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“Country Music’s Party of the Year,” the 58th annual Academy of Country Music Awards, took place Wednesday at Frisco, Texas’s Ford Center at the Star, co-hosted by superstars Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton. While Lainey Wilson was the ceremony's top honoree, taking home four trophies, and Chris Stapleton was named Entertainer of the Year, the real winner of the night was Parton — who opened the show with a risqué joke that had Brooks blushing, and closed the night with a performance that had everyone at the 12,000-seat venue rocking.
Brooks, in his first time ever hosting any awards show, kicked off the broadcast, which aired live on Prime Video, by saluting his legendary cohost — rattling off a list of ACM-honored country icons ranging Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard to Keith Whitley and Randy Travis before eventually declaring, “But the king of country music is a female! Give it up for G.O.A.T.!” Right on cue, the G.O.A.T./king herself, Parton, strutted onstage accompanied by an actual live goat named Claire, saying, “Did I hear you say you were looking for a goat? I've got your goat right here!”
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Hosts Garth Brooks and Dolly Parto with a goat Claire at the 58th annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas. (Photo: AP/Chris Pizzello)
Proving that she is indeed the greatest of all time, the 77-year-old Parton then had Brooks and the entire Ford Center crowd roaring when she revealed that she’d long heard rumors that she's the “hall pass” for both Brooks and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, blurting: “I just had a thought! I know why you're doing that ‘G.O.A.T.’ thing! I think it stands for ‘Garth Organized a Threesome.’”
“And I thought I couldn't love you anymore,” laughed a red-faced Brooks. “I think I speak for everybody, not just in Texas but around the world, when I say we will always love you.”
Later in the evening, in a much more serious ACMs moment, Parton honored two of her late friends — Naomi Judd, who died by suicide in April 2022, and Loretta Lynn, who died at age 90 last October — with a stunning, impromptu, a cappella rendition of the hymn “Precious Memories,” while a reverent Brooks stood nearby with his hat in hand. Parton called Lynn “a hero and one of the most important but still down-to-earth singer-songwriters in history,” and said of Judd, “We're the same age, both real G.O.A.T.s, Capricorns, and we loved big hair. I still do. And we loved that makeup. But above all else, we loved each other.”
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The late singer Naomi Judd appears onscreen during an In Memoriam tribute, while host Garth Brooks and Dolly Parton speak onstage at the 58th annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas. (Photo: AP/Chris Pizzello)
Dolly Parton pays tribute to Naomi Judd and Loretta while her co-host Garth Brooks looks on at the 58th annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas. (Photo: AP/Chris Pizzello)
Parton closed the ACMs with the live debut of “World on Fire,” the lead single from her upcoming all-star rock album, Rockstar. That album, a response to her reluctant 2022 induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, is set to come out Nov. 17, and will feature a staggering tracklist of who’s-who collaborations with Pat Benatar, Brandi Carlile, Sheryl Crow, Miley Cyrus, John Fogerty, Peter Frampton, Rob Halford, Debbie Harry, Joan Jett, Elton John, Simon Le Bon, Paul McCartney. Stevie Nicks, Steve Perry, Pink, Richie Sambora, Nikki Sixx, Ringo Starr, Sting, Ann Wilson, and many others.
For “World on Fire,” however, Parton made a statement all on her own, beginning her performance in a dramatically billowing map-of-the-world skirt as she lamented the divided state of modern society, singing: “Show some love/Let's rise above/Let's make a stand/Let's lend a hand/Let's heal the hurt/Let kindness work/Let's be a friend/Let hatred end.”
Along with Parton’s fiery finale, other performance highlights from the 58th Academy of Country Music Awards included Cole Swindell and Jo Dee Messina teaming for “She Had Me at Heads Carolina,” Trisha Yearwood and Carly Pearce teaming for a medley of Yearwood’s hits, Cody Johnson celebrating the 90th birthday of Willie Nelson (who made a surprise cameo via FaceTime) with a cover of “Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” the War and Treaty wowing with a stripped-back rendition of “Blank Page,” and Ed Sheeran and Luke Combs debuting their duet version of Sheeran’s track “Life Goes On.” For a full list of2023 ACM winners, click here.
Willie Nelson on the screen at the 58th annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Thursday, May 11, 2023, at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas. (Photo: AP/Chris Pizzello)
