Many of the biggest names in country will perform at the 2024 CMA Awards. The lineup for this year’s ceremony, held on November 20 at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, includes Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Post Malone, Lainey Wilson, and Chris Stapleton. There’s also Sierra Hull, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Ashley McBryde, Teddy Swims, Thomas Rhett, Molly Tuttle, and Shaboozey, whose “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” just tied a Billboard Hot 100 record.
Additional performers and presenters will be announced in the weeks ahead.
The 2024 CMA Awards are hosted by Luke Bryan, Peyton Manning, and Lainey Wilson. The Yellowstone actress is up for Entertainer Of The Year, along with Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton, and Morgan Wallen.
Below, you can see the full list of announced performances so far.
The 2024 CMA Awards Performances
Luke Bryan – “Love You, Miss You, Mean It”
Lainey Wilson – “4x4xU”
Post Malone – “Yours”
Shaboozey – “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and “Highway”
Chris Stapleton – “What Am I Gonna Do”
Dierks Bentley, Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes – “American Girl”
Post Malone and Chris Stapleton – “California Sober”
Thomas Rhett and Teddy Swims – “Somethin’ ‘Bout A Woman” and “Lose Control” mash-up
The 2024 CMA Awards air on Wednesday, November 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and will be available the next day on Hulu.
In a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) last night (October 6), Bryan wrote:
“Hey yall, I’m wrapping up the last night of my tour tonight and it’s been an amazing time. For that I am thankful.
I am posting tonight based on the ridiculous nature of the headlines I have read the last couple days from an interview on the Andy Cohen show I did this week when I was promoting my album. I feel in my heart I could not let media create a false narrative. As I read thru the comments of some of you I just want to say that I encourage all of you to listen to the interview instead of reading click bait headlines. You will hear my tone and intentions which were not negative. I respect Beyonce and I love how loyal her fans are. I spend a lot of time supporting other artists. I want everyone to win. Love yall.”
As for what Bryan actually said, he said in part, “Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it, but where things get a little tricky — you know, if you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit. Like, Beyoncé can do exactly what she wants to. She’s probably the biggest star in music. But come to an awards show and high-five us and have fun and get in the family, too. And I’m not saying she didn’t do that. I didn’t know. I had never seen [her]. But country music is a lot about family.”
The 2024 CMA Awards will go on without Beyoncé on November 20, and Luke Bryan will co-host alongside Lainey Wilson and Peyton Manning. Bryan commented on Beyoncé’s shutout while appearing on SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live.
“It’s a tricky question because, obviously, Beyoncé made a country album, and Beyoncé has a lot of fans out there that have her back,” Bryan told Cohen. “If she doesn’t get something they want, man, they come at you — as fans should do.”
The American Idol judge continued, “It’s a tough thing to say — I don’t know how many albums did she sell? I know she had one song. So, I mean, listen, I’m all for everybody coming in and making country albums and all that. But just because she made one — just ’cause I make one, I don’t get any nominations. A lot of great music is overlooked. Sometimes, you don’t get nominated.”
Bryan saved the most controversial sentiment for last: “Everybody loved that Beyoncé made a country album. Nobody’s mad about it, but where things get a little tricky — you know, if you’re gonna make country albums, come into our world and be country with us a little bit. Like, Beyoncé can do exactly what she wants to. She’s probably the biggest star in music. But come to an awards show and high-five us and have fun and get in the family, too. And I’m not saying she didn’t do that. I didn’t know. I had never seen [her]. But country music is a lot about family.”
“This album has been over five years in the making,” Beyoncé wrote, in part, in her caption of the Cowboy Carter album cover artwork. “It was born out of an experience that I had years ago where I did not feel welcomed…and it was very clear that I wasn’t. But, because of that experience, I did a deeper dive into the history of Country music and studied our rich musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many people around the world, while also amplifying the voices of some of the people who have dedicated so much of their lives educating on our musical history.”
Appropriately, people on X (formerly Twitter) have reacted to Bryan’s take by pointing out that Beyoncé is inherently country, given that she is from Texas and the genre was build on Black musicians’ backs.
As a relevant aside, The Hollywood Reporter exclusively reported Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter “will compete for Best Country Album” at the 2025 Grammys.
“If Beyoncé — the most decorated artist in Grammy history — earns a best country album nod, it would be her first in the genre and she would become the rare artist who has scored nominations across multiple genres at the Grammys,” THR relayed.
