SONY MUSIC NASHVILLE WINS FIVE ACM AWARDS, THE MOST FOR ANY LABEL GROUP (Audio and Video Link)
MAREN MORRIS:
Female Artist of the Year &
Song of the Year: “The Bones”
I have to ask, first of all, because you had that performance, you got to take the stage with your husband tonight. I just want to know what it was like getting the live that moment with him on this platform tonight because it was steamy.
MAREN MORRIS (0:28)
Yeah, I think that I probably couldn’t have pulled that off with anybody else. Obviously, he’s my husband. But I just think with something so intimate and what that song means to us, It was just in this being Ryan’s first time performing on an award show, I was so excited that I got to kind of be up there with him to witness that as well. So it was a super special and to do it at the Ryman, which is where we first performed together years ago, it felt very full circle for us.
QUESTION (0:54)
Hey, you married You look gorgeous. And I just wonder where your confidence comes from having a baby. Your love for your fellow women? Where does that confidence come from?
MAREN MORRIS (1:03)
I think just my appreciation and sort of innate fascination with women has made me feel like a stronger one and a very hard year of, you know, having a child during a pandemic. It being my first child, having a C section like all these things kind of went crazy awry. But I have looked to so many women in my life that are mothers, and also the aren’t mothers that are just baddest chicks that have given me so much respite in a year where so much didn’t go as planned. But no, I definitely couldn’t have gotten through all of this or remained or found my confidence through new motherhood without women in my life.
QUESTION (2:02)
I just have to use this time to try to get this get you to tell me everything you will about the new or can about the new album that’s coming, I get the impression that you’re almost finished, if not completely finished?
MAREN MORRIS (2:10)
Yeah, I’m kind of like halfway there. I think the bulk of the songs are in, it’s just about like the recording. This is the first time I’ve been off the road to make a record in a very long time. So I’m really savoring that and not rushing it. So I would say so far… I mean, it’s a really uplifting record. I think I’m in a much lighter place in my life, even though we’re in- coming out of a pandemic. I think that I’ve written the most just intimate songs. And I would say the music style is just very, my last record was very pop leaning and I think with this one, I’m sort of coming back to this Texas, rootsy style that I grew up in. And so, I think that it’s got a lot of Americana elements. A lot of roots-iness, it just feels like me, but a very stripped down version of me, but it’s still extremely fun and energetic. So there’s kind of a little bit for everything. I was saying like, this would be a good record to drive to, to get ready to go out for a Saturday night too, or even like cook too. So it kind of like hits all those marks.
QUESTION (3:32)
I’m so excited for you to celebrate and tell me what it was like a fair performing with Ryan. It was very emotional, we could tell. And, also want to know how proud of you are you of Mickey?
MAREN MORRIS (3:56)
Now I was so, so thrilled to get to kind of be Ryan’s first award show performance mate. So I think kind of ushering him in with that song that is so special to us in such an intimate way was, yeah, a first and I got emotional just seeing him across the stage, knowing that he’s worked so hard to get to where he is. And I get to share that moment with him because it is his song. So and then Mickey just completely slayed it tonight. I can’t even imagine with a newborn how much goes into hosting a show of this magnitude and she pulled it off with such aplomb and grace and just wit I would be so awkward up there. I already am in general and she just is such a pro. And also her performance left me in tears. So she just killed it. It was it was sort of the Mickey show.
QUESTION (5:00)
I want to talk to you about you, you’re so open with your fans and your audience, you posted recently about never saying we want to go back to how your body was or, you know, back to that again. So tell me, why is it important for viewers to just share that with your fans?
MAREN MORRIS (5:34)
I think because it was important for me to realize it. And I realized that if I am coming to grips with this realization, I can’t be the only one and especially as a new mother during COVID, I think that bouncing back and you know, not just COVID but anytime we’re always extremely pressed to erase any evidence on our body that we had a child that we housed a child for 9-10 months. So I just realized how unhealthy that was, for me and my workout journey to be like, I need to get back to where I was before. Because that’s not really the goal. That shouldn’t be the goal, too, just sort of erase the the fact that you had a kid and I think that I’m really proud of where my body is right now. Even if it is like, several pounds heavier. It’s like I did something that half the population can’t do so I think that’s pretty fucking rad.
Yeah, that’s kind of how I came to that epiphany myself. And I was like, I’m gonna share this. I’m really proud of where I am in my journey. And I’m not like a stick but I love the fact that I’ve got curves now. And it proves that I did something really amazing and wonderful with my life. And yeah, so that’s kind of where I was at and whether you’ve had a kid or not, it’s like, Who cares? Just enjoy working out if you want to do that enjoy eating rich, hearty foods like I did last night like I was eating short ribs before the ACM awards. Do it all like who cares.
OLD DOMINION:
Group of the Year
Cool. So this is the fourth consecutive year you guys have won this award. How does it feel this time? It doesn’t feel like oh, old hat or is it still exciting? Talk to me about it.
OLD DOMINION – MATTHEW RAMSEY (0:09)
Four times it’s good. Yeah, it’s really, I mean, obviously, this year has been so weird. It’s just like kind of was up in the air for us. I think just because like we were talking earlier, you feel so disconnected from the normal ways that you measure your success by being on the road or so it’s just kind of hard to gauge where we even are. We haven’t seen each other that much. So, you know, we were just we were nervous to be honest. So it feels good.
