Old Dominion caught up with Billboard’s Tetris Kelly on the Winners Walk at the CMA Awards 2024.
With a whopping 44 chart-toppers on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs list, George Strait is a bona fide legend in the genre and beyond. And at the 2024 CMA Awards at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday (Nov. 20), Strait made a rare public appearance to accept the Willie Nelson lifetime achievement award from the Country Music Association.
The tribute opened with a fiery-eyed, ferocious Jamey Johnson performing Strait’s 2006 single “Give It Away,” a Hot Country Songs No. 1 hit that Johnson co-wrote. (Johnson made headlines just days ago after being arrested in Tennessee on Sunday and charged with speeding and drug possession; Johnson has spoken about his sobriety journey before but acknowledges that he sometimes smokes “a joint”).
Miranda Lambert and Parker McCollum followed with Strait’s 2008 single “Troubadour,” a fitting enough song for the 72-year-old legend given that it’s a meditation on music, aging and legacy (“I was a young troubadour / When I rode in on a song / And I’ll be an old troubadour when I’m gone”).
After that, Strait himself proved he’s far from done, taking the stage with Chris Stapleton for a full-throated duet on “Honky Tonk Hall of Fame” from his recent album Cowboys and Dreamers while his wife, Norma Strait, bopped along from the crowd.
“First of all I want to thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ,” Strait said after wrapping his performance and receiving a standing ovation from the crowd (including Luke Combs, who mimed bowing down to Strait). “I want to thank the CMAs for adding my name to the incredible artists on this small list of recipients, hearing the name of the icon Willie Nelson.”
He also thanked “these great artists” who performed his songs on the CMA Awards stage. “It’s amazing to hear y’all do them – I’m so glad I got to ‘em before you,” he said, laughing, and adding, “Not you, Jamey.”
After paying homage to some of his departed associates over the years, Strait paid tribute to his closest companion for more than half a century. “I want to thank my family who are all here tonight. My wife Norma, my son Bubba, his wife Tamara, my grandkids Harvey and Jillian,” Strait said. “Especially Norma who has supported me for just shy of 53 years – it’s been an amazing 53 years.”
Ashley McBryde caught up with Billboard’s Tetris Kelly at the CMA Awards 2024.
The 2024 CMA Awards took over Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday night (Nov. 20) to honor country’s brightest stars, from fresh talent like new artist of the year winner Megan Moroney to CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award honoree George Strait.
The awards show — hosted by Luke Bryan, Lainey Wilson and Peyton Manning — was packed with performances, from Shaboozey playing his 18-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” alongside his single “Highway” to Brooks & Dunn joining forces with Jelly Roll for a come-to-Jesus performance of “Believe.”
Post Malone pulled double duty, kicking off the show with Chris Stapleton for the F-1 Trillion standout “California Sober” and then showing his sensitive side with the song “Yours,” inspired by his 2-year-old daughter. Stapleton has also hit the stage a few times — with his 2023 single “White Horse” picking up two early awards (not to mention a win for male vocalist of the year) and joining wife Morgane Stapleton for a gloriously harmonized performance of “What Am I Gonna Do.”
Stapleton was also part of the musical tribute to Strait, performing “Honky Tonk Hall of Fame” alongside the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Their duet was preceded by tribute performances from Wilson, Miranda Lambert and Parker McCollum.
The winners on Wednesday night included Cody Johnson’s Leather taking home album of the year; Old Dominion winning vocal group of the year for a seventh time; Brooks & Dunn taking home vocal duo of the year for a 15th time; Ella Langley and Riley Green winning musical event of the year for “you look like you love me”; and Wilson’s “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” being named video of the year.
Below, find the best photos from the 2024 CMA Awards, from performances to crowd shots to the night’s biggest winners.
Nate Smith caught up with Billboard’s Tetris Kelly at the CMA Awards 2024.
