JELLY ROLL DOMINATES BACK-TO-BACK CMT MUSIC AWARDS AS
MOST-AWARDED ARTIST, INCLUDING THE TOP HONOR FOR “VIDEO OF THE YEAR”;
LAINEY WILSON TAKES “FEMALE VIDEO OF THE YEAR”
FOR THE SECOND CONSECUTIVE YEAR & HONORS
THE LEGENDARY TOBY KEITH
Jason Aldean Returns to the CMT Music Awards with a
erformance of His Current Single “Let Your Boys Be Country”
Photos by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for CMT
The 2024 CMT Music Awards in Austin, TX proved to be an electrifying and monumental night for Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson and Jason Aldean. BBR Music Group/Stoney Creek Records’ Jelly Roll would take home three wins, for the second consecutive year, earning him the accolade as the most-awarded artist of the night, including the top honor of “Video of the Year” for “Need a Favor.” The self-proclaimed “Trailer Park Tornado” delivered a fiery performance of “Halfway to Hell” to close the program and also took home buckle awards for “Male Video of the Year” for “Need a Favor” and “CMT Performance of the Year” for “Need a Favor” (from the 2023 CMT Music Awards).
BBR Music Group/Broken Bow Records’ Lainey Wilson would secure a win for “Female Video of the Year” for “Watermelon Moonshine.” Throughout the broadcast, she performed “Country’s Cool Again,” the namesake for the 2024 U.S. domestic tour that kicks off on May 31, and returned to join Brooks & Dunn and Sammy Hagar to honor the legendary Toby Keith performing “How Do You Like Me Now?!”
BBR Music Group/Broken Bow Records’ Jason Aldean made his return to the CMT Music Awards performing his current single “Let Your Boys Be Country” from the University of Texas at Austin stage.
During his “Video of the Year” acceptance speech for “Need a Favor”, viewable HERE, Jelly Roll stated: “Billy Bob Thornton just gave me my third trophy of the night, y’all. Cody Johnson, I’m not gonna tell you anything up here that I wouldn’t tell you on the phone, but I love you brother. You are my favorite cowboy for ever and ever and ever and one of my best friends in the business. I love you. Kelsea Ballerini, you know what I think of you too, girl. You go baby! I want to thank my manager John Meneilly. I want to thank my publicist, Jennifer Vessio. I want to thank my label Stoney Creek. I want to thank country radio. I want to thank everybody who had anything to do with this. Jon Loba, I love you. I love you so much. My beautiful wife, Ms. Bunnie DeFord. I am blessed to have you as a best friend. I am blessed to have you as a partner. You find beauty in broken things and I love you. I’m fixing to come back out on this stage and set it on fire! It’s going down! Gayle King, I’m gonna be a little late in the morning cause we’re gonna party Austin. Let’s go!”
In her “Female Video of the Year” acceptance speech for “Watermelon Moonshine,” viewable HERE, Lainey shared: “My heart is beating out of my chest. I’m not even gonna lie. I just want to say, first of all, every single girl that was in this category, all of them are dear friends. They work their tails off and they just dedicate their life to creating music and creating this vision and bringing it to life. I am so honored to be a part of this category. It’s really unreal watching these girls do what they do. I am pretty sure all of them would let me say thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts for supporting women in country. It’s a big dang deal! Thank you so much. ‘Watermelon Moonshine’ is about that young, wild, crazy love — a time in your life when nothing else mattered. It takes you back to that certain time, that place, that smell, that sound — that’s what country music is right there. It’s just about telling a story and thank y’all so much for letting me do that with this video. God bless y’all.”
The performances are available below in order of appearance in the broadcast.
Jason Aldean performs “Let Your Boys Be Country” at the 2024 CMT Music Awards.
Lainey Wilson performs “Country’s Cool Again” at the 2024 CMT Music Awards.
Lainey Wilson covers Toby Keith’s “How Do You Like Me Now?!” at the 2024 CMT Music Awards.
Jelly Roll performs “Halfway To Hell” at the 2024 CMT Music Awards.
