Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” Wins At The 2019 Country Music Awards

Rapper, Lil Nas X has scored a big number in the Country music genre.

The Atlanta native’s infectious single “Old Town Road” which has a little bit of country and southern rap was famously booted from Billboard’s country list earlier this year. This, however, triggered accusations that the country industry pigeonholed the song as hip hop purely because the novice musician is black.

“Musical Event of the Year” award was given to Lil Nas X – who this year broke a decades-old record for longest reign over the Billboard Hot 100, music’s most closely watched singles chart – along with country veteran Billy Rae Cyrus, who lent vocals for the remix of the hit that received Wednesday’s honour.

Even though the award was presented off-air, Lil Nas X attended the gala sporting his signature youthful grin along with a black cowboy hat and black western jacket with gold fringe.

The 53rd annual awards show in Nashville, Tennessee kicked off by spotlighting the many women of country’s pantheon, with a medley from more than a dozen female artists.

The performance included a tribute to genre legend Loretta Lynn, who at 87 looked radiant as artists Jennifer Nettles along with Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Schlapman of the group Little Big Town sang her hit “You’re Lookin’ at Country.”

The High women, the recently formed supergroup of Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires and Brandi Carlile — an artist who cleaned up at this year’s Grammys — also wowed with a rendition of “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad” off Tammy Wynette’s 1967 debut album.

The stars earlier this year formed the collective — which pays homage to the Highwaymen, a male supergroup that included Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson – to highlight the disproportionate number of women artists on country radio and at country festivals.