Post Malone didn’t have much time to chill in his Bridgestone Arena seat at the 2024 Country Music Association Awards in Nashville Wednesday night (Nov. 20). After opening the show 90 minutes earlier with a run through “California Sober” with multiple CMA-winner Chris Stapleton, Posty was back all by his lonesome later in the broadcast for a moving performance of his daddy-daughter dedication song “Yours.”
The sweet closing track from the singer’s debut country album, F-1 Trillion, brought a hush over the star-studded crowd of luminaries in the house as Malone crooned the lyrics about a father’s stern, but gentle warning to the man in his daughter’s life about who will always come first.
“I don’t know who you are/ But one day, I’m goin’ to/ And it’s gonna break my heart/ When she gives hers to you,” he sang with an ache in his voice as he closed his eyes tight and emoted over gentle accompaniment from an acoustic guitar and fiddle. Wearing jeans, cowboy boots, a blue Nudie-style jacket and cowboy hat, Posty leaned into the heartbreak chorus, “And she might be wearin’ white/ But her first dress, it was pink/ She might be your better half/ Yeah, but she’s my everything/ We’ll both love her forever/ But I loved her long before.”
His voice rising to a cracked crescendo by the end, Malone followed the final “buddy that don’t mean she’s yours” with a seeming shout-out to his 2-year-old daughter, “We love you, DD”; People reported in 2022 that the “DDP” tattoo across the singer’s forehead are his baby girl’s initials. The musician also told the magazine when he released the “Yours” music video in July that the song was inspired by his thoughts about daughter’s future wedding, calling the track “very special to me.”
Malone went into Wednesday night’s event with four nominations — his first ever at the CMAs — including song of the year, single of the year, music video of the year and musical event of the year for his Morgan Wallen collaboration “I Had Some Help.”
For a couple minutes there, Jelly Roll and Brooks & Dunn turned the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville into a church with a spiritual performance of “Believe” at the 2024 Country Music Association Awards Wednesday (Nov. 20).
With Kix Brooks on piano and Ronnie Dunn sharing lead vocals with the “Son of a Sinner” singer, the trio took the stage in front of a full orchestra to perform their version of the track, which appears on the “Ain’t Nothing ‘Bout You” duo’s 2024 LP, Reboot II. With the emotional density of the track increasing in tandem with the power of Dunn and Jelly’s raw voices, the musicians’ peers in the audience started raising their hands and wiping away tears as the spirit took over the room.
“I can’t quote the book/ Don’t know the chapter or the verse,” Jelly sang, trading lines with Dunn on the song’s bridge.
“You can’t tell me this all ends/ In a slow ride in a hearse,” jumped in Dunn.
As the song faded away, the “Need a Favor” musician — who pointed up at the sky — said into the microphone, “I love you, Lord.”
Hosted this year by Peyton Manning, Luke Bryan and Lainey Wilson, the CMAs are back to honor some of the biggest names, songs and moments in country music over the past year. Both Jelly and Brooks & Dunn scored nominations in 2024, with the former competing for entertainer of the year and male vocalist of the year, and the latter up for vocal duo of the year.
Jelly was also in the running for album of the year thanks to his 2023 breakout LP, Whitsitt Chapel. The prize ended up going to Cody Johnson’s Leather.
Ella Langley & Riley Green caught up with Billboard’s Tetris Kelly on the Winners Walk at the CMA Awards 2024.
Shaboozey proved that there are way more colors in his musical palette than “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” when he took the stage at the 2024 Country Music Association Awards on Wednesday (Nov. 20). The singer, whose signature song has straddled the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for 18 weeks so far — snagging the title for the longest-running No. 1 on the chart this decade and second place all time — dipped into his bag for the pensive “Highway,” the latest single from his smash Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going LP.
Seated on a stool on a smoke-shrouded set made up to look like the outside of a country honky tonk, the singer cut a striking figure in jeans and a lime green fringed jacket with bedazzled lapels and accents. “I see dead ends, but we’re still goin’ strong/ We’ve been headin’ down a one-way street, but it feel like it’s wrong/ Movin’ like a freight train, gettin’ tired of chuggin’ alone,” he sang over acoustic guitars and a lonesome fiddle.
