Lainey Wilson kicked off her first solo hosting gig at the 2025 CMA Awards with a bang.

Wilson, 33, began by telling the crowd at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena how much country music means to her. “I grew up in the village of Baskin in Louisiana, population 175, and ever since I was a little girl, country music has been a huge part of my world,” she said on Wednesday, November 19. “It was more than a genre, it’s a way of life. Growing up in Baskin, there were two things that my family made dang sure that we never missed — and that was bull riding and the CMAs. And if we were gonna miss one, it was not gonna be this.”

The “Somewhere Over Laredo” artist then paid tribute to her friends and colleagues by performing a medley of songs by nominees and attendees including Gretchen Wilson, Ella

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