QUESTION (0:39)
You seem genuinely surprised and unprepared to win this award. I’m just curious. I mean, who did you have your money on? And what did you feel like people were being judged on? or What were you judging on to decide?
OLD DOMINION (0:55)
TREVOR ROSEN: You know, It was hard this year, because we haven’t been out on the road. So you don’t get that immediate feedback. You don’t really know how you’re doing as a year. So it kind of could go either way. It’s why we were sitting there and Jared from Cadillac Three was, you know, all you guys got this year, my favorite band. You guys are the best band. They really realize. I don’t know, man, it could go either way.
MATTHEW RAMSEY: Like you’re their idols or something. I’m not really sure. They definitely thought we were gonna win, but we don’t know who we thought. We thought we’re gonna we’re definitely not them. But we thought we were gonna win before them.
QUESTION (1:40)
So, obviously the people I love and yeah, congrats on the award. But I got to ask moving forward as things are opening up. Are you working on any new music? And can we see you on stage hopefully sometime soon?
OLD DOMINION – MATTHEW RAMSEY (1:50)
Yeah, yeah, we got a lot of new music that’s going to be coming out very soon. And then we have a lot of shows coming up too. I mean, it seems like things are opening back up. We have a show. Starting may 4, we’re playing in Key West Florida. So and then as as the year goes on, there’s more and more coming in. So I think by the end of this year, it’s gonna look normal-ish. So feels great.
KANE BROWN:
Video of the Year
I want to know what does it feel like for you to be the first black artists to win this award and breaking barriers for everyone?
KANE BROWN (0:19)
It means the world to me, just to win my first ACM award, I will say, I don’t want to be categorized, you know, so I just like, you know, that we got to win Music Video of the Year. And it just feels so special to me, I just want to say thanks to the fans. And thanks to the ACMs and all the writers, my manager, everybody who has helped me get to where I’m at today. Thank you guys so much.
QUESTION: (0:59)
I want to know how you’re gonna celebrate and how you feel about the social progression.
KANE BROWN (1:05)
It just means the world to me. You know, the doors are opening for everybody and country music’s embracing, you know, everybody, females, men- black men, anybody. So it just means the world to me. And also celebration, we threw a party back in my manager’s office, and we left them to come here. So we’re going to go back and hang out with everybody. It’s just a bunch of important people in Nashville. We’re going to go back and see. So we’re just also excited.
QUESTION (1:42)
First of all, congratulations, buddy. It is so wonderful to see you there holding that momentous moment right now. What does it mean to be able to win with the song “Worldwide Beautiful,” like what does that song represent to you?
KANE BROWN (1:58)
That song means the world to me, because especially for 2020 with all the hatred that’s been put in the world by the media. No offense to you guys. I’m not saying you’re doing it. But I’m just saying, there’s been a bunch of misled information. And this song to me just shows where the world’s leading where it’s in the future of our children’s hands. That’s why I put my daughter in the music video. And so I was so excited that this this song meant so much to people and country music and help the world out.
Nashville, Tenn., April 18, 2021 – Sony Music Nashville earned five trophies at the “56th ACM Awards,” the highest tally for any label group.
Most-awarded artist of the evening, Maren Morris received her second Female Artist of the Year Award. Morris also received her first ACM Award for Song of the Year for her 3X Platinum No. 1 multi-format hit “The Bones,” as both artist and songwriter. She joined husband Ryan Hurd for the first-ever performance of their new duet “Chasing After You” from the Ryman Auditorium (watch here). This marks Hurd’s inaugural ACM appearance.
Kane Brown was an early winner, taking home his first ACM Award ever for Music Video of the Year (“Worldwide Beautiful”). During the show, he and Chris Young debuted their Top 20 single “Famous Friends” from the Ryman Auditorium (watch here).
Old Dominion took home their fourth consecutive Group of the Year Award, the longest winning streak in the category since 2008. The group was also nominated for ACM Song of the Year for “Some People Do,” which Matthew Ramsey co-wrote.
Luke Combs performed his latest Top 20 single “Forever After All” accompanied by a string orchestra at the Grand Ole Opry House (watch here). Combs was nominated for ACM Entertainer, Male Vocalist and Music Event of the Year for “Does To Me” with Eric Church.
Miranda Lambert hit the stage alongside Elle King at the Grand Ole Opry House to open the show with their newest collaboration, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” (watch here). She later joined Chris Stapleton at The Bluebird Cafe for a performance of “Maggie’s Song” (watch here) and her The Marfa Tapes collaborators Jack Ingram and Jon Randall at the Ryman Auditorium for the premiere performance of “In His Arms” off the anticipated project (watch here). Lambert is ACM’s most-decorated artist of all time, and was nominated for ACM Female Vocalist of the Year, as well as “Single” and “Song” for “Bluebird.”
Brad Paisley surprised ACM New Male Arist of the Year Jimmie Allen at The Bluebird Cafe and performed “Freedom Was A Highway” (watch here).
For more information, visit sonymusicnashville.com.
About Sony Music Nashville: Sony Music Nashville includes its three country label operations – Arista Nashville, Columbia Nashville and RCA Nashville – and Provident Entertainment.
Media Contact:
Allen Brown
Sony Music Nashville
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