Lainey Wilson Covers ‘God Blessed Texas’ & Plays New Single ‘Hang Tight Honey’ for Roaring 2024 ACM Awards Kickoff

On Tuesday night (May 16), Lainey Wilson kicked off what host Reba McEntire would later call “country music’s party of the year” with her 2024 ACM Awards-opening mini-medley performance.

Billboard‘s recent cover star began her performance with a “What’s going on, Texas?” greeting to the crowd at The Star in Frisco, TX, before launching into a crowd-pleasing rendition of Little Texas’ ’90s country staple “God Blessed Texas.” She wore a red leather bodysuit and a big red cowboy hat for the kickoff performance, before handing off the latter to an elated fan in the audience.

Wilson wasn’t done with that, however, as she then transitioned to a performance of her own new song: “Hang Tight Honey,” the lead single from her recently announced upcoming Whirlwind set. The rave-up sounded fantastic in its live debut, with Wilson rocking an acoustic guitar in front of a lone-star backdrop, hitting a fever pitch on her climactic “headed straight HOOOOOOOOOME” chorus delivery.

In addition to being a featured performer, Wilson has five nominations at this year’s ACM Awards: entertainer of the year, female artist of the year, song of the year — both as an artist and as a writer (for “Heart Like a Truck”) — and event of the year (for her Jelly Roll collaboration “Save Me”). Her latest hit single, “Wildflowers and Wild Horses,” hit a new peak of No. 5 on Billboard‘s Country Airplay chart earlier this month.

DCP is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a Penske Media Corporation (PMC) subsidiary and joint venture between PMC and Eldridge. PMC is the parent company of Billboard.