(Left) John Shearer / Contributor/ Getty Images (Center) Gilbert Flores / Contributor / Getty Images / (Right) Jeff Kravitz / Contributor / Getty Images
The 2023 CMA Awards were held on Wednesday night (November 8). Country stars gathered at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena to celebrate each other and their music.
Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning hosted the ceremony for the second year in a row. The show kicked off with a performance from Jelly Roll. He performed “Need a Favor” with a surprise special guest…Wynonna!
The night also featured performances from Chris Stapleton, Carly Pearce, Tanya Tucker, Lainey Wilson, and Cody Johnson. HARDY, Morgan Wallen, and Post Malone paid tribute to Joe Diffie with two songs.
A highlight of the night was Alan Jackson, Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney, and Mac McAnally’s tribute to Jimmy Buffett, who died on September 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb_QDvqhT5Y
RELATED: 2023 CMA AWARDS: THE COMPLETE LIST OF WINNERS
Lainey Wilson was the night’s big winner. She took home five trophies, including the award for Entertainer of the Year.
One of Wilson’s fellow Entertainer of the Year nominees was not in attendance at the 2023 CMA Awards. Some other major names in country music were also absent from the ceremony. See who some of those artists were below.
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Miranda Lambert was nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year at this year’s CMA Awards. She holds the record for the most wins in the category, with a total of seven. Lainey Wilson won the award this year and in 2022.
But Lambert did not attend the CMA Awards this year.
The singer recently launched her own record label imprint, Big Loud Texas, which she announced just a few days before the CMA Awards. She launched the imprint alongside her longtime collaborator, Jon Randall.
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Jason Aldean did not earn any nominations at this year’s CMA Awards. Although he didn’t attend the main ceremony, his wife, Brittany, said on her Instagram Story they planned to stop by some of the after parties once the show ended.
Jason was honored at the BMI Country Awards the day prior and attended the event with Brittany.
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Blake Shelton did not earn any nominations at this years CMA Awards. So he didn’t attend the ceremony, though he did appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live! later that night (despite the title, the show is not filmed live).
Shelton recently announced his Back to the Honky Tonk Tour, including special guests Dustin Lynch and his former Voice team member Emily Ann Roberts.
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Kane Brown and his wife, Katelyn, were nominated for Musical Event of the Year for their hit duet, “Thank God.” The trophy was presented early in the morning before the CMA Awards, and went to HARDY and Lainey Wilson’s “wait in the truck.”
Katelyn was answering questions on her Instagram Story on Wednesday, and someone asked if she and Kane would be at the CMA Awards. She answered “no,” and shared a photo of herself watching a Christmas movie with their daughters at home.
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Thomas Rhett did not earn any nominations at this year’s CMA Awards. Fans missed seeing him at the ceremony!
November 8 was also his wife Lauren Akins‘ birthday, so he spent the day celebrating her. He shared a sweet post on Instagram, writing, “I thank God everyday that you were created. I love you honey…”
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Carrie Underwood was nominated for Entertainer of the Year at this year’s CMA Awards. But she did not earn any other nominations.
Underwood has previously performed on the CMA Awards many times, and hosted the ceremony from 2008-2019.
But Underwood did not attend this year’s CMA Awards. She was certainly missed! Head below to watch one of her standout performances from a past ceremony.
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