Over the weekend, Reba McEntire surprised Lauren Alaina, Midland and Brett Young with phone calls congratulating them on their early ACM wins.
Midland is 2018’s new vocal group, Young is the new male artist and Alaina is this year’s new female vocalist of the year, an award McEntire was nominated for in 1980.
For maybe the first time in their careers, Midland’s Jess Carson, Cameron Duddy and Michael Wystrach found themselves speechless.
Young didn’t believe McEntire when she first shared the news.
And McEntire and Alaina had a good cry together over Alaina’s win. The first time McEntire presented Alaina with a trophy was for her win for breakthrough video of the year at the 2017 CMT Music Awards.
These awards mark the first-ever ACM Award wins for Alaina, Midland and Young. In addition, Alaina is nominated for vocal event for “What Ifs” with Kane Brown, and Midland is nominated for vocal group and single record of the year for “Drinkin’ Problem.”
McEntire hosts the ACM Awards live in Las Vegas on April 15.