Red Clay Strays, Zach Top, Ella Langley Win Early ACM Awards

It’s just the ACM Awards. And it’s just their “New Artist of the Year” categories that are split into three separate awards unlike the CMAs or the Grammy Awards that just have one. And there’s perhaps nothing that is carried out in a more passionless, perfunctory manner than how the ACMs announce these non-televised trophies.

But the good guys won, and it does perhaps portend positive things for the future.

The reigning Saving Country Music Artist of the Year Zach Top was surprised with the 2025 ACM New Male Artist of the Year Award ahead of taking the stage on Thursday, April 24th for his sold-out show in Wilmington, North Carolina. Brooks & Dunn also prepared a congratulatory video for Top.

“I couldn’t be more honored, and I can’t say a big enough thank you to my fans for loving music and loving what we do on the road and listening to the songs every day,” Top said. “It means the world to me, I’ve always wanted to just play and sing for a living, and I get to do that now and it’s cool to be able to get a little trophy every now and then to let us know that we’re doing good doing it. So thank you so much, this is beautiful.”

Then on Friday, April 25th at Rock The Country in Knoxville, Tennessee, Ella Langley was surprised on stage with the 2025 ACM New Female Artist of the Year Award, which also included a video from Miranda Lambert.

“Every day of my life, I’ve just prayed about this and thought about it, and literally everything I’ve ever done was to be able to do this. I’m so grateful for the team I have around me,” said Langley. “I’m just really grateful to have fans that are listening to the music and see that it is truth and I’m just a real life human being going through life like the rest of everyone else, and to see the things that I go through is something that everyone else goes through.”

Then on Tuesday, April 29th, it was revealed that The Red Clay Strays out of Alabama are the 2025 ACM New Duo or Group of the Year winner. The band was suprised while recording new music with Dave Cobb in Savannah, GA. They beat or Restless Road and Treaty Oak Revival for the accolade.

In the case of The Red Clay Strays, they made it through a fairly weak and truncated field. And even though they’ve said outright they don’t consider themselves a country band, they definitely represent the independent side of roots music.

For Zach Top, he beats out some very heavy hitters in Shaboozey, Gavin Adcock, Tucker Wetmore, and Bailey Zimmerman. In fact, the New Male Artist of the Year category might be one of the strongest fields in the entire 2025 ACM Awards. Ella Langley had to beat out Dasha of the viral “Austin” fame to win her accolade.

Even better, the wins mean these artists have been invited to perform on the ACM Awards on May 8th, which all of a sudden have a slightly elevated reason to pay attention. In these three early categories, it’s hard to not conclude that the good guys won.

The Red Clay Strays are also up for the big boy ACM Group of the Year Award that’s regularly won by Old Dominion. Perhaps the boys from Alabama can finally upstage the boys from Virginia. Ella Langley is also up for Female Artist of the Year, and might not be a long shot for the award. And Zach Top’s album Cold Beer & Country Music is up for Album of the Year, which might be the critical favorite in the lot, and is currently beating all other contenders in the charts.

Don’t forget that Muscadine Bloodline is up for Duo of the Year too. To see the full 2025 ACM Awards nominees, CLICK HERE.

Awards don’t mean everything, and the ACM Award mean even less than others. But it is good to see the good guys win.