three trophies for “Album of the Year”, “Female Vocalist of the Year” and “Entertainer of the Year”, Wilson was musically present throughout the ceremony opening the show with a medley of country hits from various artists.
Later, Wilson shared the stage with Australian-American musician Keith Urban, performing her single “Ring Finger”.
Other performances during country music’s biggest night included Chris Stapleton with his “F1: The Movie” single “Bad As I Used To Be” and Shaboozey performing “Took a Walk”, his collaboration with Stephen Wilson Jr from the 2025 film “The Long Walk”.
Wilson Jr also played an acoustic rendition of Ben E King’s soul classic “Stand By Me” while singer Megan Moroney was joined with a dancing troupe in an all-pink set to perform her viral hit “6 Months Later”.
Kenny Chesney, who was recently inducted into the Country Hall of Fame this October, also performed his career hits like “American Kids” and “When the Sun Goes Down”.
The group Old Dominion, which previously won the “Vocal Group of the Year” award consecutively since 2018, broke their seven-year streak as they lost to The Red Clay Strays.
While the latter performed their latest single “People Hatin’”, Old Dominion’s set included a medley of their greatest hits to celebrate the band’s 10th anniversary.
Actor Steve Martin also played some banjo with fellow banjoist Alison Brown before presenting “Album of the Year” to Lainey Wilson for “Whirlwind”.
Rapper BigXthaPlug also brought a hip-hop flair to the ceremony performing his collaboration with country singer Luke Combs “Pray Hard”.
Towards the end of the night, singers Brandi Carlile and Patty Loveless also paid tribute to “Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement” award winner Vince Gill, covering Gill’s 1989 ballad “When I Call Your Name”.