For the first time in conjunction with the CMA Awards, Variety set up shop just off Nashville’s Music Row and invited participants from Wednesday’s awards show to come by for on-camera conversation. It was our chance to get off the red carpet and into greater depth with nominees, performers and presenters including Lauren Alaina, Dan + Shay, Jordan Davis, Brandon Lake, Megan Moroney, Old Dominion, the Red Clay Strays, Shaboozey, the War & Treaty and Stephen Wilson Jr. Our conversations took place at the Variety Lounge presented by Duke Cannon, hosted by one of Nashville’s most intriguing new event spaces, Anzie Blue. Read on and click on the videos to see what the stars had to say not just about their CMAs Week excitement but their latest or upcoming projects. Shaboozey and Stephen Wilson Jr.: The awards show found the duo offering the first television performance of “Took a Walk,” their end-titles theme song from the filmic Stephen King adaptation “Long Walk Home.” Wilson also landed a second appearance on the telecast, singing his version of the Ben E. King classic “Stand by Me” that appeared on the deluxe version of his “Son of Dad” album . another Stephen King connection, actually. Said Wilson, “He and I met a couple years ago, actually at a CMA after-party, and it was right before he started taking off. He stopped me and he had heard a song or two of mine and was like, ‘You’re a bad dude.’ And I was like, ‘You’re a bad dude. good dude.’ And then two years later, he asked me to be a part of this song. What’s wild is, I started singing this song called ‘Stand by Me’ because of this movie called ‘Stand By Me,’ based off a Stephen King novella called ‘The Body.’ It’s haunted me my whole life, that song, and I sang it in this dude’s basement and it blew up online. So a big reason why I have a career is because of that song ‘Stand by Me’ and it’s because of Stephen King. I couldn’t have planned this if I tried. It’s a God thing.” Said Shaboozey: “I met him and I was like, ‘Has anyone told you you look like Stephen King?’ That’s the first thing I said to him. And that came full circle to being like, ‘You know what? We should get Stephen Wilson.’ Something in my gut was like, ‘This is the person we gotta get on this song.’ And brother, you blew me out of the water.” The Red Clay Strays: Pollstar magazine recently put this band on the cover and called them the next big touring thing. They’ve come up in the world since signing their first major-label deal just a couple of years ago, although they’d been knocking around in clubs, to far less notice, for nearly a decade before that. They haven’t revealed their full 2026 tour plans yet, but besides being on the bill for Stagecoach, they did just announce they’ll be playing at Madison Square Garden in New York and Bridgestone Arenia in Nashville next summer. Did they just announce those two shows early because they wanted to think of those as anchor shows for the tour and a sign of their success in important music cities? Actually, says singer Brandon Coleman: “They haven’t sold out yet, so we’ll have to see. We may not even do it. That’s actually why we announced them now, is because they’re gonna take the longest to sell out.” All kidding aside: “It is a huge honor, for real.” Of their nomination for vocal group of the year, which they ultimately won after sitting for this interview, Coleman acknowledges the debate over how squarely they do or don’t fit into country and said: “It’s a mix of emotions. We’re very thankful and grateful for it. We’re just happy that somebody’s accepting us, but at the same time we also think, well, we don’t even really play country music. But, I don’t know a lot of things are called country nowadays.” The members did agree that the term “vocal group” sounds a little old-fashioned, conjuring up old-school harmony acts. “We’re not the Oak Ridge Boys. They need a band (category).” If it turns out that the Red Clay Strays keep winning it in future years, maybe they’ll be able to do some lobbying on that. Whatever their performance of “People Hatin’” at the CMAs turned out to be, it rocked. Or it country-rocked. Megan Moroney: The star discussed “Six Months Later,” the single she was invited to perform on the CMA Awards, with a host of dancerss; another, more delicate song that has just been released, “Beautiful Things”; and the third album that they’re taken from, “Cloud 9”; and that impendung record’s marked change in color-coding. “Surprise the album’s pink,” she declared. “I’m leaving no questions head to toe in pink. I kind of started that with ‘Lucky’ [her debut from 2023]. It was not on purpose at first, but on the Lucky Tour, I realized everyone was showing up in head-to-toe green. So for the next album, ‘Am I Okay?,’ I really leaned into it [with blue] and of course I’ve leaned into it again with ‘Cloud Nine.’ I chose pink because I think there is a softness about this music that isn’t in my other albums. And I think it’s come from the confidence that I have now. It’s about falling in love and falling out of love, but when you’re truly confident, it’s not the end of the world when it doesn’t work out, you know? And my other albums, maybe I perceived it as the end of the world. Now this new music is just more carefree and confident. So I thought pink was a perfect color to feel empowering and confident, but also soft, and that’s what the new music is like.” Don’t expect pure positivity from the new collection. “There’s definitely still some heartbreakers on the album, because I’ll never abandon the emo cowgirl thing. Writing sad songs is so easy for me, for whatever reason. But I will say that, even in the sad songs, it didn’t not work out because I allowed them to treat me poorly. It didn’t work out because I cut things off. It’s still sad when you have to end things, and it’s still devastating, But even in the saddest songs, there’s so much hope and confidence that it’s gonna be OK, which is definitely a new theme that I explored in this album. I think it just comes from maybe getting a little bit older and knowing who I am and natural confidence that keeps growing.” Tucker Wetmore: The singer just announced that in 2026 he will be headling the “Brunette Tour,” named after a fan-favorite song from his latest album that has just been released as a Western-themed music video. “We call it the Brunette Tour, but with blonde special guests we got Dasha and Carter Faith (as opening acts), and then a good buddy of mine, Jacob Hackworth, who’s ironically brunette. But I thought that was kind of a quirky, fun thing to do for the tour.” Of his nomination for new artist of the year, Wetmore modestly said, “I’m happy I’m part of the story. It is a great class this year too. We got Ella, Zach, Shaboozey, Steven Wilson. You know, there’s so much talent on that list and within those people on the list. And I’m just thankful that they thought it’d be cool to put my name up there too.” On the CMAs telecast, he performed what might count as his signature song, “Wind Up Missing You.” “It’s the story as old as time the Guy Falls for the Girl, hopes it goes further. I remember the day we created that song, and the feeling that I wanted that song to portray and the lyrics and the production and everything. I just wanted to feel nostalgic and I wanted somebody to listen to it and feel like it wasn’t their first time listening to it. They could listen to it a thousand times, but feel like it’s still their first time.” The War & Treaty: The husband-wife duo were coming into the CMA Awards coming off a very hot appearance singing the National Anthem before the Dallas Cowboys/Las Vegas Raiders game Monday night. It was fraught with emotion, following a moment of silence for Marshawn Kneeland, the Cowboys’ defensive end who died Nov. 6 at just 24 years old. But even without that undertow, their version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” would have been a knockout, masterfully arranged as it was by Michael Trotter for the soaring, interlocking voices of him and his wife Tanya. “We do sing it a lot, but we haven’t always done it this way,” said Tanya. “The genius behind the rendition is this guy right here, my husband he’s the guru. And it’s interesting because as a duo, when you approach a song, you have to figure out how you can get both of you in it, you know? But that’s what Michael does so well, and he can tell you more about what was going through his brain when he created it.” “‘Just hurry up and get through it,’” Michael laughed. But seriously: “Tanya can, can finally get in there and, and, and do it justice. No. Um, I think, uh, also “I’ll make mention of what made that night special, is because of the news, of course, with the Dallas Cowboy organization and the passing of the player from suicide. To see those two organizations come together at the very beginning of the game and acknowledge, the presence that was on the field and the presence that was in the locker rooms of, you know, they’re out there without their buddy. it just showed me a lot about our country. Even still, you know, how opposing sides can know how to lay the swords down and say, ‘Look, man, we’re, we’re together in this.’ And I wanted to make sure that we reflected that in the national anthem. So we made sure we definitely felt the words we were singing.” Brandon Lake: Like the Red Clay Strays, Lake was stepping into country from a little bit outside the genre. Except instead of coming in from the rock side of things, Lake was entering through the contemporary Christian music door. As one of the biggest stars in that arena, Lake had recorded a song for his most recent album called “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” and at the beginning of last year he was inspired to ask Jelly Roll to sing it as a duet. They subsequently did it at the Opry, at CMA Fest and at the Dove Awards (joined in that last instance by Jon Batiste). The team-up was nominated for vocal event of the year, and Lake came onto the telecast to be a presenter as well. “This has felt like God has set it up from the get-go,” Lake said. “That’s the beauty of collaboration and relationships is really this song that I did with Jason uh, Mr. Jelly Roll kind of cracked the door open to country, which wasn’t a move I was trying to make. But I am a country boy and grew up in the South and in the woods, and I live on a farm, and so I find myself writing country songs all the time as much as I write songs for the church. So it has just felt natural to kind of step into that space. And I have felt so embraced by the country community. And so, yeah, we’re just seeing where it leads and just want to serve people well with these songs.” Lake was inspired by seeing Jelly Roll on the CMAs last year. “When we wrote this song, we knew it was special and had to get it out. I teased it on Instagram and it went off, and people basically threatened my life if I didn’t release it soon. As we got the song out, then I actually simultaneously had just been watching Jelly Roll’s story, and I loved how much he wears everything on his sleeve, and he’s so honest and inspiring. Then, this is what’s really cool, being at CMA Awards this year. I was watching . Jelly’s performance with Brooks and Dunn (of their song ‘Believe’). I see hands being lifted all across the arena, and I just started bawling my eyes out and I was like, ‘Wow. These dudes just took the world to church.’ And that’s what gave me so much of the confidence to reach out to Jason and ask if he would consider being on this song with me.” Dan + Shay: It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas for the duo for the second year in a row. Last year, they released their first holiday album a double album, actually, of half originals and half standards and this year are following it up with two more Xmas tracks before they get back on the non-holiday track. They don’t think it’s too early to start streaming those tunes. “You know, this time of year, I feel like with the CMAs, there’s a good kickoff to kind of the Christmas season. There’s always an argument of how early is too early to celebrate Christmas, and there’s such a finite window that people usually would say, early December. I’m trying to broaden that a little bit. I feel like, it’s my favorite holiday, so why would we not make a little longer? It’s why I keep my tree up till about March or April. But man, it’s been so much fun. I think the first song that we ever recorded was ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,’ and that kind of started the desire for our fans to want us to have a Christmas album.” One of their new holiday songs sort of is a beautiful cover of Taylor Swift’s “Back to December,” just released to streaming services. “It happened, honestly, by accident,” swears Shay Mooney. “We were at asound check in Boston, and as Dan and I do, when there’s a piano in the room, we can’t help but jump over there and sing something. We’re big Swifties, as I think everybody is, and we were just talking about that being one of our favorite songs that, while it’s a big song, never quite got its moment. That organically turned into what it was and ended up being the fastest turnaround on a song we’ve, we’ve ever had. Our fans have absolutely loved it and it’s Swiftie-approved. It’s scary when you’re doing a Taylor song. You never know if they’ll revolt against you because you tried. But thankfully, they said we do it justice.” Old Dominion: The group is celebrating the 10th anniversary of their major-label debut album, “Meat and Candy,” and all the success that came along with that. which wasn’t necessarily preordained, given that straight-in-the-pocket, mainstream country bands were an idea even more inherently outside of the box than they are now. “I think it’s a genre that probably lends itself to a solo artist more I think we were a bit of a unicorn,” said Matthew Ramsey. “You know, we were a band that writes all the songs and gets in a garage or a rehearsal space and works ’em up and actually goes in the studio and plays on ’em. So in that way it was different, and in the beginning it probably worked against us. I mean, we got turned down by a lot of labels. I don’t think people