As he leaned into the foreboding chorus — “I might die on the highway/ With all my regrets/ I’ve been driving for miles and miles and miles, I can’t see where it ends” — the singer, who was up for new artist of the year and single of the year for “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” gave the crowd what they came for mid-song when he made a hard turn into his signature hit.
“CMAs can we turn this place into the greatest dive bar in the world tonight?” he asked as the crowd began to clap and sing along, with many jumping to their feet as a group of line dancers filled the stage and the ubiquitous chorus came around. Keith Urban was not immune, as the cameras caught him mouthing along to the line about the party down of Fifth Street.
The celebration just kept amping up, with a cowboy pulling off impressive moves with his lariat and a dancer doing a back round-off as the song came to a close, and Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena crowd couldn’t help but raise their glasses to one of the genre’s rising superstars.
SPOILER ALERT: This article features the name of the singer eliminated on Wednesday night’s (Nov. 20) episode of The Masked Singer.
So far, season 12 of The Masked Singer has already seen the usual mix of athletes, singers, actors and media personalities getting sent home, including John Elway (Leaf Sheep), Yvette Nicole Brown (Snowbird), Paula Cole (Ship), Marsai Martin (Woodpecker), Andy Richter (Dust Bunny), Laverne Cox (Chess Piece) and Natalie Imbruglia (Bluebell).
So the stakes were high Wednesday night when the Group C singers kicked things off with a collaboration on Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.,” with Ice King, Strawberry Shortcake, Royal Knight and Sherlock Hound taking the stage together following last week’s elimination of their groupmate Macaron (surfer Bethany Hamilton).
Last week, previous Masked contestants Hanson revealed in a clue package that Ice King had topped charts around the world, sold out stadiums and was given the “royal treatment like he was one of The Beatles,” before retreating from the spotlight. That could have been anyone, so Wednesday night’s clue package kind of gave away the game, with the King noting that he can really relate to Miley, as they’ve both learned how the media can be “totally uncool” and that this year he’s been part of a “firestorm” of press.
That revelation was a prelude to Ice King’s impassioned cover of Cyrus’ Plastic Hearts hit “Midnight Sky,” which he sang in the midst of a soundstage blizzard of fake snow. It followed last week’s rip through Hot Chelle Rae’s 2011 Billboard Hot 100 No. 7 hit “Tonight Tonight.”
The guesses from the judges were all over the place, with Robin Thicke praising the King’s “rock” energy, but not coming up with a Teen Choice Award winner who would fit the bill, even as always-wrong Ken Jeong doubled down on his guess from last week: Joe Jonas. Rita Ora keyed in on a possible former child star who has been through it, Shia LaBeouf, though Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg vacillated between James Franco and the actual man behind the mask: three-time Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award winner Drake Bell.
The child actor who began his career on the sitcom Home Improvement before becoming a Nickelodeon superstar on The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh and The Fairly OddParents also sang on the Drake & Josh soundtrack and released his debut album, Telegraph, in 2005. He followed up with his 2006 breakthrough It’s Only Time and 2014’s Ready Steady Go! and has since released two albums independently: 2020’s The Lost Album and this year’s Non-Stop Flight.
Earlier this year, Bell, 38, revealed in the Quiet on the Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV documentary that during his Nickelodeon years, his dialogue coach Brian Peck had repeatedly sexually assaulted him beginning when Bell was 15; Peck was arrested in 2003 and convicted of lewd conduct with a minor.
Billboard spoke to Bell before Wednesday night’s elimination episode and found out why he loved his costume, how TikTok sleuths blew his mind and what his next era might look like.
What made you want to do Masked Singer this season? Are you a fan of the show?
Totally. What’s interesting is that I had the opportunity to do Masked Singer in Mexico [last year], so I had experience coming in. I was Baby Alien [holds adorable stuffed Baby Alien doll up to the camera] and I’m on tour and doing meet-and-greets and a fan made me this stuffed animal.
