Megan Moroney, Nate Smith and Tigirlily Gold are early winners at the 59th ACM Awards. As the Academy of Country Music confirmed some good news on Tuesday (May 14th) night for all three of them.
The artists earned the New Female Artist of the Year, New Male Artist of the Year and New Duo or Group of the Year awards, respectively. The category winners were revealed during the Live from the ACM Awards: ACM New Artist Winners Celebration, which is all a part of the two-night ACM Country Kickoff event at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
Each artist got up on stage immediately following their wins on Tuesday night. Each artist will also take the stage at the 59th annual ACM Awards on Thursday (May 16) night. Moroney will perform during the ACM Awards Red Carpet Show, while Smith will team up with pop-punk megastar Avril Lavigne for a collaborative debut performance on the ACM Awards stage, and sister duo Tigirlily Gold will make their ACM Awards stage debut.
Tigirlily Gold wrote in a caption on their Instagram as they celebrated their big win on Tuesday night saying, “we just won our first ACM AWARD!!! This is 11 years of long days, short nights, ups and downs, and never giving up. Thank you to the [ACM Awards] for this incredible honor. We are absolutely beside ourselves. More to come later”. The ACM Award win arrives shortly after the duo announced their debut album, Blonde, will arrive on July 26.
Moroney, who marked a meteoric rise in her career after releasing her debut album Lucky last year, also celebrated her award win on social media, posting a photo of the card on X, formerly Twitter, reading “New Female Artist of the Year Megan Moroney.”
Nate Smith took the stage with a heartfelt acceptance speech on Tuesday night, including a reflection on his journey to becoming an award-winning artist, expressing gratitude for his family and nods to the other nominees in his category.
The show is set to return to the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas, the world headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys, leading up to the milestone 60th year in 2025. This year’s ACM Red Carpet will kick off at 7 p.m. EDT/6 p.m. CDT/4 p.m. PDT. The ACM Awards are set and ready for Thursday, May 16 at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT.
