Chris Stapleton remains country music’s favorite outsider. Stapleton, a big-voiced howler who got his start as a Nashville songwriter, has become a star specifically by going against the Nashville grain, presenting a gruff and soulful version of country-rock. Lots of other musicians are making similar kinds of country, but none of them have been embraced by the country establishment quite like Stapleton. Last night, the Country Music Association held its annual CMA Awards in Nashville, and Stapleton was the night’s big winner. Before the show, Stapleton was tied with Eric Church for the most nominations; they each had five apiece. Stapleton won four of them: Male Vocalist Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Single Of The Year, and Album Of The Year.

The CMAs are unique in that Album Of The Year isn’t really the show’s biggest trophy. Instead, that’s Entertainer Of The Year, a sort of all-around coronation. Last year, at a strange and ill-advised in-person COVID-era show, Eric Church won Entertainer Of The Year. Stapleton was nominated for that award last night, and it was the only one he lost. Instead, that award went to Luke Combs, the massively popular figure who has a few things in common with Stapleton and who won the big one for the first time. But Stapleton’s Album Of The Year trophy, for last year’s Starting Over, was still significant. It’s his third time winning, following victories for Traveller in 2015 and From A Room: Volume 1 in 2017. (Last night, fellow nominee Morgan Wallen was banned from the show. In his acceptance speech, Stapleton talked about the importance of albums and thanked his competitors.)

Stapleton also performed a couple of times on the show. Early on, he did an impressive version of the Starting Over single “Cold,” with a string section backing him up. Here’s that performance:

Later on, Stapleton sang a couple of duets with fellow big-voiced howler Jennifer Hudson. They teamed up to cover the Willie Nelson song “Night Life” — specifically, Aretha Franklin’s version of that song — and “You Are My Sunshine,” a song that Stapleton recorded with his wife Morgane for an album that country producer Dave Cobb released in 2016. For whatever reason, the Hudson/Stapleton performance isn’t on YouTube, though you can see a clip of it here:

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