The man of the hour is Chris Stapleton, who took home the trophy for CMA Male Vocalist of the Year at the 51st Annual CMA Awards.
With his powerful vocals, Stapleton built up his reputation first by serving as a songwriter and backing vocalist for many of country music’s biggest acts. This is something he touched upon during his acceptance speech.
“You know, every one of the guys in that category has something to do with me being up here,” he said. “Luke [Bryan] took me out when nobody had even heard of me. Eric [Church] took me out when nobody ever even heard of me. All these guys, Thomas [Rhett] wrote a song with me. Dierks [Bentley] wrote songs with me. To be up here, every one of these guys deserves this thing.”
The singer then went on to thank his wife, of whom he said, “I couldn’t do anything I ever do without her.”
“Thank you to the fans, all of the folks at Universal. Thank you CMAs, thank you everybody for this. It means a lot,” he conceded.
Stapleton won the award for the third time. He had some tough competition, which included artists like Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley, Thomas Rhett and Eric Church.
