Long-time readers will note that 2025 was the first year in recent memory that we didn’t post a Picks & Predictions or “If Ran the CMAs…” type preview for the annual CMA Awards.
Moreso than other competing obligations, that was a matter of apathy. Neither Kevin nor I had any real vested interest in this year’s slate of nominees or performers. By and large, the nominees simply were not a reflection of what we believe has been a remarkable influx of high-quality work in the genre’s mainstream space.
Lainey Wilson and Zach Top? They’re fine. They just aren’t the caliber of artists we’re most excited about, to say nothing of rote nominations for Little Big Town, Miranda Lambert, and Brooks & Dunn, or the embrace of a handful of inferior quality acts.
We found it real hard to care this year.
But there were a few noteworthy surprises among this year’s crop of winners and a couple of real highlights among the performances.
2025 CMA Award Winners
Entertainer of the Year: Lainey Wilson
Female Vocalist of the Year: Lainey Wilson
Male Vocalist of the Year: Cody Johnson
Vocal Group of the Year: The Red Clay Strays
Vocal Duo of the Year: Brooks & Dunn
New Artist of the Year: Zach Top
Musician of the Year: Paul Franklin
Album of the Year: Whirlwind, Lainey Wilson
Single of the Year: “You Look Like You Love Me,” Ella Langley & Riley Green
Song of the Year: “You Look Like You Love Me,” written by Ella Langley, Riley Green, and Aaron Ratiere
Vocal Event of the Year: “Pour Me A Drink,” Post Malone feat. Blake Shelton
Music Video of the Year: “You Look Like You Love Me,” Ella Langley & Riley Green
A few (red clay) stray thoughts:
The nights three leading nominees were Wilson, Ella Langley, and Megan Moroney, but the prevailing narrative was that this was to be a big night for Zach Top. Top has been widely credited– whether that’s accurate or not is up to debate– as responsible for the influx of 90s-era neotraditionalism into the mainstream after the Bro- and Boyfriend-Country trends. He was widely predicted to appeal to the CMAs’ more traditional-leaning voter base and walk away with several of the five awards he was up for.
That didn’t happen. He won New Artist Of The Year over weak competition and gave a charming, funny acceptable speech, and he turned in a solid performance of “Guitar,” likely his next single. But this wasn’t a coronation of a new superstar as some had expected the night to be.
The night’s biggest moments, instead, came from three acts who are adjacent to the genre’s mainstream. Brandi Carlile was joined by the iconic Patty Loveless for a powerful rendition of Vince Gill’s “When I Call Your Name,” turning in a masterclass of vocal technique and harmony work in tribute to Gill.
Stephen Wilson, Jr. earned two performance spots: On a collaboration with Shaboozey, and a solo cover of “Stand By Me” that captured SWJ’s riveting emotional intensity. That intensity stands in contrast to the more laid-back style of most of the genre’s current stars, which made for all the more striking a performance.
The Red Clay Strays, who have stated that they don’t consider themselves a country band per se, also threw down a blistering rendition of their single, “People Hatin’.” It created a stark counterpoint to Old Dominion’s phoned-in medley of their utterly unremarkable hit singles later in the show and fully justified the Strays’ surprise upset win in the Vocal Group Of The Year category.
Perhaps the night’s most surprising win, though, was veteran Paul Franklin’s Musician Of The Year triumph– his first win in 33 nominations. And, in terms of musicianship, Charlie Worsham accompanied Lainey Wilson on her opening number, and Steve Martin and Allison Brown riffed on their banjos prior to presenting Album Of The Year.
Beyond the Red Clay Strays and Franklin, other winners seemed more perfunctory: Brooks & Dunn taking a 16th Vocal Duo Of The Year win, Wilson winning Album Of The Year for a pedestrian effort, and “You Look Like You Love Me” sweeping Single, Song, and Music Video Of The Year after winning for Vocal Event in 2024. There isn’t a narrative arc there beyond voters’ overall laziness.
With one exception, the remaining performances were otherwise just unremarkable. But Moroney turned in the most appalling performance I’ve seen on an award show in decades. She didn’t hit a single note in tune and gasped for air throughout “6 Months Later” in a way that should be a three-years-overdue wake-up call that she is just flat-out not cut out for this. The performance was such an indefensible mess that the CMAs haven’t even posted it to their YouTube channel alongside the night’s others, presumably to save Moroney and the people who nominated her for a “vocalist” award the embarrassment.
But, all in all, it was more of a middling night for the CMAs than anything worth getting worked up over. There’s no reason to anticipate that the Red Clay Strays win will suddenly open the doors for Turnpike Troubadours next year or that a horrific performance will mean the industry will abandon Moroney. The 2025 CMAs were really just Music Row business as usual.
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