You can’t say Alabama didn’t show up for the Country Music Association’s annual awards show: Three artists from the state delivered memorable performances and took home honors.
The party started early for Ella Langley and Riley Green: In early awards announced Wednesday morning, Green and Langley won Music Video of the Year for their blockbuster duet “You Look Like You Love Me.” They were nominated in the Musical Event of the Year category for another duet, Green’s “Don’t Mind If I Do,” but lost out to Post Malone’s team-up with Blake Shelton on “Pour Me a Drink.”
Host Laney Wilson launched the show by working the room with a medley that included “You Look Like You Love Me,” an opportunity for Langley to get up and shimmy with her. (Later in the segment, when Wilson sang Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush,” that quartet turned out to be ready to do more than dance: They just happened to be sitting at the ready, equipped with mics and in-ear monitors.)
The interplay set a fun tone for the night. Later on, Green got a shout-out from comedian Leanne Morgan, who wondered if he might be available to cut her out of her tight-fitting stage clothes after her appearance; Steve Martin blatantly plugged his new album with Alison Brown and assured fans it was “available at your local record store;” and Wilson tapped “Reacher” star Alan Ritchson as “cowboy of the night.”
But before any of that happened, Green and Langley took Single of the Year for “You Look Like You Love Me.” Langley, who’s from Hope Hull, said she was a little “confused and excited at the same time” by the early call-up.
“I wasn’t expecting to get up here so early tonight,” she said. “I feel like this is a song that just keeps on giving, because the fans keep on listening to it.”
Green, who’s from Jacksonville, said it was great to be a part of a song with another Alabama artist and praised Langley for “how she handles herself and how she’s making country music really country.”
Langley lost out on New Artist of the Year to Zach Top, but she and Green won again as “You Look Like You Love Me” was named Song of the Year. Langley joked that she’d thought Top had this one in the bag too, thanked co-writer Aaron Raitiere and talked a little about the song’s impact.
“These songs change our lives,” she said. “I don’t think people know how really true that is, but they really do. They change our lives, they’ve changed my life, my family’s life, and I’m so grateful to be up here tonight.”
“How cool is it that a song with talking verses wins song of the year?” said Green. “That’s country music. Ella Langley, everybody, let’s hear it.”
The Red Clay Strays, a group formed in the Mobile area, delivered a blistering performance of “People Hatin’.” Though this wasn’t addressed during the performance, the song is a call for civility that the band released as a single after the public murder of Charlie Kirk.
A few minutes later, the band took home the win for Vocal Group of the Year, beating out some heavy competition including acts that had won the award multiple times.
“Thank you, Jesus,” said vocalist Brandon Coleman. “That’s awesome. Never ever would have dreamed of winning anything like this. That’s pretty incredible. We didn’t even know how to set up music equipment when we started doing this.”
Coleman thanked the band’s significant others, its road crew and its label, and encouraged dreamers to “Always believe you can do it, just work hard and trust God.” Drummer John Hall added a poignant note: “My little brother Jacob took his own life in 2020. He should be up here with us, but he’s not. So got bless him, this is for Jacob.”
A year earlier, the Strays had been nominated in the same category. How big a deal was it that this roots-rock group finally landed its first CMA Award? For the answer, one need look no further than WhiskeyRiff.com, a Nashville-oriented news and opinion site. The day before the show, the site ran a story under the headline “If Old Dominion Beats Red Clay Strays For ‘Vocal Group of the Year’ Again At The 2025 CMA Awards, It’s Time To Cancel The Show.”
Writer Quinn Eaton griped that “a cringey pop-country band (Old Dominion), a band that just makes the category by default (Little Big Town), a band that’s a decade past their prime (Lady A) and a group coasting off their hit cover song on a Pixar soundtrack (Rascal Flatts) are in the same category as a band that has put out back-to-back musical masterpieces,” referring to the Strays’ most recent studio albums.
Eaton further said the band members “have come together to create something that’s entirely new, fresh and unique in the country music sphere. They are by far the best vocal group in the genre right now, and their meteoric rise in the past couple of years only supports that. The Red Clay Strays have got the catalogue, the fanbase, the stage presence, and to be frank, the aura, to be one of the best bands in all of music for years to come.”
Time, and future award shows, will tell. This one featured additional showcases for Langley and Green. She appeared in an ad for Chase Sapphire Reserve and led a Chevrolet-sponsored segment honoring military heroes. He performed “Worst Way” and she took the stage for “Choosin’ Texas.”
One particularly big nomination was still hanging out there. But it was Wilson herself, not Langley, who was honored as Female Vocalist of the Year. Wilson went on to win Entertainer of the Year as well.
Other top winners:
- Male Vocalist of the Year: Cody Johnson
- Album of the Year: Lainey Wilson for “Whirlwind”
- Vocal Duo of the Year: Brooks & Dunn
- Musician of the Year: Steel guitarist Paul Franklin
The awards show was broadcast live on ABC and will be available for streaming on Hulu starting Thursday.
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