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