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LONG LIVE THE KING. Last night during the 58th Annual CMA Awards, George Strait was honored with the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, which is a prestigious honor that goes to an iconic artist as one of the highest degrees of recognition in country music. It recognizes artists who’ve reached a certain level of both national and international prominence, through concert performances, humanitarian efforts, philanthropy, streaming numbers, record sales, and public representation. To put it in context, previous recipients of the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award include Willie Nelson (2012), Kenny Rogers (2013), Johnny Cash (2015), Dolly Parton (2016), Kris Kristofferson (2019), Charley Pride (2020), Loretta Lynn (2021) and Alan Jackson (2022). Yeah, it’s an impressive group, and there’s no question that Strait is extremely deserving and had to have been one of the easiest decisions they made in terms of this years awards. And of course, they had some of country music's biggest stars perform a medley of his biggest hits as well, including Jamey Johnson (glad he posted bail quickly enough to make it there), Miranda Lambert, Parker McCollum, Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson and even George himself, who performed "Honky Tonk Hall of Fame" with Stapleton. Lainey opened with "Amarillo by Morning," Jamey performed the song he co-wrote for George "Give It Away," Miranda and Parker sang the classic, "Troubadour," and Chris and George sang their duet "Honky Tonk Hall of Fame." They're all talented artists, obviously they picked well for this particular moment (no comment on some of the others), and it was great to see The King be recognized in this way... though I'm not so sure he loved sitting through the rest of the show. To be honest, they're not the exact song choices I would've made (no "Check Yes or No" or "Run"? Come on...), but I think Miranda and Parker really stole the show with their rendition of "Troubadour," because that's a classic and it's fitting to have the two other Texans team up on a beautiful one like that. This had to have been the most country part of the CMA Awards, and I'm here for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNxwpckGH2Y In his acceptance speech, Strait thanked his God, his wife, family, fans and team, and he was seemed really touched by the honor: Ladies and gentlemen, the King of Country Music@GeorgeStrait #CMAawards pic.twitter.com/8abAESzNM6 — CMA Country Music (@CountryMusic) November 21, 2024 You can check out the full list of winners below, which includes Chris Stapleton, Lainey Wilson, Brooks & Dunn and more. Entertainer of the year: Morgan Wallen Single of the year: “White Horse” by Chris Stapleton Album of the year: “Leather” by Cody Johnson Song of the year: “White Horse” by Chris Stapleton Female vocalist of the year: Lainey Wilson Male vocalist of the year: Chris Stapleton Vocal group of the year: Old Dominion Vocal duo of the year: Brooks & Dunn Musical event of the year: “you look like you love me” Ella Langley (feat. Riley Green) Musician of the year: Charlie Worsham Music video of the year: “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” by Lainey Wilson New artist of the year: Megan Moroney

Another year, another awards show with Justin Moore nowhere in sight. Of course I'm sure the Arkansas native was probably just fine sitting at home with his wife and kids during last night's CMA Awards, not having to come to Nashville and deal with all of the bullshit that comes along with attending these awards ceremonies. I mean, there's only so many times you can answer the same questions like "are you excited to be here?" and "what are you most excited about tonight?" before you find yourself wishing you're in a deer stand somewhere. But still, there are plenty of artists who deserve to be recognized and included at these awards shows - and Justin Moore is one of them. Justin released his breakout single and first chart-topper, "Small Town USA," way back in 2009, and since then he's gone on to have thirteen #1 singles over the course of his 15-plus year career. Not only is that incredible staying power in country music these days, but it also shows the strength of hits like "Til My Last Day," "Lettin' the Night Roll," "Why We Drink," "The Ones That Didn't Make It Back Home" and "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away." Most recently, he scored his latest #1 hit with "This Is My Dirt," the title track from his latest album. Hell, one of Justin's biggest hits, "Bait A Hook," wasn't even a #1 song - and it's still going viral over on TikTok and remains one of his best known songs to this day, 13 years after it was released. And Justin isn't showing any signs of slowing down. He's one of the few artists from the late 2000s who managed to successfully navigate the bro-country era without caving to it. And not only did he come out and maintain his success after bro-country has (for the most part) passed, but he's making some of the best music of his career. Justin's 2019 album Late Nights and Longnecks was criminally underrated and one of the best albums released that year, showing off his traditional country sound with songs like "Someday I Gotta Quit" and "On The Rocks" while producing two of those 13 chart topping tracks he's had in his career. And he's followed it up since then with a string of albums like Straight Outta the Country, Stray Dog, and This Is My Dirt that not only showcase Justin's roots, but his growth as an artist into the music that he wants to be making. Of course they also showcase Justin's growth as a husband, as a father, and as a man: His latest album is a tribute of sorts to his family and the land that he grew up on - the land he still calls home to this day. And it's also a tribute to traditional country music with songs like "Put A Boot In It," a tongue-in-cheek message to all the pop stars who decided they wanted to try making country music once it became cool again. I know he's not the fresh new face to put on the awards shows, and that seems to be what they're looking for these days (for better or, in my opinion, worse). But Justin has built a career that most of these artists who performed last night would love to have for themselves someday. Justin has called out the awards shows in the past for forgetting their roots and pandering too much to fans from outside of country music: "People ask me all the time, why don't I ever go to awards shows? This is why. Cause nobody ever asks me to be a part of 'em. I'm just being completely honest with you. Ain't trying to piss nobody off but we've sold 5 million albums, had 10 number ones and probably 20 total hit records on the radio and I've been on one of the awards shows twice and another one one time. That's it. Period. Because they never asked to be a part of it." And he's right: Over the course of his career (which includes 3 number ones since that interview), Justin has won a grand total of...one ACM award, for New Artist of the Year back in 2014. Remember I mentioned that he got his first #1 hit in 2009? Of course the awards shows aren't really a reflection of who's deserving and who's not. Artists like Zach Bryan, Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers...pretty much anyone outside of the mainstream will never get a glance in their direction from these awards shows. But Justin isn't a guy who's outside of the mainstream. He's been signed to Valory Records, an imprint of Big Machine Label Group, for his entire career. And it's a career he's built on solid, stone-cold country music that's landed him more than a dozen #1 songs and packed arenas on his tours. For some reason, though, the awards shows never seem to notice him. And that simply needs to change.

Former Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has announced his intention Thursday to withdraw his nomination for attorney general. Gaetz made the decision after meeting with senators yesterday. “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” Gaetz wrote in a post on X announcing his withdrawal. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General.” “Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1,” Gaetz added. I had excellent meetings with Senators yesterday. I appreciate their thoughtful feedback – and the incredible support of so many. While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance…— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) November 21, 2024 Though he recently resigned his seat, it is possible that Gaetz will return to Congress in the immediate future. While Gaetz resigned seat in the 118th Congress upon his nomination for attorney general on November 13, it is unclear whether he also resigned his mandate for the 119th Congress, which will begin next year. Florida will also have a vacant Senate seat due to Senator Marco Rubio’s nomination to the post of Secretary of State. Gaetz’s nomination has been troubled since its November 13 announcement due to investigations of allegations of sexual misconduct, including a House Ethics Committee investigation. He announced his withdrawal shortly before the report of a new allegation by CNN, for which he had been asked to comment. The post Gaetz Withdraws AG Bid appeared first on The American Conservative.