Country

Kelsea Ballerini presented Lainey Wilson with the Record Breaker award presented by Lone River Ranch Water at Billboard’s Country Power Players 2024.

Kelsea Ballerini:
I am a Virgo, and a millennial and a perfectionist, which is terrifying. So I wrote down my speech because this woman deserves me to not mess it up. To become a record breaker, you first have to become a trailblazer. Before you become a trailblazer, you have to become a pathfinder. Before you become a pathfinder, you have to become a don’t take no for an answer-er, and before you become that phrase that I won’t bother you with again, you have to become a creator, a hard worker, a truth seeker, but mostly a dreamer.

Lainey Wilson is wholeheartedly and undoubtedly all of those things, right? I can stand up here and tell you her ever-growing list of accolades. And I could give you the cold, hard data. Like, I could tell you that she just earned her seventh No. 1 single on country radio, or I could hypothetically tell you that she is the reigning CMA Entertainer of the Year.

But instead, I want to read you a text exchange between Lainey and I, that I think will tell you everything that you need to know about this woman. Post Grammys if you know, you know. I said, “I love you and I’m deeply happy for you. I hope you feel supported and held and celebrated, my friend. I’m sorry the internet is internetting. I hope you know I’m always in your corner.”

She responded, “Let’s show those silly people on the internet they’re so wrong. Love you. I’m in your corner forever and ever. You’re one of the real ones and thankful to have you in my life. Your poise and thoughtfulness is unreal and I learn a lot from you, love you.”

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Breland presented the War and Treaty with the Groundbreaker Award at Billboard’s Country Power Players 2024.

Breland:

Sometimes, when you see an artist or a band or a duo kind of skyrocketing to unprecedented success, at least me, sometimes like, I’m just a little skeptical. Like what really is this? And trying to see like, what’s the hype about? And with this one, the group that I’m about to introduce, there’s absolutely no question about why they are winning the way that they are, because they are two of the most talented people I’ve ever met. And that’s The War and Treaty. I remember first hearing about them. It was only three years ago, and I was on tour with Dierks Bentley and Dierks had played a couple shows with them and was like, ‘Hey, you need to hear these guys.’ And he played me just like literally maybe five or six seconds of a song. And I was like, ‘Turn it off … I have to meet them.’ And they invited me into their home. And I was really taken with who they are as people. We share a lot in common, just in terms of our upbringing and kind of our unprecedented paths into country music. And we really hit it off, and they’ve kind of become, kind of like family to me. But if you’ve ever heard The War and Treaty, which I’m sure everyone in here has, if you were at the ACMs last year, or in any capacity, I don’t want to make this too spiritual…

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Lainey Wilson accepted the Record Breaker Award presented by Lone River Ranch Water at Billboard’s Country Power Players 2024.

Lainey Wilson:

First of all, I just want to say thank you so much, Billboard, for having me here today. This is a big deal. A really big deal. It is an absolute honor to be just surrounded by people in country music in this room. I look around and I see so many people who have supported me from the beginning. And so many people who I get to call and get advice from and people who lead me and guide me. And this is a wild ride. So you definitely have to have those kinds of people in your life. Thank you, Kelsea. She’s over there running her mouth. But thank you so much for presenting me with this award. She is such a trailblazer and I’m so thankful that she has, what she has done for women and country music. It’s an honor to know her as an artist, but also as a friend, even though like she mentioned, the day after the Grammys, the Internet thought we hated each other. But what the Internet does not see is that she actually showed up to my Grammy party to celebrate me and to celebrate my win. And that’s the kind of person that she is. And that’s the kind of people that I like to surround myself with. So thank you so much for being here. Being named Record Breaker, that’s something that I would have dreamed about a few years ago.

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Seth England accepts the Executive of the Year award at Billboard’s Country Power Players 2024.

Seth England:
Hey, everyone. I just want to start by saying thank you for such a huge honor. I’m a little overwhelmed, to be honest, by such a big honor when in so many ways, I feel like, you know, the mission of Big Loud is just getting started. But today, I stop and realize that it’s been about nine or 10 years, almost on the nose for the record label. And it just it astounds me, because I remember a moment when we counted the money we’d saved in the account. And we knew we had three and a half years if we’d sold no records, and we did sell some records and we kept going.

