Tim McGraw was one of this year’s honorees at the 2023 ACM Honors, held in August in Nashville. He attended the show with his wife, Faith Hill, and two of their daughters, Maggie and Audrey. McGraw and Hill also share daughter Gracie, who was not present.
Ahead of the ceremony, the McGraw family posed for photos on the carpet, all coordinating in black and white. McGraw wore a white suit with a black shirt and his signature black cowboy hat, Hill and Maggie were both in black dresses and Audrey was in a white dress, with all three women sporting red lipstick.
ACM Icon Award Recipient: Tim McGraw
McGraw was a recipient of the ACM Icon Award, which is inspired by Cliffie Stone and presented to a country music act or industry leader who, throughout their career, advanced the popularity of the genre through their contributions in multiple facets of the industry like songwriting, recording, production, touring, film, television, literary works, philanthropic contributions and other goodwill efforts.
Record executive and former chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group Nashville Mike Dungan also received the same honor.
During McGraw’s acceptance speech, the singer thanked those closest to him but admitted that he wasn’t able to look at his wife and daughters in the audience while doing so.
“I couldn’t look in their direction because, you know, I’m terrible at giving speeches,” he told Entertainment Tonight backstage. “And when I do give speeches, I tend to tear up pretty quickly. Hopefully I got through it pretty well.”
He also joked that despite his achievement, he’ll soon be back to his normal family dynamic.
“They’ll all give me a lot of crap for it for sure,” he laughed. “With my wife and three daughters, I’m the low man on the totem pole. And I’m the least talented singer out of everybody in our family.”
Brett Young And Nelly Honored McGraw During 2023 ACM Honors
McGraw received two musical tributes during the show, one from Nelly, who performed his and McGraw’s hit 2004 duet “Over and Over,” and another from Brett Young, who sang McGraw’s “Don’t Take The Girl.”
“I’d love to do another song with Nelly,” McGraw told ET. “He’s one of my favorite people, my favorite artists, and that song. Gosh, almost 20 years ago, we were sort of the first to do it, that kind of collaboration. I’m proud to say I’ve had a hip-hop number one.”
Though McGraw has become a true icon of country music throughout his career of over 30 years, having earned over 40 No. 1 songs, 10 No. 1 albums, three GRAMMY Awards, 14 ACM Awards and 11 CMA Awards and selling over 80 million records worldwide, he admitted that he feels “undeserving” of his latest honor.
“On one hand, I feel like I’ve been doing it for a long time, but I feel like I got a lot more to go,” he reflected. “So I hope this isn’t, like, the capstone on my career, but I’m very appreciative.”
“I’m not an awards guy, but I really appreciate my fans,” he continued. “I appreciate the other artists in the industry. I appreciate the inspiration I get from the other artists. Every time I listen to a new record, I learn something. So I’m excited to get my new record out and for people to hear it. And hopefully, I keep stepping it up.”
