The 2023 ACM Awards Got a New Venue But Said the Same Old Things

In a different city, with fresh faces, and two legendary hosts Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks, the ACMs had every opportunity to make a memorable statement.

The 2023 ACM Awards ended on a Texas-sized sour note, with Dolly Parton performing the new song “World on Fire” from her upcoming rock project and showering the audience not only with confetti but also with a sense of impending doom as dancers twirled around her.

“What are we gonna do when it all burns down?” She sang, accompanied by a stomp-clap rhythm reminiscent of Shania Twain in the late 1990s. It sounded urgent at first, but then she sang vague things like “When did we lose faith in God that we trust,” “Don’t get me started on politics,” and “Now tell me what is truth?” Despite being performed by a genuine legend who rarely makes mistakes, the song appeared to be unsure of what it was trying to say. Unfortunately, much of this year’s ACMs could be said, especially when the show had an opportunity to say something new.

It was a new venue, the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas, and the ACMs are still new to streaming after transitioning from network television in 2022. Those could have been benefits. But so much of what happened felt like it had happened before. Keith Urban kicked off the show with a song called “Texas Time,” which was featured on his 2018 album Graffiti U.

Cole Swindell and Jo Dee Messina, who performed at the CMA Awards in November, repeated their act for “She Had Me at Heads Carolina,” a song based on Messina’s 1996 hit. Ashley McBryde and her Lindeville pals performed “Bonfire at Tina’s,” which is undeniably great but feels a little too similar to her performance of a Linda Ronstadt hit with the same group at the CMAs. (However, one advantage of the ACMs being a streamed show is that you can enjoy hearing McBryde say “shit” and “bitches” without being bleeped.)

Parton had slipped in a joke about a threesome with co-host Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood earlier in the show, surely a country-awards show first, but it couldn’t keep up the spicy tone. Yearwood, one of the greatest singers in any genre, received a too-brief medley of three songs with Carly Pearce that never really took off.

Morgan Wallen, who had been out for six weeks due to vocal issues, and Carrie Underwood were both absent. In an ironic twist, Wallen was named Male Vocalist of the Year. “To tell you the truth, we all know what it takes to win this award,” said Brooks. “To be here not to get it must be killing him, so let’s all celebrate for Morgan Wallen.”

The show’s two-hour runtime resulted in a refreshingly quick pace, but there were some obvious time-stretching moments backstage, with Bobby Bones interviewing nominees and Brooks conducting awkward post-performance interviews. When it came time to remember those who had died since the last ACMs, such as Naomi Judd and Loretta Lynn, there was only some brief “we remember you” banter and Parton’s admittedly exquisite cappella hymn.

That being said, let’s get to the good stuff. Miranda Lambert performed her beautiful, haunting “Carousel.” Cody Johnson sounded fantastic as he sang a Willie Nelson classic. And Ed Sheeran and Luke Combs were excellent duet partners on Sheeran’s “Life Goes On.” (After the show, they even released a studio version.)

To top it all off, Lainey Wilson won Album of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year for creating music that is both fun and enjoyable. “I’m up here because of y’all, because of people like Dolly Parton, pavin’ the way,” Wilson said in one of her acceptance speeches. “It represents hard work for the little girls watching this.” If you’re going to be a dreamer, you should also be a doer.” “WWDD,” which stands for “What Would Dolly Do,” was one of Wilson’s early singles.

Wilson also took a break from her aw-shucks routine to deliver a swaggering rendition of “Grease,” a country-funk banger that’s easily the best (and possibly the only) contemporary country song about being openly horny.

Wilson was one of the show’s many welcome new (or relatively new) faces. The War and Treaty, a husband-and-wife duo, brought the house down (as they did with Dierks Bentley in 2021) with a smoldering performance that went from intimate to massive in three minutes. Were they prepared for the occasion? You can bet on it. Bailey Zimmerman and newly certified stars Hardy and Jelly Roll also had big moments.
Unlike the CMT Awards in April, which addressed major issues such as the Covenant School shooting in Nashville and legislation restricting drag performance in several states, the ACMs avoided the hot topics.

The Allen, Texas, mall shooting was just a short drive from where the awards were being held, but the only mention of it came from Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey during their acceptance speech for Group of the Year, in which he said he wanted to comfort people who were hurting.

So the cycle ended with a big pat-on-the-back party, during which we could carry on as if everything in the real world wasn’t a complete nightmare. Country music is known for its honesty and authenticity, as well as its straightforward ability to say something meaningful, and these qualities can still be found in the music.  It’s just too bad the 2023 ACMs ran so short on both.