Trio of Alabama artists nominated for 59th Annual CMA Awards

The Country Music Association (CMA) released its nominations for this year’s CMA Awards and there are three Alabama artists who were selected.

Hope Hull native Ella Langley led all artists with six total nominations including Female Vocalist of the Year and New Artist of the Year. Riley Green, who was born in Jacksonville, shared four of those nominations for songs he collaborated with Langley on.

Mobile band The Red Clay Strays were nominated for the Vocal Group of the Year, earning their second CMA Award nomination + searching for their first win.

Keep reading to learn more about each artist + when you’ll be able to find out if they won their respective awards.

Ella Langley

Although Ella Langley has been playing music around Alabama for nearly a decade, she has recently broken through to the national scene since releasing her debut album in August 2024.

Earlier this year, she was named the ACM New Female Artist of the Year and she now has an opportunity to add to her hardware collection.

The Association nominated Langley in six categories as she searches her first ever CMA Award. Her nominations included:

• New Artist of the Year
• Female Vocalist of the Year
• Single of the Year for you look like you love me with Riley Green
• Song of the Year for you look like you love me with Riley Green
• Music Video of the Year for you look like you love me with Riley Green
• Musical Event of the Year for Don’t Mind if I do with Riley Green

That’s tied for the most nominations for a single artist along with Lainey Wilson and Megan Moroney.

Riley Green

Riley Green was born in Jacksonville and eventually went to Jacksonville State University where he played quarterback for the football team.

Green started releasing his own music in 2013, putting out several EPs as independent music before signing with Big Machine Label Group. His first full length studio album came out in 2019, the same year he was named Best New Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music (ACM).

Last year, Green won his first CMA Award along with Langley for “Musical Event of the Year” for their song you look like you love me. The duo also performed the song during the awards show.

This year, Green’s nominations include:

• Single of the Year for you look like you love me with Ella Langley
• Song of the Year for you look like you love me with Ella Langley
• Music Video of the Year for you look like you love me with Ella Langley
• Musical Event of the Year for Don’t Mind if I do with Ella Langley

The Red Clay Strays

The Red Clay Strays formed in Mobile back in 2016 and played shows across Lower Alabama before eventually releasing their first official single in 2019.

The band released its first album in 2022 and it now has two studio albums + three live albums, including one recorded at the famous Callaghan’s in Mobile.

In 2024, The Red Clay Strays won “Emerging Artist of the Year” at the Americana Music Honors and Awards. Earlier this year, the band won its first country music award when it was named the “New Vocal Duo or Group of the Year” by the ACM.

For the second straight year, the band has been nominated for CMA’s Vocal Group of the Year alongside:

• Lady A
• Little Big Town
• Old Dominion (2024 winner)
• Rascal Flatts

You can watch to see if any of these Alabama artists win their category when the 59th Annual CMA Awards air on ABC on Nov. 19 at 7PM.

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