Walker Hayes brought the energy as he made his way through the crowd for a two song performance at the 57th Academy Of Country Music Awards.
The viral hitmaker kicked off his performance at the coveted awards show on Monday, March 7 with a snippet of “AA,” a track co-penned by Hayes alongside Luke Laird and Shane McAnally.
Live from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, the Alabama native then performed his chart-topping, GRAMMY-nominated hit, “Fancy Like,” which was co-written by Hayes with Cameron Bartolini, Josh Jenkins, Shane Stevens.
Hayes’ performance had the entire audience out of their seats and dancing, including stars such as Kelsea Ballerini, Kane Brown, Carrie Underwood, Jordan Davis, Thomas Rhett, and more.
“AA” and “Fancy Like” both appear on Hayes’ latest project, Country Stuff The Album, which arrived on January 21 and also features “Drinking Songs,” “U Gurl,” as well as collaborations with Carly Pearce, Jake Owen, and Lori McKenna, and a re-imagined version of “Craig” featuring MercyMe.
The album is uniquely Hayes, and shares a range of emotions from nostalgia and pain to joy and good old fashion fun.
“I’ve been waiting so long to put out a project like this,” Hayes said. “It has everything I love from the fun of ‘Fancy Like’ to the more personal lyrics in ‘AA.’ As an artist, it’s such a unique thing to be able to share all the different versions of you in a project, and that’s really what I tried to do here.”
Country Stuff The Album is available now, HERE.
The 57th Academy of Country Music Awards aired on Monday, March 7, exclusively on Prime Video at 8/7c.
Co-hosted by global icon Dolly Parton with Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett, the two-hour show livestreamed without commercials and featured 20+ performances from some of country music’s hottest superstars and rising newcomers.
The performance lineup included Parker McCollum and Lainey Wilson, who were crowned this year’s New Male and New Female Artist of the Year, respectively as well as Barrett, Allen, Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood, Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne, Thomas Rhett, Chris Stapleton, Chris Young, Lady A and Kelly Clarkson.
“The concert event of the year” also included several collaborations, including Parton featuring Kelsea Ballerini (“Big Dreams & Faded Jeans”), BRELAND featuring Thomas Rhett (“Praise The Lord”), Jordan Davis (“Buy Dirt,” feat. Luke Bryan), Brothers Osborne and Brittney Spencer (“These Boots Are Made for Walkin’”), Parmalee and Blanco Brown featuring Brooke Eden (“Just the Way”), Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde (“Never Wanted to Be That Girl”), and Chris Young featuring Mitchell Tenpenny (“At the End of a Bar”).
The 2022 ACM Awards presenters included Alan Ritchson (actor, Reacher), Derek Carr (quarterback, Las Vegas Raiders), Guy Torry (comedian, Phat Tuesdays), James Patterson (author, Run Rose Run), Jason Aldean, Kelsey Asbille (actor, Yellowstone), Luke Grimes (actor, Yellowstone), Mickey Guyton, and Tom Pelphrey (actor, Outer Range).
The ACM Awards made history as the first major awards show to livestream exclusively as it streamed live on Prime Video in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