Big Loud’s a creator first business. So I’d like to first start off by thanking the creators to the big artists, songwriters, and record producers — we are nothing without your genius and creative spirit. I will also want to give a big shout-out to the department heads and employees at Big Loud. This award is just as much yours as it is mine. Big Loud was never just about myself, Joey Craig, and Chief. It’s about all of us.

I also want to give a big shout out to my wife, Kiyah, who constantly supports the crazy schedule we have. This week alone, we rented an Airbnb to bring our children down, because we have to go to New York right away on Friday and couldn’t imagine being gone that long.

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Billboard’s Executive West Coast / Nashville editor Melinda Newman presents Seth England with Executive of the Year at Billboard’s Country Power Players 2024.

Melinda Newman:
Before we have the next presentation, I’d like to acknowledge the winner of Billboard‘s Country Power Players Choice Award, voted on by the members of Billboard Pro. This year’s recipient is WME’s Jay Williams. Congratulations, Jay. As WME Nashville celebrates its 50th anniversary, Jay has helped turn it into the powerhouse that it is.

I’d also like to congratulate the recipient of this year’s Legend Award, Linda Martell. As many of you know, Linda Martell was the first Black woman to ever play the Grand Ole Opry in 1969. And her 1969 hit “Color Him Father” was the highest charting track on Hot Country Songs by a Black woman until Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” reached No. 1 in February. Linda is unable to be here with us tonight, but she sends her regards, and you can read our exclusive interview with her and more about her and Jay’s achievements in the current issue of Billboard.

Now it’s my pleasure to present Billboard‘s Country Power Players Executive of the Year to Big Loud CEO, Seth England. With such acts as Morgan Wallen, Hardy, Ernest, Hailey Whitters and many more, Seth has shown that Big Loud can make a very big noise.

Oh, hello. I’m not done talking about you. You can hang out up here. I’m just gonna say some nice things about you. Seth started as an intern at Big Loud Shirt publishing 18 years ago, and was willing to do anything including pulling up weeds outside Craig Wiseman’s office.

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Nate Smith accepts the Rookie of the Year award at Billboard’s Country Power Players 2024.

Nate Smith:
I love Ashley Gorley so much. He is one of the nicest guys in the world. He took me in right away, and I appreciate you so much for everything you’ve done for me.

It’s really funny to get a Rookie of the Year card, like this right here because it makes me look like I’m an athlete, and I’ve actually very, very non athletic. My dad wanted me to be in sports. I tried every sport: baseball, basketball, football, wrestling. The only one I really stayed for the whole season was wrestling, and I got the record for the quickest pin of all time. I was one that got pinned. I was the one that I got pinned. They said they never see anything like it. It was, like, three seconds. There’s a huge thing on the wall. And I’m like, gosh, man, and then I walked out, I’m in this leotard. This girl looks at me to just top off the night she goes, “And you don’t have an a– either for that leotard right there,” and I’m like, “Dang. Dang it.”

But music’s the thing that got me through. I was in band. I was a little bit of a band geek, I played trumpet. And music was something that like, I could always turn to. So I’d be in my bedroom learning Blink-182 songs, singing and playing guitar in my bedroom. And I always had that, that outlet to do it.

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Ashley Gorley presents Nate Smith with Rookie of the Year at Billboard’s Country Power Players 2024.

Ashley Gorley:
It is my privilege to present this year’s Billboard Rookie of the Year Award to my friend Nate Smith. Any Nate Smith fans in the house, come on. Within the first few minutes of my first writing session with Nate, I was a Nate Smith fan. He was kind, thankful, excited, personable, ready to learn and contribute. Someone I wanted to be friends with and help any way that I could. He was a rock star with a one-of-a-kind voice, creating his own lane in country music, and I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know him over the past couple of years and his work ethic character and talent has grown every day.

Nate’s journey started 15 years ago, when he made the move to Nashville. He played the Broadway bars, wrote songs, did the thing. He ended up moving back home after a while, but he kept grinding from his hometown to keep his dream alive. Then he posted some stuff on TikTok and his world changed. He hustled until everybody knew how good he was, and he had no choice but to move back to Nashville because every one body wanted him there.

Fast forward to today, and I’d say coming back to Nashville was the right call. His debut single, “Whiskey on You,” soared to No. 1 on country radio, was certified double platinum. His current single, “Bulletproof,” is closing in on top 10 on radio, his song “World on Fire” made history with a record-breaking 10 consecutive weeks at No. 1.

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