ABC/CMAIt was a Universal night backstage at the 52nd Annual CMA Awards. Universal Music Group artists swept every major category during Country Music’s Biggest Night, except for New Artist, Vocal Group, Video, and Musical Event.
Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, and Brothers Osborne were all emotional — and somewhat stunned — at the new trophies they claimed. Male Vocalist, Song, and Single winner Chris Stapleton expressed his gratitude after winning awards for “Broken Halos,” a song he wrote with his mentor, Mike Henderson.
Kacey Musgraves appeared backstage dressed head to toe in orange, after winning Album of the Year for Golden Hour, a nontraditional album without a country radio single.
“Dust on the Bottle” hitmaker David Lee Murphy explained Kenny Chesney’s absence, even though they won the Musical Event honor: Kenny is back home in East Tennessee with his family, after the passing of someone close to him.
Thomas Rhett revealed that his wife Lauren had warned him about involving her in his performance of “Life Changes,” predicting she wouldn’t be able to keep it together in the moment.
Old Dominion and Luke Combs claimed triumphs for Sony Nashville: OD grabbed the CMA Vocal Group trophy to match the equivalent Academy of Country Music Honor they won earlier this year. Luke pointed out that his New Artist acceptance speech was off-the-cuff, since it was important to him to speak from the heart.
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