With a confident grin and a glint in her eye, Lainey Wilson strode onto the 2025 CMA Awards stage—and in that instant, the entire arena erupted. ✨ From the first chord of Chris Stapleton’s “White Horse” to the punchy lyrics of Miranda Lambert’s “Gunpowder & Lead,” she didn’t just perform—she took the audience on a whirlwind tour through decades of country music

  • byJasmin
  • November 20, 2025
  • 2 minute read
0
Shares
0
0
0
0

WATCH: Lainey Wilson Takes Center Stage at CMA Awards With Star-Studded Medley - Country Now

Lainey Wilson, host of the 59th annual CMA Awards, opened up the Nov. 19 awards ceremony by paying tribute to her fellow country stars.

“Ever since I was a little girl, country music has been a huge part of my world,” she said. Growing up in small-town Louisiana, Wilson said her family never missed watching bull riding or the CMA Awards. And if they had to miss one, it wasn’t the CMA Awards.

Wilson said that the songs they’re celebrating tonight are the ones on her playlist when she’s sitting around the fire and or head-banging in the car.

“I could keep talking a little bit about these songs, or how ’bout I get my buddy Charlie Worsham up here and sing ’em for y’all?”

Worsham jumped on stage with a guitar in tow, and Wilson launched into a medley of some of country’s biggest hits, traveling through the crowd to greet the artists who perform them.

Keith Urban joins Lainey Wilson on CMA Awards stage for star-studded number | GMA

Starting out with Chris Stapleton’s “White Horse,” Wilson cycled her way through hits from across decades.

Wilson crooned “You Look Like You Love Me,” singing by Ella Langley in the crowd. She belted out “Redneck Woman,” singing the iconic lyric “I know all the words to every Charlie Daniels song” right next to Gretchen Wilson, who sat next to Hazel Daniels, Charlie’s widow, in the crowd.

As dancers jammed out in the aisle, Wilson greeted Lady A as she sang “Need You Now” and Miranda Lambert with “Gunpowder & Lead.”

Lainey Wilson kicks off CMA Awards 2025 with fiery medley, help from Keith Urban, Little Big Town

She and Shaboozey duetted on his hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” before Little Big Town joined the fun for “Girl Crush.”

The number ended with some help from Keith Urban on guitar on vocals for his 1999 hit “Where The Blacktop Ends.”

The fiery number brought the crowd to their feet, singing along with timeless country hits of the past and present and setting a fiery and high-octane tone for night.

Lainey Wilson kicks off CMA Awards 2025 with fiery medley, help from Keith Urban, Little Big Town

Wilson took the stage clad in a bold two-piece white and gold number, and a white cowboy hat to match.

Wilson is only the third woman to solo host the Country Music Awards, following in the footsteps of Dolly Parton in 1988 and Reba McEntire in 1991.

“I got some big ol’ shoes to fill, so I don’t take it lightly,” the 33-year-old country singer said at a Nov. 16 press conference in Nashville.

0 Shares:
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

— Previous article

No outlet, no host, and not a single producer leaked even half a word. Yet at the exact moment @VinceGill was about to receive the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the 59th CMA Awards, the stage lights suddenly went out. From the darkness, a silhouette wearing a wide-brimmed hat stepped forward.

Next article —

His guitar growled before he even struck a note—and the moment the spotlight hit Chris Stapleton, the entire arena seemed to freeze. “Bad As I Used to Be” stopped being just a song; it became the kind of moment that makes the CMA Awards hold their breath

You May Also Like
Ignazio Boschetto
Read More
  • 2 minute read
BBlog

When Silence Spoke Loudest: Ignazio Boschetto’s Quiet Moment During “Grande Amore”It was meant to be a charity concert in Rome, but for those present, it became something far more intimate—a moment that felt less like a performance and more like a memory unfolding in real time. Ignazio Boschetto took the stage that evening with the quiet confidence of someone used to standing in front of audiences. Yet this time, the focus shifted away from him. The spotlight slowly moved toward Michelle Bertolini, his wife, who stepped forward without dramatic introduction or visible tension. The choice of song was not random. “Grande Amore” is not just one of the defining pieces of Ignazio’s career—it is a song that represents a chapter of his artistic identity, one that has been performed across stages around the world. But this time, it returned in a different form, carried by the voice of someone who shares his private world. As the opening notes began, the atmosphere in the room shifted almost instantly. Conversations faded. Movement slowed. The audience seemed to collectively recognize that what they were witnessing was not a standard performance. Ignazio did not join in. Instead, he remained still. With his hands gently resting and his posture calm, he watched and listened. There was no attempt to perform alongside her, no interruption of the moment. His silence became part of the performance itself—an unspoken presence that grounded everything happening on stage. Observers in the room noted how his expression remained steady throughout. It was not detachment, but attention. A quiet acknowledgment of something deeply familiar being reshaped in front of him. Hearing a song so closely tied to his own career, performed by someone he loves, created a layer of meaning that words would likely have interrupted rather than enhanced. As the song progressed, the silence around him seemed to deepen rather than fade. In many concerts, applause or vocal reactions fill the gaps between powerful moments. Here, however, the absence of noise became the defining feature. Every note carried further because nothing competed with it. There was no need for spectacle. No exchange of gestures between performer and audience. Just a shared experience unfolding slowly, almost carefully, between two people and the music that connected them. When the final notes finally faded, the room reportedly remained quiet for a brief moment longer than expected—an instinctive pause, as if no one wanted to break the atmosphere too quickly. What stayed with many in attendance was not a dramatic gesture or a climactic reaction, but the simplicity of Ignazio’s stillness. A silence that did not feel empty, but full—of memory, meaning, and something deeply personal that could not be fully expressed through applause. In the end, it wasn’t just “Grande Amore” that was heard that night. It was what silence can sometimes say when words and music briefly meet in the same space.

It was meant to be a charity concert in Rome, but for those present, it became something far…
Paul McCartney
Read More
  • 4 minute read
BBlog

TEARS FELL AS PAUL McCARTNEY SAID GOODBYE TO 2025 — AND SPOKE A TRUTH NO ONE EXPECTED 🎶💔 What should have been a simple year-end message became a raw confession from a legend pushed to his limits. Paul spoke of exhaustion, loss, and nearly losing his way — then thanked fans for pulling him back from the dark. And just before the year closed, he hinted at something coming… something that could change the sound of music again. Not an ending. A pause. And a breath held, waiting for what comes next.

TEARS FLOW AS Paul McCartney BIDS FAREWELL TO 2025: “This Has Been the Strangest, Hardest Year…” As 2025…
Billy Bob Thornton
Read More
  • 2 minute read
BBlog

“I’M NOT APOLOGIZING FOR REALITY.” — Billy Bob Thornton Fires Back as Landman Sparks a Full-Blown Hollywood Clash Billy Bob Thornton isn’t smoothing anything over. As Landman draws heat for being “too much,” Thornton plants his feet and defends co-star Ali Larter with a blunt truth: these characters aren’t caricatures — they’re reflections. Pulled straight from the oil fields and back roads of Arkansas and Texas, the people critics dismiss as exaggerated are, to him, painfully familiar. This isn’t PR spin. It’s personal. Thornton argues the backlash says less about the show and more about who gets to decide what “real” looks like on screen. While critics argue from afar, Landman keeps charging ahead — loud, rough-edged, and unwilling to ask permission. No apologies. No softening. Just a hard line drawn — and Thornton daring Hollywood to step over it.

Billy Bob Thornton Just Went Nuclear To Protect His Co-Star—And Hollywood Is Shaking Billy Bob Thornton defends Ali…