really knew what to do with us, but that eventually helped us carve our own lane. Now there are some other great bands that have come up, and hopefully we’ve kind of opened the door for them a little bit.” Their new record is called “Barbara,” cheekily, because they thought it would be amusing to give an album a girl’s name. There’s some other mirth to it as well, but also several more reflective songs, like the wistful closer, “Good Night Nashville.” “It’s a song that we couldn’t have written in our earlier days. It takes quite a lot of time and quite a lot of work and ups and downs to pursue this type of career, so you wind up making lots of amazing friends, and meeting people that maybe aren’t so amazing. It comes with both sides, you know? So we were sitting down in the writing room just talking about Nashville and how could we paint an accurate picture of it that reflected how much we loved it and appreciated it, but also took a few jabs at the same time. “I’ve said it from stage a couple times. I think of the best way for me to describe that song is it’s like a relationship with your parents. You know, Nashville sort of brought us up and it did a lot of things right, and it fucked it up a few times too.” The band laughed. “But really, it made you who you are and you have to appreciate all of those pieces of it that created the artist that you are.” Jordan Davis: Some artists are done with anything Country Music Association-related after Wednesday night’s show. Not Davis, who is co-hosting the annual “CMA Country Christmas” show with Lauren Daigle. Set to air the first week of December, he show is already in the can, of course, having been taped in October at Belmont, so promoting it won’t cut too much into his Thanksgiving duties. Davis and Daigle would seem to be birds of a feather, both being Louisiana natives. But, he said, “She was joking with me about me being from Texas, because I’m from north Louisiana, and she’s a true southern Louisianan. But she’s an amazing person. My kids are her biggest fans out there, so it was cool to get to hang with her. Lauren is just a natural in just about anything she does, so she makes it really, really easy. “But, personally, that’s one of my favorite shows of the year. I love the Christmas season. And I honestly think that this year’s show is one of the best ones that we’ve done in a long time. Just some amazing artists on it BeBe Winans, who I’m such a huge fan of. and then having Lauren play with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was something that really kind of brought me back to my college days. I’m excited for everybody to see it.” Lauren Alaina: She was brought in to host the live backstage material for the CMA on TikTok, from red-carpet looks to celebrity catchup after the show. “I love hosting things. It’s actually a big passion of mine,” she said. “Like, big picture, I would love to host my own TV show someday, so anytime I can do anything that kind of furthers me down that path, I try to do it.” For the first time in her life, she’s a working mom. “My daughter is five months old, so I don’t get out of the house much. I snuck out today to come see you guys,” she laughed, “but I spend a lot of time at home with her right now, and she goes on the road with me when I’m playing my show. She’s a champ. the most wonderful thing that’s ever happened to me. I’ve been in the little baby bubble of just love and pure bliss. I’m a pretty happy lady these days.” Her new song is “not about a baby, it’s about a bunch of babies, actually,” she joked. That would be “All My Exes,” a duet with Chase Matthew, which she will be performing on “The Today Show” next Monday. “I wrote ‘All My Exes’ a couple years ago about a different phase of my life, when I used to hang out on Broadway. I don’t do that very much anymore. actually, ever anymore. Thematically, it’s a little different. It’s a slight departure from what I’ve been doing. Obviously, I got married last year and had a baby this year, and so I’ve been writing a lot of songs about that. “Funnily enough, it’s my husband’s favorite. I’m like, ‘I write you songs all the time, and this one’s your favorite , about my exes?’ I went on tour last summer with Jason Aldean and Chase Matthew, and my husband and Chase became fast friends, best buds. And Cameron actually played ‘All My Exes’ for Chase because he loved the song so much and wanted me to put it out. I’m so glad he did that, because we put out a bunch of music this year, and this was the song that it blew up online for us. We just sent it to country radio and we’ve just charted, so, fingers crossed we’ll take it all the way.”.
https://variety.com/2025/music/news/cma-awards-lounge-variety-country-stars-interviews-1236587104/