What You Missed at the ACM Honors 2025: Highlights from Nashville’s Big Night
From Carly Pearce’s hosting magic to Randy Travis’ milestone moment, here’s every must-see highlight from the 2025 ACM Honors in Nashville.
Nashville, September 27 EST: The 2025 ACM Honors rolled into Music City last month, and if you weren’t inside The Pinnacle that night, you missed a show that felt more like an emotional family reunion than a formal industry ceremony. Country music’s biggest stars didn’t just walk the carpet they hugged, laughed, and sang their hearts out in a night that celebrated the people who make the genre tick, both onstage and off.
Carly Pearce Keeps the Party Flowing
By now, the ACM Honors and Carly Pearce go hand in hand. She’s hosted five times, and this year she brought her signature warmth (and a little sass) to the stage again. Pearce kicked things off with Russell Dickerson, duetting on “Jackson” like two friends crashing karaoke though, of course, their harmonies were way too tight for that comparison to stick. Rising star Tucker Wetmore rounded out the hosting crew, doubling as one of the night’s standout performers.
Big Wins, Bigger Emotions
The award list was stacked, but it wasn’t about trophies it was about what those names mean to country. Eric Church picked up an Icon Award, and HARDY surprised the crowd with a punchy cover of his early hit “Homeboy” that sent the room buzzing.
The late Ben Vaughn, one of Nashville’s most influential execs, was honored with his own Icon Award. Chris Janson debuted an original tribute song for him, and the standing ovation that followed said it all.
Luke Combs went global this year with the International Award, while Jelly Roll took home the Lifting Lives Award for his charity work sending in a video message and casually pledging to match up to $100,000 in donations. That’s Jelly for you: larger-than-life with a soft heart.
And then there was Randy Travis. Country’s living legend walked away with the Milestone Award, reminding everyone that even a decade after his stroke, he’s still finding ways to make music this time leaning into AI-assisted technology. It was one of the night’s most talked-about moments, mixing nostalgia with the future in a way only Travis could.
The Performances Fans Will Talk About
Tributes were the heartbeat of the show. Ashley McBryde stripped things down in a medley for Luke Combs, showing why she’s become one of Nashville’s go-to storytellers. Karen Fairchild and Carter Faith teamed up on “Lies, Lies, Lies”, spotlighting songwriter Jesse Jo Dillon, who also snagged Songwriter of the Year for the second year running.
Wetmore slipped in his cinematic single “Already Had It” from Twisters, proving he’s more than just a new kid with good hair. And in a surprising but pitch-perfect pairing, Amy Grant honored Mac McAnally’s Poet’s Award with a solo rendition of “All These Years” that had the crowd in full goosebump mode.
Closing things down, Luke Bryan went with “’Til You Can’t”, making sure the night ended not on a whisper, but with a singalong.
Offstage Magic
Yes, the awards matter, but the backstage moments told the real story: Luke Bryan and HARDY cracking jokes in the greenroom, McBryde perfecting her eyeliner before torching the stage, industry vets hugging like they hadn’t seen each other in years. This wasn’t a buttoned-up awards show it was a hangout, one where the people who actually build country music finally got their flowers.
Why This Show Hits Different
Unlike the splashy ACM Awards telecast, the ACM Honors is for the insiders songwriters, producers, road crews, venue owners. It’s the night where the industry claps for itself, but without losing that raw, emotional edge that makes country music what it is.
And that’s why fans should care. It’s not just about who won what, it’s about watching the community come together, honor its legends, and pass the torch to the next wave. If you tuned into the CMT Hot 20 ACM Honors edition this weekend, you got a taste. If not, well you’ll just have to take Nashville’s word for it: this one mattered.
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A bi-coastal pop culture critic and former indie screenwriter, Gia covers Hollywood, streaming wars, and subculture shifts with razor wit and Gen Z intuition. If it’s going viral, she already knew about it.
