ACM Honors 2023 broadcast celebrates Tim McGraw, Chris Stapleton, more country stars

2023's Academy of Country Music (ACM) Honors event, pre-recorded at Lower Broadway's Ryman Auditorium, premieres Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT on FOX and streams the next day on Hulu. The event honors those not highlighted at May's ACM Awards and adds other notable achievements to the proceedings. Plus, song performances honoring the artists and industry executives receiving trophies.

Notably, 2023's ACM Honors event gives the Spirit Award to Charlie Daniels, plus the Icon Award to retired music executive Mike Dungan and legendary artist Tim McGraw. Also, the songwriting-aimed "Poets Award" will honor the trio of Clint Black, Mary Chapin Carpenter and K.T. Oslin, plus BRELAND receives the ACM's (and their minority-engagement driven LEVel UP: Lift Every Voice professional development and enrichment program's) Lift Every Voice Award.

Stapleton's career re-cast and success redefined

Chris Stapleton, reigning ACM Entertainer of the Year, received the Triple Crown Award as he's now won ACM awards for New Male Vocalist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year. Miranda Lambert was similarly honored in 2022.

Stapleton's honors on the program created moments that re-cast the revered artist's career success and redefined the value of his well-respected songbook.

"(Chris) levels all the walls and moves us forward," stated Marty Stuart when giving him the award.

Of the over a dozen performances on the show (from artists including Billy Ray Cyrus, Sara Evans, Lady A, Carly Pearce, Keith Urban and Trisha Yearwood), The War and Treaty's handling of Stapleton's "Cold" elevated a blues song about heartbreak to a master class in the art of delivering a gut-bucket soul-inspired power ballad.

When Stapleton, awed by his achievement and how well he was honored, stated, "I'm just out here playing songs, seeing if something could happen," it's a vivid casting of how and why he's a Triple Crown-level artist in the same class as Merle Haggard.

Songwriters' intelligence celebrated

HARDY was honored as a Songwriter of the Year (alongside NSAI Songwriter of the Decade Ashley Gorley and his nearly six dozen No. 1 hits) at the festivities, meaning that four decades of music were chronicled during the proceedings.

He was described by Bailey Zimmerman (who performed his 2019 track "Signed Sober You") as a "fearless, honest" creator who marched down his own path to acclaim.

Similar things can be stated about the trio of Black, Carpenter and Oslin -- all of whom received the ACM's Poets Award.

For Brandy Clark, performing "80s Ladies" in honor of her longtime friend Oslin was particularly heartfelt because she last performed the song at Oslin's 2020 funeral. Moreover, the artist who received her record deal at age 45 was groundbreaking in highlighting the timeless power of great songcraft.

Clark hoped her performance could inspire a streaming revival of her musical catalog.

"Her work has inspired and taught me so much," stated the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter to The Tennessean.

"(K.T. Oslin) created a template for dramatically writing about the timeless qualities in human relationships. Women of a certain age related to her in a one-of-a-kind manner because she had the strength to never shy away from who she was as a person and a performer."

Industry-advancing artists, executives highlighted

Because it's not as explicitly centered on the "of the year" artist and song achievements, ACM Honors perpetually finds a way to highlight the work of those critical to industry life on Music Row and behind the scenes at tour venues worldwide.

Kane Brown has ten No. 1 singles on country radio, but in receiving the ACM International Award and having it presented to him by Country Music Hall of Famer Randy Travis, the full-circle moment of Brown's rise from covering Travis' songs on social media to being a consistent, intercontinental headlining act, was apparent.

Moments like these highlight how the genre continues to emerge and sustain itself as a commercial power and social unifier.

Also, Country Thunder Festival executive producer Troy Vollhoffer's expansion of his career from being a Saskatchewan-born, decade-long hockey player to an award-winning country music executive is noteworthy. Growing that success into being able to give back to the industry and its fanbase -- at a level worthy of winning the ACM's "Lifting Lives" award by assisting musicians and music industry members in need, makes his career even more uniquely profound.

Moreover, outgoing Universal Music Group Chairman and CEO Mike Dungan was honored as an ACM Icon Award-winner by Song of the Year-winning artist Jordan Davis, who joined with newly-signed UMG artist and Christian music star Anne Wilson singing Davis' "Buy Dirt."

"(Mike) believed in my work when so many others didn't," says Davis about Dungan's influence. Dungan's 43-year career impacted multiple generations of country stars. But the executive's metaphorical fingerprints benefit the three-decade swing of stardom between Trace Adkins and Luke Bryan's three-dozen-plus No. 1 songs and cross-cultural multimedia impact.

"(Mike) was an honest lifeline to developing my career and (birthing) my success in Nashville. He helped me understand and answer the what and why questions of how I wanted to define my creativity."

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Nelly and Tim McGraw perform 'Over and Over'

For pop fanatics watching the ACM Honors, Nelly's appearance to honor Tim McGraw's Icon Award honor by performing their 2004 classic "Over and Over" will be a highlight.

The duo were equally in awe of each other in a heartwarming manner that was a reminder of country music's universal appeal. McGraw noted that "Over and Over" was important because it was a song that both artists approached -- at the height of their careers -- with an "unconditional" appreciation of each other's work.

McGraw added, "I'm pretty fortunate. Country Music has given me everything good that's come in my life. I mean, I would not have met my wife without country music. I would not have my three daughters without country music. I would not be able to do movies. I would not be able to do TV shows. I wouldn't do everything I've been able to do without country music."

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