The ACM Honors Took Place On Wednesday, August 20
The 2025 ACM Honors were held on Wednesday, August 20 at The Pinnacle in Nashville, Tennessee. The award show “recognizes special award honorees, winners of off-camera categories, and ACM Industry and Studio Recording Awards.”
This year, they honored several big names including Lainey Wilson, Jelly Roll, Luke Combs, Eric Church, and Randy Travis, just to name a few.
Lainey Wilson received the ACM Artist-Songwriter of the Year award. This is the second year in a row she’s been honored at the off-camera ceremony, seeing as last year, she took home the prestigious ACM Triple Crown Award.
Jelly Roll took home the ACM Lifting Lives Award for his philanthropic efforts. The singer has been outspoken about his advocacy for at-risk youth and even donated $1 from every ticket sold of his Backroad Baptism Tour and raised over $600,000 to support the cause.
Cody Johnson was honored with the ACM Spirit Award, which is given to a singer-songwriter who continues the legacy of Merle Haggard by “crafting great songs and epitomizing Merle’s spirit through genuine performances and great storytelling.”
Eric Church and Ben Vaughn were chosen as the recipients of the ACM Icon Award, which was previously named after Cliffie Stone.
Randy Travis was this year’s ACM Milestone Award receipient for his impact on country music, and lastly, Luke Combs was honored with the ACM International Award for his international appeal and worldwide fan base.
Other awards given out were Songwriter of the Year, ACM Service Award, ACM Poet’s Award, ACM Lift Every Voice Award, ACM Film Award, and more.
See the full list of recipients here.
The ACM Honors Were Hosted By Carly Pearce and Russell Dickerson. Each recipient was given a musical tribute by fellow country singers.
Some of the performers included Luke Bryan, Karen Fairchild, Amy Grant, Jamey Johnson, Chris Jansen, Ashley McBryde, and more.
RELATED: Luke Bryan Belts Cody Johnson’s “‘Til You Can’t” In Soaring Tribute At ACM Honors
Ashley McBryde Honors Luke Combs
Luke Combs and Ashley McBryde were coming up in the country scene around the same time, likely playing the same honky tonks and small venues until they both made it big.
They each have nothing but respect for each other, which is why it made perfect sense for McBryde to perform in honor of Combs.
McBryde began strumming her guitar and eventually sang that fun-loving lyrics, “Long neck iced cold beer never broke my heart.”
By the second lyric, she had the audience singing along!
In full, she performed a total of six Luke Combs songs, “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” “Honky Tonk Highway,” “When It Rains It Pours,” “Beautiful Crazy,” “Where the Wild Things Are,” and “Whoever You Turn Out to Be.”
The ACM Honors will air on CMT on September 27 during a special episode of CMT Hot 20 Countdown titled CMT Hot 20: ACM Honors Edition.