You have a young son at home. Has he seen you on the show?
He’s a little too young. … I don’t think that he would tell any of his friends, but I had to keep it under wraps. I hope he’s able to watch it tonight and when I take my head off he’s like, “Wait, what? That was Dada?”
Every contestant complains about how hot and uncomfortable the costumes are. Tell me about the Ice King costume. Why did it speak to you?
The costume designers did me such a solid because my costume was so easy to move around in. Not the Mexico one, though; that was a really hot costume. Every 15 minutes I was asking for a fan or taking the head off. But this one was awesome and it was so light and easy to move around in. Right when I saw it, seeing this big character, the King and his big mustache and cape … [I thought] “There is going to be so much to play with.” I completely lost myself in the character.
You really seemed to go for it with the Hot Chelle Rae song. What inspired you to choose that one? It seems a bit outside of your usual vibe.
It’s totally out of my wheelhouse, but totally a guilty-pleasure song. It’s cool because when I’m in the costume, I’m not self-conscious about what people are going to think. It allows you to lose yourself and find the character and sing songs you wouldn’t normally sing.
The package alluded to you and Miley both understanding the difficulties of growing up in the Hollywood spotlight, so why “Midnight Sky”?
I think honestly just the vibe of the song. I love older music, from the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s, and it had a real vintage feel. The second I heard it, I thought, “This has got to be the one.” It was the closest thing to what I’m into.
You’ve done movies, TV, albums, video games, but this is your first competition show. What was your goal? Did you want to win?
First of all, it’s just fun. This was an opportunity to have fun and they really allow you to play the game. You always think it’s smoke and mirrors and it’s all Hollywood and the contestants know who the other contestants are. But it is secretive and we really have no idea who anyone else is. When you leave the hotel, you’re completely covered up, with gloves and everything. You’re looking at how tall they are and trying to listen to their performance, but you can only hear the singer right before you. You don’t eat lunch together or rehearse together… so you’re playing along with the game.
Did anyone in your life immediately realize it was you under that costume?
I didn’t think anyone would ever guess or recognize my voice, but I was looking at a clip on TikTok and in the comments section every comment was, “Oh, this is Drake Bell.” They were like, “This is Drake because when he’s singing onstage without a guitar, if you look at a picture, his hands are like this and look at Ice King and his hands are like this too.” On the first night they were guessing it’s me? I thought I’d be the furthest thing from anyone’s mind.
Was there something about being masked that appealed to you as someone who has spent so much time with their face in the spotlight? Was there a comfort in that?
There’s a total comfort, like when I’m doing voice-over work on the Ultimate Spider-Man. Like when you’re doing fight scenes, you move your face in a way to get the sounds out and if you were on camera you wouldn’t make those faces because you’d be worried about what you look like. But getting the right voice behind the mask you’re not worried about someone going, “Wow, Drake Bell can’t dance.” Or “Why is Drake Bell singing this song?”
Obviously it’s been a hectic, intense year for you as you’ve come back into the spotlight. Do you feel like Masked Singer is an opportunity to have a “second chance” in Hollywood?
I definitely feel that way. Being able to do something so fun and music-driven now that I just released a new album and am on tour now — life works in mysterious ways, but it all came together at the right time. As I’m launching the new record and reintroducing myself to the world, this is a really cool thing.
You mentioned that you dropped the Non-Stop Flight album earlier this year. Can we expect more music from you soon?
The album is big, 25 songs, and it’s a total concept album that sounds like you’re on an airplane flight with announcements from the flight attendants and captain. It’s a journey through my life and the most autobiographical, self-reflecting album I’ve put out. … Songs about the past, present, future, the good, the bad, ugly, ups and downs. It took four years to complete, and every time I thought I was done, I’d write another song and something would happen. I would also love to get back on screen and now I’m really focused with the work I’m doing with a production company and looking to get more into writing and directing and producing and hopefully getting on the other side [of the camera].
