It was a career defining night for Cody Johnson at the 61st ACM Awards, with the country star taking home his first ever Entertainer of the Year award, and he made sure to share the moment with his mate Luke Combs.
Johnson also picked up Male Artist of the Year, capping off what has easily been one of the biggest years of his career so far.
But it was during his Entertainer of the Year acceptance speech that things got emotional.
“I had this speech prepared, and I kind of gave it away on the last award, so I literally have no idea what I’m going to say.“ Johnson started.
Speaking to the crowd, Johnson reflected on touring Australia with Combs in 2023 and recalled the difficult moment when Combs’ wife, Nicole, gave birth to the couple’s second son while the singer was overseas on tour.
“I feel like I’ve already thanked everybody that I needed to thank in the last speech, but tonight, I want to dedicate this to somebody that you probably didn’t expect me to dedicate this to,”
Johnson said he witnessed the anguish and defeat on Combs’ face as he dealt with being so far from home during such a major family moment that you cannot get back.
Despite that, Johnson praised Combs for still getting on stage the following night and completely delivering for Australian fans.
“There’s a man that was up for this award that I’ve personally watched devote his life to country music. And I was there the night in Australia, when his wife gave birth to one of their sons, and I watched the anguish and I watched the defeat on his face for not being there because he was across the world playing music in a sold out arena. And the next night right after, I watched him get on stage and absolutely murder this stage, and go on stage and play country music and preach the message of country music to a bunch of Australians across the world. So tonight, I want to dedicate my first Entertainer of the Year award to my buddy Luke Combs, I love you brother.”
Johnson also performed his cover of The Chicks’ Travelln’ Soldier at the awards after his Male Artist of the Year win.
Countrytown brings you Australia’s best country music news, interviews, charts and more every week! This post was authored by Countrytown and originally published on the Countrytown website. It has been re-published with permission.
