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Morgan Wallen, Jimmy Buffett Tribute Added to CMAs

Author Nancy Brooks // Country Writer, Beasley Media Group

The CMAs have announced the second round of performers for next week’s CMA Awards, which will be handed out live on ABC TV on Wednesday (11/8). Morgan Wallen, Kelsea Ballerini, Kenny Chesney, Luke Combs, Dan + Shay, Jordan Davis, HARDY, Alan Jackson, Cody Johnson, Post Malone, Mac McAnally, Ashley McBryde, The War And Treaty, and Zac Brown Band will all take the stage at this year’s star-studded CMA Awards.

Performance details:

  • A tribute to recently passed songwriter, cultural force, and CMA Award winner Jimmy Buffett, featuring good friends Chesney and McAnally, as well as Jackson and Zac Brown Band.
  • HARDY, Wallen and first-time CMA Awards performer Post Malone will deliver a medley of Country classics, while Wallen will take the stage for a second time with a surprise guest to perform a song from his Album of the Year-nominated album.
  • Female Vocalist and Album of the Year nominee Ballerini will perform Rolling Up The Welcome Mat’s open-hearted “Leave Me Again.”
  • Reigning two-time Entertainer of the Year and four-time nominee this year, Combs will take the stage to perform his new single “Where the Wild Things Are.”
  • This year’s Vocal Duo of the Year nominee, Dan + Shay, will deliver powerful harmonies with their current hit single, “Save Me The Trouble.”
  • Three-time nominee this year, Davis will perform “Next Thing You Know.”
  • Male Vocalist of the Year nominee Johnson will perform his touching new love song, “The Painter.”
  • Three-time nominee this year, McBryde will perform her warm and personal single “Light On In the Kitchen.”
  • The War And Treaty, a first-time nominee this year for Vocal Duo of the Year, will perform their impassioned single “That’s How Love Is Made.”

RELATED: Darius Rucker Honored With CMA’ Humanitarian Of The Year

Hosted by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, the CMA Awards broadcasts live from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Wednesday, November 8 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) on ABC and is available the next day on Hulu.

Five 2023 CMA Awards Lainey Wilson Should Win

  • Female Vocalist of the Year

    This is an award she won in 2022 from the CMA, and in this category, the CMA often repeats if a particular star has had such a good year as Lainey has. Let’s not forget Miranda Lambert took this award home seven times. Reba McEntire won the honor four times in the 1980s and 1990s. It feels like Wilson is a shoo-in for this win.

  • Album of the Year

    Having won the Academy of Country Music’s 2022 award for Album of the Year, Lainey can also win this from the CMA. The album was one of the year’s biggest and has spawned two number-one songs, including “Heart Like A Truck” and “Watermelon Moonshine.” She told us when the album was released, “Sure, I love a good pair of bell bottoms, but Bell Bottom Country to me has always been about the flare and what makes someone unique—I have really embraced mine, and I hope y’all can hear that across this project.”

  • Video of the Year For "Wait In The Truck" with Hardy

    This epic video has already won Collaborative Music Video of the Year at the 2023 CMT Music Awards. It also won the Visual Media Award (basically Video of the Year) at the 2022 ACM Awards in May. With its hard-core storyline and great acting from both HARDY and Lainey, it would be wrong if it did not win Video of the Year from the CMA.

  • Musical Event With Jelly Roll for "Save Me"

    Jelly Roll and Lainey are both so very hot in country music right now, so a win here would be no surprise at all. Also, the song is solid and a fan favorite for sure. Even though Wilson is nominated against herself in this category with the Musical Event with HARDY and “Wait In The Truck,” there is a good chance her collaboration with Jelly will be the winner.

  • Entertainer of the Year

    Yep, I said it. Lainey should take the biggest award of the evening and the most coveted honor of Entertainer of the Year. Let’s be honest: she dominated country music in 2023 with several tours, big hit songs, and many other awards from other award shows. It always seems a little soon for someone like Wilson, whose rise in country music seemed to happen so quickly, to win this one. However, she really deserves this one, and I would be surprised if she didn’t take it home on CMA Award show night.

Nancy Brooks has been working in the country music industry for almost 30 years. She has interviewed pretty much any country star you can think of. In the late 1990s, she started working with Dolly Parton. And yes, Nancy reports that Parton is as sweet as you would think. She loves her life in country music and has been backstage at every CMA Awards show since the late 1990s. Many of her stories are from her one-on-one interviews. She was there at the beginning of the incredible careers of many music superstars today, including Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, and Blake Shelton, and has interviewed them multiple times throughout the years.

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Author Nancy Brooks // Country Writer, Beasley Media Group
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