The 57th Annual ACM Awards, hosted by Dolly Parton, Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett, went down last night at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, and it was certainly a huge night for music.
Airing for the first time on Amazon Prime, the show aired without commercial interruptions, and it was jampacked with entertainment. Dolly, looking like a disco ball, kicked off the show with some of her usual witty jokes, and a dedication to the people of Ukraine. “I want us to send our love and hope to our brothers and sisters in Ukraine,” she shared. “Let’s dedicate this whole show to them and pray for peace around this crazy world.”
The night’s big award Entertainer of the Year went to Miranda Lambert, taking home the trophy for the very first time. She was the first woman to win the award since Carrie Underwood tied with Thomas Rhett in 2020, and the first woman to nab it on her own since Taylor Swift won it in 2012. Unfortunately, she was overseas so she had to give her acceptance speech via video. She also won Video of the Year for “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home),” with Elle King, which extends Miranda’s ACM record to 37 wins.
Two other females also had a very good night, with both Carly Pearce and Lainey Wilson nabbing two trophies. Carly won for Female Artist of the Year and Music Event of the Year for “Never Wanted to Be That Girl,” her duet with Ashley Monroe. Lainey, meanwhile, won New Female Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for “Things A Man Oughta Know.”
And after being banned from the ACMs last year over the leaked video of him using a racial slur, Morgan Wallen returned and took home the coveted Album of the Year trophy for his unstoppable “Dangerous The Double Album.” Meanwhile several of the other big categories were won by repeat winners, including Chris Stapleton, who nabbed his third Male Artist of the Year honor; Old Dominion, who won Group of the Year for the fifth consecutive year, and Brothers Osborne, who won Duo of the Year for the third time. Single of the Year went to Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood’s “If I Didn’t Love You,” the second time both artists have won in that category. Click here for a complete winners list.
Of course, what everyone tunes into the ACMs for are the performances, and there certainly were a ton of them.
- Co-host Jimmie Allen kicked of the show with a tribute to the host city with “Viva Las Vegas,” followed by Gabby Barrett’s performance of “Let’s Go To Vegas.”
- Eric Church celebrated his 16-year career with a medley that included such hits as “How Bout You,” “Guys Like Me,” “Drink In My Hand,” “Springsteen” “Talladega,” “Give Me Back My Hometown,” “Mr. Misunderstood” “Round Here Buzz,” “Desperate Man,” “Hell of a View,” “Heart on Fire,” which featured guest appearance by Ashley Monroe, and more.
- Walker Hayes, who performed walking through the crowd, got the audience dancing with “AA” and “Fancy Like.”
- Maren Morris performed her latest single “Circles Around This Town” for the first time ever.
- Chris Stapleton shared the powerful performance of “Watch You Burn,” which he wrote after the mass shooting at the Route 91 music festival in Las Vegas. The performance was introduced by Jason Aldean who was on stage when the shootings began.
- Jimmie returned to the stage for the debut performance of his new single “Down Home,” a song about his father which he wrote with his brothers.
- Dolly Parton and Kelsea Ballerini teamed for "Big Dreams and Faded Jeans,” from Dolly’s “Run Rose Run” companion album.
- Brothers Osborne, in glow-in-the dark suits, rocked the house with their performance of “Skeletons.”
- Gabby returned to perform Lee Ann Womack’s ACM winning tune “I Hope You Dance,” which Gabby also performed on “American Idol” in 2018.
- Breland had everybody up and clapping for “Praise The Lord,” which included Thomas Rhett and a choir in the audience.
- Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood performed their Single of the Year winner “If I Didn’t Love You.”
- Luke Bryan performed “Up,” and was then joined by Jordan Davis for their number one song “Buy Dirt.”
- Chris Young and Mitchell Tenpenny teamed for “At The End of a Bar,” which was followed by Chris’ solo performance of his hit “Raised on Country”
- Kelly Clarkson and her powerhouse voice blew the audience away with her tribute to Dolly; a performance of the classic “I Will Always Love You,” which garnered a standing ovation from the crowd and praise from Dolly herself.
- Brothers Osborne and Brittney Spencer shut the place down with the night’s final performance, a rousing rendition of “These Boots Were Made For Walking.”
- The night’s other performances included: Carly Pearce and Ashley McBride performing their duet “Never Wanted To Be That Girl;” Parmalee and Blanco Brown singing their hit “Just The Way,” with a special guest appearance by Brooke Eden; Thomas Rhett doing “Slow Down Summer,” with fireworks going off outside the stadium behind him; New Female Vocalist of the year Lainey Wilson performing her Song of the Winner “Things A Man Outta Know,” New Male Vocalist of the Year winner Parker McCollum laying down “Pretty Heart,” Kane Brown, treating us to his just released single “Leave You Alone,” and Lady A singing “What A Song Can Do.”