Chris Stapleton is tied with Dan + Shay for the most 2019 ACM Awards nominations, with six nods. Stapleton is nominated both as an artist and producer, for From a Room: Vol. 2, both artist and songwriter for Song of the Year for “Broken Halos,” Male Vocalist of the Year, and the night’s highest honor, Entertainer of the Year.
Stapleton, who has yet to publicly comment on his multiple nominations, won three ACM Awards trophies last year, for Male Vocalist of the Year, and both artist and producer for From a Room: Vol. 1. But the singer was unable to accept his three trophies in person, since his wife, Morgane, had just given birth to their twin boys, Macon and Samuel.
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But even though he couldn’t take the stage, that did not diminish for him the importance of the trophies, especially Album of the Year.
“They are all significant and if you get one award for anything it’s a treat,” Stapleton acknowledged. “But any of the awards that awarded the album, the album awards, because I really wanted to make an album that was good. I wanted that to be a thing, again, more than I wanted it to be, ‘Well here’s the single and eight other songs.’
“So, the album awards for me were important in that we did our job in a good way,” he continued. “Just I have such an affinity for albums that I don’t know if I want those more or if they mean more, but they are all meaningful.”
Stapleton is the reigning CMA Male Vocalist of the Year, which was also meaningful to him, as he teared up when accepting the honor.
“I’m real proud of this award, and I try real hard to be a good singer, but I also wanna thank my kids who put up with me being gone quite a bit and not getting to be as good of a dad as I would always like to be,” an emotional Stapleton said from stage.
“I love you so much. You share me with all these people and I appreciate it,” he added, before thanking Morgane. “I wanna thank my wife for always being my wife and taking care of me and … helping me find the right thing to be and the right thing to do.”
Stapleton might have to miss this year’s ceremony as well. Although they have yet to reveal a due date, the 40-year-old announced in November that Morgane was pregnant again, which will bring their brood to five.
McEntire will return once again to host the 2019 ACM Awards, which will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 7, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
Photo Credit: Getty images/Jason Kempin
