Tenille Townes, Riley Green Win ACM New Artist of the Year Awards

Tenille Townes and Riley Green were given some exciting news as each were named the ACM Awards New Female Artist of the Year and New Male Artist of the year, respectively.

The two rising stars were surprised during a video meeting when ACM Awards host Keith Urban hopped on to share the big news.

“I’ll always remember this feeling, standing here as a new artist,” said Townes in a press statement. “I feel so honored and incredibly grateful just to be a part of this Country Music community that inspires me. Receiving this ACM Award feels like belief from that community, and that means so much to me.”

“When we had to come off the road back in March, I wasn’t sure what the rest of 2020 would look like,” added Green. “So much has happened in the world since then and I’m really excited to have a moment to play music again.  My grandfathers’ love for Country Music is what led me to this moment and I have to dedicate this award to them. Thank you to everyone who believes in my music enough to let this boy from Alabama get to share his songs like this.”

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Congratulations to @rileyduckman on being named the ACM New Male Artist Of The Year! #ACMawards host @keithurban crashed Riley's Zoom Meeting to tell him the big news. Catch Riley's performance on the 55th ACM Awards show, coming to you Wednesday, September 16th on @cbstv at 8/7c.

A post shared by Academy of Country Music (ACM) (@acmawards) on Aug 20, 2020 at 4:55am PDT

“This year’s New Artists have experienced astounding success already, and the Academy feels honored to be able to present them with their first ACM Award win,” said Damon Whiteside, CEO of the Academy of Country Music. “We hope this is a memory that they will carry with them as their careers continue to thrive. A huge congratulations to all of this year’s well-deserving nominees and a special thank you to the artists’ teams who helped the Academy pull off the surprise, especially our host Keith Urban for making this moment monumental. We can’t wait to see Riley and Tenille on the 55^th ACM Awards stage on September 16!”

Both of the New Artist winners are slated to perform during the ACM Awards broadcast on Wednesday, September 16 (live 8:00-11:00 PM ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network. For the first time in the show’s 55 year history, the celebration will take place in Nashville, TN, broadcasting from three iconic Country Music venues including the Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium and The Bluebird Cafe.