2023 CMA Awards Play-by-Play

 Posted by at 5:16 pm on November 8, 2023
Nov 082023
 

Check back often as we will be refreshing this post throughout the night!

  • This morning, the first two CMA Awards were given out pre-show.  The Hardy & Lainey Wilson duet “Wait in the Truck” took home honors for Music Video of the Year and Musical Event of the Year!
  • The show started with Jelly Roll performing “I Need a Favor.”  Wynonna then came out to join him mid-song!
  • Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning came out to begin their hosting duties, with Luke Bryan joking that “Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were unavailable.”  They had some other good zingers while they highlighted some of the nominees.
  • Brian Kelley, Parker McCollum and Corey Seager came out to present the first on-air award of the night, for Single of the Year:
  • We come back from commercial with Manning introducing Bill Anderson and Sara Evans to present the next award.  Evans spoke about how honored she was to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.  The award for Song of the Year:
  • Peyton Manning brought out Craig Morgan, thanking him for re-enlisting in the Army.  They then introduced Luke Bryan who came out to perform a medley of hits including “Huntin’, Fishin’ and Lovin’ Every Day,” “One Margarita,” “That’s My Kind of Night,” “Play It Again,” and “Country Girl (Shake It For Me).”  He ended the performance by thanking the fans for 30 career #1 hits.
  • We come back from commercial with Manning introducing Ashley McBryde who performed her current hit single “Light On In The Kitchen”
  • The faceless announcer then introduced Cody Johnson who came out to perform his new single “The Painter”
  • We come back from commercial with Hailey Whitters and Kevin Cahoon to give out the award for Duo of the Year:
  • Luke and Peyton introduced Morgan Wallen and Eric Church who performed “Man Made a Bar”
  • The announcer introduced Chris Young, who came out to share a video where he surprised his former music teacher with a new Chevy SUV.   She was on stage when the video ended
  • We come back from commercial to kick off hour two with Luke and Peyton introducing Luke Combs who came out to perform his new single “Where the Wild Things Are”
  • Luke Bryan introduced Chris Stapleton who performed “White Horse”
  • We come back from commercial with Luke Bryan giving a shout out to a behind-the-scenes woman working her 50th CMA Awards.  He then introduced Jordan Davis who performed “Next Thing You Know”
  • The announcer introduced Cynthia Erivo to give out the award for Vocal Group of the Year:
  • Peyton Manning introduced Lainey Wilson who performed her new single “Wildflowers and Wild Horses”
  • We return from commercial with Luke and Peyton highlighting a couple of the new Country Music Hall of Fame inductees before introducing Dan + Shay who performed “Save Me the Trouble”
  • Luke then introduced Kelsea Ballerini who performed “Leave Me Again”
  • We come back from commercial to Peyton giving a shoutout to the Musician of the Year winner before introducing The War & Treaty who performed “That’s How Love Is Made”
  • The announcer introduced Gerry Turner and Lady A who came out to present the award for New Artist of the Year:
  • We come back from commercial to Kenny Chesney and Mac McAnally performing a tribute to Jimmy Buffett with “A Pirate Looks at Forty.”  This was followed up by Alan Jackson and Zac Brown Band performing “Margaritaville.”  Alan was rocking some shades while Zac Brown was in shorts.  This was the performance of the night so far.
  • We come back from another commercial with Luke Bryan introducing Megan Moroney and Old Dominion who performed their new single “Can’t Break Up Now”
  • The announcer introduced Paula Abdul and Darius Rucker who were out to give out the award for Album of the Year:
  • The announcer then introduced Jordan Davis, who introduced a video about Crown Royale and how they support and honor veterans.  He then gave an award to a veteran from Crown Royale.
  • We come back from commercial with Luke and Peyton introducing Carly Pearce and Chris Stapleton who performed “We Don’t Fight Anymore”
  • The announcer introduced Martina McBride, who came out to present the award for Female Vocalist of the Year:
  • Luke Bryan joined Parker Diffie, son of Joe Diffie, to present the next performance – Hardy and Morgan Wallen to perform Diffie’s “John Deere Green.”  Then, they brought out Post Malone to perform “Pickup Man”
  • We come back from commercial to a video of Johnny Cash talking about Tanya Tucker.  Then, Little Big Town took the stage to pay tribute to Tucker, with the opening chorus of “Delta Dawn” before Tucker came out to perform with them!
  • The announcer introduced Nate Bargatze, who was there to present the award for Male Vocalist of the Year:
  • Keith Urban was introduced by the announcer to present the award for Entertainer of the Year:
  • Luke and Peyton introduce the final performance of the night as Jelly Roll is joined by K. Michelle to perform The Judds‘ “Love Can Build a Bridge” to close the show.