The winners of the 2023 Country Central Staff Voted Awards are in! Since the start of the month, Country Central’s staff have been nominating and voting on their picks for various categories. This annual tradition has been one of our favorites year after year. Following the results of the staff-voted awards, the Country Central audience will have the opportunity to nominate and vote on their own winners for the year.
The winner for Male Artist of the Year is Zach Bryan. Bryan released two projects this year, his self-titled album in August and the EP Boys of Faith in September. His self-titled album marked his debut on the Billboard Hot 200 chart and his collaboration with Kacey Musgraves, “I Remember Everything” debuted and peaked at number one on the Hot 100 chart. He also released “Dawns” with Maggie Rogers in January which crossed over numerous genres, solidifying his role as one of the most influential figures in all of music.
The winner of Female Artist of the Year is Megan Moroney. Since absolutely exploding onto the scene in 2022 with “Tennessee Orange” and “Hair Salon” it’s been nowhere but up for Moroney. Her debut EP Pistol Made of Roses in 2022 laid solid groundwork for her LP Lucky, which was followed by a deluxe edition shortly after. Moroney has rapidly become one of the most notable young women in country music and is paving her way to super-stardom with a soft yet commanding voice, catchy hooks, and a rich country sound.
The winner of Best New Artist is Wyatt Flores. With his astronomical rise to fame on TikTok, Flores has captivated his audience with authentic songwriting and a unique voice that stands miles away from rest developing his own identity. “Break My Bones” was released as a single in January and eventually followed by his EP Life Lessons in November. With more than four million monthly listeners on Spotify Flores has quickly made his claim in the next generation of country music.
The winner of Best Song is “Where The Wild Things Are” by Luke Combs. Eventually pushed to radio, this track was featured on Combs’s album Gettin’ Old. The track immediately captivated listeners as Combs’s voice was able to develop such a vivid picture with each line of the song. Written by Randy Montana and Dave Turnbull, the dramatic twist in the story at the end of the bridge that allows Combs to flex his vocal muscles is a true spectacle to witness live.
The winner of Album of the Year is Gettin’ Old by Luke Combs. The 18-track project is a companion piece to his 2022 album Growin’ Up and delivers some of the best songwriting we’ve heard from Luke in recent memory. This album features hits such as “Where The Wild Things Are,” “Love You Anyway,” and his cover of “Fast Car” which peaked at the number two spot on the Billboard Hot 100 over the summer. The album has no features and Combs is credited with either a production or writing credit on each song.
Our Collaboration of the Year is: “Man Made A Bar” by Morgan Wallen featuring Eric Church. Written by Brett Tyler, Jordan Dozzi, Larry Fleet, and Rocky Block, it’s the fourth track on Wallen’s One Thing At A Time album. Church was a writer on “Quittin’ Time,” the closer on Wallen’s last album Dangerous, and makes his debut as a collaborator by being featured on the track. The song was pushed to radio in November and released as the latest single from the album.
The winner of Best Cover Art is the album art for Life Lessons by Wyatt Flores. The cover was designed by Chloe Tyler. Tyler has designed previous artwork for Flores and has continued to produce some of the cleanest and most mind-bending covers in all of music today.
Our pick for Worst Song of the Year is “Chevrolet” by Dustin Lynch featuring Jelly Roll. While this song was catchy and fun for some, the vast majority of our crowd found Jelly Roll and Lynch’s insipid driving song to be noisy, obnoxious, and annoying. A rare miss from Jessi Alexander, Chase McGill, and Hunter Phelps, who normally write top-tier songs, the use of the hook of “Drift Away” from Uncle Kracker is far and away one of the cringiest moments in country music this year.
The winner of Best Group/Duo is Muscadine Bloodline. They started the year off strong with their seminal album Teenage Dixie. The southern rock-infused duo then released a companion pop-punk cover EP entitled Teenage Angst, with two new singles to follow in November. Together, the Muscadine boys have kept their foot on the gas all year long with a steady flow of tunes that are always true to their sound. Charles Muncaster and Gary Stanton have hit a home run mixing it up with a rougher edge in their production, but still keeping things polished enough to draw in a more mainstream audience.
The winner of Best Songwriter is Randy Montana. Montana was at the helm of the phenomenal “Where The Wild Things Are” by Luke Combs. Montana is well-renowned in Nashville and works with a wide variety of artists. He helped pen numerous songs on Luke Combs’s Gettin’ Old, Ian Munsick’s White Buffalo, and Luke Grimes’s EP Pain Pills or Pews.
Keep an eye out for the audience-voted awards this week on Instagram!
