Music City celebrates ACM Honors with a star-studded evening of performances and tributes

Each year, the Academy of Country Music hosts the ACM Honors, a follow-up to the annual ACM Awards. The event is held at Nashville’s hallowed Ryman Auditorium and recognizes “special award honorees, off-camera category winners, and ACM Industry and Studio Recording Awards.”

Honorees for the 2024 celebration included Walt Aldridge, Tony Brown, Luke Bryan, Alan Jackson, Shannon Sanders, Lainey Wilson, and Trisha Yearwood.

The evening was co-hosted by four-time ACM Award winner Carly Pearce and reigning ACM Song of the Year Winner Jordan Davis. A stellar lineup of musical guests, including Eric Church, Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Tyler Hubbard, Jamey Johnson, Ashley McBryde, Keith Urban, and more, took to the stage to celebrate the honorees.

Alan Jackson receives the ACM Poet’s Award

One of the most memorable moments from the night was when Alan Jackson accepted the ACM Poet’s Award. This award recognizes “outstanding and longstanding musical and/or lyrical contributions throughout their career, with special consideration given to a song or songs’ impact on the culture of Country Music.”

Alan Jackson was one of two artists to be honored with this award, joining songwriter and producer Walt Aldridge.

Previous ACM Poet’s Award winners include Clint Black, Dean Dillon, Merle Haggard, Toby Keith, Loretta Lynn, and Willie Nelson.

Alan Jackson shares words of gratitude following his ACM Honors win

One attendee managed to film a short portion of Jackson’s speech during the ACM Honors ceremony. He took to the stage with his beautiful wife, Denise, who stood by his side and smiled with pride as he spoke.

The fan who filmed Jackson’s speech caught him speaking about his Top 10 hit from 1990, “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow.” Jackson co-wrote the track with Jim McBride. In it, he celebrates how he’s “chasing that neon rainbow” and “living that honky tonk dream” since all he’s ever wanted to do is “pick this guitar and sing.”

Now, 34 years later, as a country music legend and the recipient of the ACM’s Poet’s Award, we’d say Jackson’s “honky tonk dream” came true!

In his speech, he said:

“We were just getting to know each other as writers, and he asked me about growing up in Georgia and what I remembered,” Jackson said about writing the song with McBride. “I told him we weren’t that musical of a family, just church kind of stuff. But when I was about five years old I think, my daddy worked for the Pepsi Cola plant in Georgia, and they had a contest going on, and he won this radio and brought it home…that was the first musical thing I remember growing up, and that ended up being the opening line of that song.”

He continued:

“You know, I realized a long time ago that life gives you a lot of ingredients for songwriting. That typically makes the best songs. And I’ve been fortunate to pull a lot of stuff out of my life and turn it into music over the years. That’s been my biggest pride, as an artist, is to write a song and have people enjoy it, and be touched by or moved by it, or help them through a hard time, or enjoy a good time.”

He concluded by dedicating the award to his late father, who won that radio all those years ago and fostered his love for music by doing so.

“I’d just like to dedicate this to my daddy Gene and that old radio he won a long time ago…I’ve definitely lived that honky tonk dream y’all.”