While Luke Combs may have officially opened the 59th CMA Awards with a blistering performance of “Back in the Saddle,” it was host Lainey Wilson who welcomed the crowd in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena and watching at home. The CMAs host delivered a folksy monologue highlighted by her memories of growing up in Baskin, Louisiana, capped by a musical medley.

Along with guests like Keith Urban , Little Big Town, and Charlie Worsham, Wilson sang country hits like Chris Stapleton’s “White Horse” and Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush,” making her way through the crowd to often sing right in front of the artist who made the song famous. For “Redneck Woman,” she crooned to an excited Gretchen Wilson, during “Gunpowder & Lead” she shimmied with Miranda Lambert, and for “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” she tw

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