ABOUT JELLY ROLL Award-winning, Grammy nominated Nashville native singer/songwriter Jelly Roll (Jason DeFord) debuted Top 3 on the Billboard 200 All Genre Chart and #2 on the Top Country Album charts with his debut Country Album, Whitsitt Chapel (released June 2nd, 2023) – earning the biggest Country debut album in Billboard Consumption Chart history. For the second consecutive year, he swept at the CMT Music Awards (2023 & 2024) where he earned three awards to become the most awarded artist of the night. The Billboard Country Power List Cover star and “country’s ‘most authentic’ new artist” (The New Yorker) recently received Billboard’s 2023 Breakthrough Award and the People’s Choice Award for Male Country Artist of the Year. Nominated for Best New Artist and Best Duo/Group Performance for “Save Me (with Lainey Wilson)” at the 2024 GRAMMY Awards, along with eight genre-spanning nominations at the 2024 iHeartRadio Radios, Jelly Roll is also one of three artists, which include Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs, who have scored three Country Airplay #1s in 2023. “One of Nashville’s fastest rising stars” (The New York Times), Jelly was a 4X winner at the 2023 People’s Choice Country Awards and was the most nominated male at the 2023 CMA Awards, with five total nominations, capturing his first CMA Award for New Artist of the Year. His #1 hit single “Save Me” — a confessional, vulnerable expression of self-doubt— set the stage for his new season of life and took him to new heights and Platinum certification from the RIAA. Jelly debuted the song along with Lainey Wilson at the 2023 ACM Awards on the heels of his 28-week reign at No. 1 on Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart. “Save Me” became his third consecutive #1 single in 2023 following his multi-week #1 hits on Country and Rock radio, “Need A Favor” and “Son of A Sinner.”
His current single “Halfway To Hell” is on radio now, and he recently teased his upcoming Beautifully Broken Tour.
As an artist and humanitarian – he continues to resonate with fans on a global scale and earn numerous industry milestones – from playing his sold-out hometown show for 18,000 fans at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena to sold-out dates at the Ryman Auditorium and the release of his critically acclaimed Hulu documentary produced by ABC News, “Save Me.” Featured by Nightline, GMA, GMA3, The New York Times, The Tennessean, Billboard, Variety, American Songwriter, CMT, GQ and more, his self-built, unconventional industry rise and unique fan connection has garnered praise from numerous outlets, with Variety noting, “for everyone who’s facing the same struggles, Jelly Roll is their Springsteen,” and American Songwriter echoing, “with a string of accolades and an extremely dedicated following, Jelly Roll has emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the music industry.”
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ABOUT LAINEY WILSON: GRAMMY award winning, prolific singer-songwriter, Lainey Wilson has earned the enthusiasm and praise of the industry. Critically acclaimed and touted as ‘Entertainer of the Year,’ the Louisiana native who has often been described as a “bona fide storyteller at work,” has made a name for herself as a next generation icon. Constantly defying the traditional norms and conventions of the Country music genre, Wilson’s “rulebreaking” achievements have led her to numerous accolades and a diehard fanbase.
Nearly 10 years to the day after leaving her small farming community in a camper trailer to chase her dreams in Nashville, she earned her first PLATINUM certified song, with “Things A Man Oughta Know,” and won over legions of fans across the globe with her signature sound and aesthetic, blending traditional Country with a modern yet retro flare.
Thus far, her music has taken her worldwide with headlining shows in Europe, the UK, Australia, and more. With six No.1 songs to date, Wilson has become the lead female artist with the most No.1’s this decade along with two GRAMMY nominations, six ACM, and seven CMA awards. Her current radio single, “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” is her seventh consecutive record to break the top 10 at Country Radio and is rapidly climbing the charts.
Making her acting debut in Season 5 of Paramount’s smash hit series Yellowstone, Wilson has become a triple-threat in the industry, claiming the roles of singer, songwriter, and actress. Fans can also catch Wilson on her upcoming, “Country’s Cool Again,” headlining North American tour later this Summer.
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ABOUT JASON ALDEAN: 3X ACM Entertainer of the Year and ACM Artist of the Decade Jason Aldean has bolstered 28 No. 1 hits, over 18 billion streams, and more than 20 million albums sold with “his own recipe…one that has vaulted him to the pinnacle of Country music success” (Atlanta Journal Constitution). He has earned the most Top 10 songs on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart-more than any other artist – since his debut in 2005, with “songs of small-town living, love and loss that have resonated with a loyal fanbase” (Billboard). Having just wrapped his sold-out Highway Desperado tour across the US, the Georgia native continues his “country superstar status” (Variety) with his 11th studio album, Highway Desperado, which was released November 3rd. In addition to three tracks co-written by Aldean, the album features “Tough Crowd” – which he debuted at the 2023 ACM Awards as an Entertainer of the Year nominee – as well as his career first Hot 100 chart-topping hit, “Try That In A Small Town,” and fan-favorite tracks “Let Your Boys Be Country” and “Whiskey Drink.” Produced by longtime producer Michael Knox, Highway Desperado is the follow up to Aldean’s tenth studio album, MACON, GEORGIA, which debuted to critical acclaim, with Stereogum naming it an “Album of the Week” and the Tennessean praising that “MACON, GEORGIA finds Aldean honed in on his vision for this era of his career” and “kicks off his career’s next era.” The project featured the history-making, multi-week No. 1 “powerful duet” (Rolling Stone) ”If I Didn’t Love You” with Carrie Underwood, which earned Aldean his 26th career #1 at Country radio and won ACM Single of the Year, iHeartRadio Country Song of the Year, and CMT Collaborative Video of the Year as well as Billboard and GRAMMY nomination.
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