58th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards Country Music Style

Tonight, it’s 58^day Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM Awards), held at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas, where the Dallas Cowboys practice. Streaming live on Amazon Prime and Twitch in over 240 countries, it brings together the city of Frisco and country music connoisseurs. Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks hosted the show, with Parton changing four outfits that night while Brooks’ black-on-black-on-black ensemble remained the same.

When you think of country music show fashion, you think of the austere and simple clothing worn by women before the 1950s, like June Carter. But then in the 1950s and ’60s, the plaid dresses worn by women like Loretta Lynn went mainstream. Breakthrough artist Hailey Whitters wore a gingham-inspired pink dress tonight’s performance of “Everything She Ain’t” at the ACM.

But back to when you thought of country music fashion. Men’s takes inspiration from the Nudie Cohn suit first worn by Rodeo Ben, featuring intricate embroidery on the sides of the jacket and trousers, rhinestones and cowboy boots. Nudie Cohn suits were worn by famous artists from the 1950’s through the ’70’s, from Hank Williams, Sr. to Hank Garland, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, and Porter Wagoner.

Country chic also reminds you of the big hair on women like Parton and Reba McEntire, and the fringed detailing on jackets inspired by the Native American attire that Alan Jackson and Emmylou Harris are famous for. Don’t forget about rhinestones that are still popular today. Carrie Underwood has been known to adorn her dress suits with rhinestones.

As fashions evolve, so do country music styles in 2023. Artists at this year’s ACM Awards wore modern looks with traditional country-western twists.

Parton wore a shiny silver fringed pantsuit on the red carpet, in typical country attire. Her first dress on stage was a form-fitting knee-length dress with sparkly sequined flowers. Her third look went back to gray with a knee-length glitter number. As Brooks and Parton recognized people who had passed away in country music in the past year, she sang, “Sweet Memories.”

Ashley McBryde wears a shiny black Galvan London gown with Schutz shoes. A black clutch by Jeffrey Levinson and jewelry from Kendra Scott and Alexis Bittar complemented her all-black look . On stage, she wore Ariat boots and pants by Spanx.

The Osborne brothers looked suave, with TJ Osborne wearing black trousers and gray cropped blazers by John Varvatos and Amiri, while his brother John wore a Nudie Cohn-inspired Bode claret suit with colorful embroidered details.

Entertainer of the Year nominee Kane Brown wore a fashion-forward suit, just like the one Timothée Chalamet wore to the film’s premiere. Wearing a sky blue suit, the blazer was cut in a unique way, giving Brown a very cosmopolitan look. Breland, who was in attendance, took inspiration from Brown and wore a sky blue suit with a white T-shirt.

The show opened with Keith Urban, who sang “Texas Time.” Then Ed Sheeran came on stage and sang “Life Goes On.” But when Luke Combs joined him on stage, the crowd went wild. Sheeran just released his critically acclaimed studio album “-” (Subtraction), and he’s on his “+ – = ÷ x” (Mathematics) world tour.

Jason Aldean, Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Cody Johnson, Miranda Lambert, Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, The War And Treaty, Lainey Wilson and Bailey Zimmerman all took to the stage. Morgan Warren, one of the top artists in the business, was supposed to be there and perform, but he announced on May 9 that he was withdrawing due to a vocal cord injury and will rest his voice for the next six weeks.

Carly Pearce and Trisha Yearwood put on an emotional special in honor of Yearwood’s 25th birthday^day 1998 Anniversary of winning ACM Female Artist of the Year. Newly engaged Cole Swindell performed his hit “She Had Me At Heads Carolina” with Jo Dee Messina, who originally penned the melody to her 1996 hit “Heads Carolina, Tails California” Ashley McBryde with Caylee Hammack, Pillbox Patti and John Osborne (guitar) sang “Bonfire at Tina’s”.

Hardy, who has seven nominations, won the Music Event of the Year category for the song, waiting in the truck. He also gave a solo show. Lainey Wilson, known for her flared pants fashion sense, was nominated six times and won Female Artist of the Year. Billed as the next Dolly Parton, Wilson looked stunning in olive green silk flared trousers with a matching crisscross crop top and cape. Cole Swindell, Kane Brown, Luke Combs and Miranda Lambert have all been nominated five times.

Moderators include Gabby Barrett, Breland, Mickey Guyton, Dustin Lynch, TJ Osborne, Jon Pardi, Carly Pearce, MacKenzie Porter, Dak Prescott, Emmitt Smith, Keith Urban and Trisha Yearwood.

Hailey Whitters and Zach Bryan were named ACM New Male and Female Artists of the Year at Amazon Music’s 58th Annual Music Festival last night^day ACM Awards New Artist Winners Celebration concert, also at The Star.

Other industry events have been running through Access since Tuesday! The Dolly Parton pop-up, and the Opry NextStage Liven event at The Colony yesterday. The 2023 Opry NextStage class is introduced, featuring Ashley Cooke, Jackson Dean, ERNEST, Chapel Hart, Corey Kent, Kameron Marlowe, Megan Moroney, and Ian Munsick.

Founded in Southern California in 1966, the ACM Awards are the oldest country music awards show. History was made last year when it was the first major awards show to be broadcast live exclusively on Prime Video. This year’s show is produced by Dick Clark Productions, with Raj Kapoor, Barry Adelman and Fonda Anita serving as executive producers. Damon Whiteside is Executive Producer for the Academy of Country Music and Patrick Menton is Co-Executive Producer.

If you missed tonight’s ACM Awards, it’s available online tomorrow at 8 p.m. on the Amazon Music app and free on Amazon Freevee.