The first People's Choice Country awards kicked off with a bang!
Little Big Town hosted the event and got the evening started right
by performing their first top ten hit from 2005 Boondocks.
Lainey Wilson who led the nominations among the ladies took home
three awards. Two for her collabs with Jelly Roll, and Hardy as well as the Female Singer of the Year award.
It was also great to see a 90's fave Wynona win the Country Champion award. It has been a rough time with the passing of her famous duet partner and mom Naomi, and her daughter's legal troubles. But you know what they say, there is always a silver lining in every cloud. Wy as Wynona is affectionately known was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame as part of The Judds in 2021. She's also a proud new mamaw!
During her acceptance speech at the inaugural People's Choice Country Awards Wy said the most inspiring quote of the night.
Listen below..
It is really amazing when someone who has gone through so much recently can still share a message of hope and encouragement to others, wow..
Morgan Wallen led overall nominations with 11, and took home three.
People's Artist of 2023
Album of 2023
Concert of 2023
Morgan just added some new concert dates for 2024, and I'm happy to see artists like Jon Pardi, and Lainey Wilson joining the tour for a few stops. He's also been quite busy being a good human as Morgan recently donated $500k to the historic Parkwood Ballfields in Nashville!
Additionally, he took some time during his Maryland show to make the dreams of one of his fans come true. The 9 year old fan Kenley is battling cancer and said it was a magical experience to meet her favorite artist. His music has helped her cope with chemo...❤️
And recently, Morgan donated $20,000 to the music program at Adrian Burnett Elementary in Knoxville. Here's a song from Morgan that I'm starting to hear more across radio stations when I'm traveling..
The mic drop moment was Toby Keith taking the stage to sing
Don't Let The Old Man In. The camera panned over to Toby's wife during the performance and she was wiping away tears from her eyes as I think most of us were. Blake Shelton who performed an epic tribute to Toby presented the artist with the Country Icon award.
Taste of Country captured the sentiment perfectly..
The inaugural People's Choice Country Awards featured several compelling performances. The winners were generally favored to win and there were no big surprises there except for maybe Jelly Roll winning an unprecedented six awards if you also include the wins as a songwriter. When you're hot you're hot! Also some viewers believe Kelsea was lip syncing during her performance.
***Update*** Kelsea addressed lip syncing accusations here.
Additionally, Morgan Wallen's Last Night not winning in the Best Song category was hard to miss. Speaking amongst ourselves we couldn't shake the incredible success the song has earned. It's the first country song named Top Song of the Summer by Spotify and was Billboard's top summer song as well.. The song also holds the most weeks at number one for a solo male.
You can check out some of the highlights of the show here.
Here's a full list of the winners, and a hearty congrats to all!
PEOPLE'S ARTIST OF 2023
Morgan Wallen
COUNTRY ICON OF 2023
Toby Keith
COUNTRY CHAMPION OF 2023
Wynona
MALE ARTIST OF 2023
Jelly Roll
FEMALE ARTIST OF 2023
Lainey Wilson
GROUP/DUO OF 2023
Dan + Shay
SOCIAL COUNTRY STAR OF 2023
Blake Shelton
SONG OF 2023
"Need a Favor" - Jelly Roll
Songwriters: Austin Nivarel, Jason DeFord/Jelly Roll, Joe Ragosta, Rob Ragosta
COLLABORATION SONG OF 2023
"Save Me" - Jelly Roll with Lainey Wilson
Songwriters: David Ray, Jason DeFord/Jelly Roll
CROSSOVER SONG OF 2023
"Just Say I’m Sorry" - P!nk, Chris Stapleton
Songwriters: Alecia Moore, Chris Stapleton
ALBUM OF 2023
One Thing at a Time - Morgan Wallen
MUSIC VIDEO OF 2023
"wait in the truck" - HARDY feat. Lainey Wilson
CONCERT TOUR OF 2023
Morgan Wallen: One Night at a Time World Tour
Spread good country music around, and share with the social media links below. Also, don't forget to follow the blogger on Twitter:
Listen to more good country music here
Check out our interviews on Pandora