Ashley McBryde‘s ACM Awards presentation paid tribute to a man she once called the “finest songwriter I’ve ever written with.”
Before announcing the Male Artist of the Year nominees, McBryde recited a poem about all the different types of men in music. For those not familiar, it seemed like the singer / songwriter may have penned her own way of getting to the five names in the category.
It was a delightful deviation from what fans usually get.
The Story of Ashley McBryde’s ACM Awards Presentation
At the 2026 ACM Awards, McBryde was actually reciting (with a few edits) a song called “Emptying Ashtrays” by Randall Clay.
The full song is 3-and-a-half minutes of spoken word praise for unheralded songwriters but she just zoomed in on the start, changing pronouns here and there to better suit the Male Artist category.
Then she adds her own close to get to the five nominees. Here’s the full song, followed by why she chose to pay tribute to Clay.
Who Is Randall Clay?
Randall Clay is a songwriter who helped McBryde write three songs on her heralded Girl Going Nowhere album, but it’s not that simple. He died in 2018, just a few months after the album dropped.
“The finest songwriter I’ve ever written with,” McBryde told Taste of Country Nights, in 2023.
Clay gained respect in Nashville and Texas with songs that often steered a little left of mainstream. To honor him, McBryde finished a song he’d started called “6th of October” for her The Devil I Know album.
The date is the day she learned the outlook wasn’t looking good for Clay, who’d gone missing amid a hurricane in Florida. It’s gone on to hold great significance for her elsewhere.
“Last year, I was on TV doing a thing with CBS, and that was the morning that Garth [Brooks] invited me to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry,” she shares.
“I called my brother afterward, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I just got invited to be in the Grand Ole Opry.’ He said, ‘Ash, it’s the 6th of October,'”
A promo tour of the album also started on Oct. 6 of that year.
2026 ACM Awards Show Pics: The Best Performances and Speeches!
Lainey Wilson opened the 2026 ACM Awards and Blake Shelton will close it. Here are the best show pics from the Amazon Prime broadcast from Las Vegas on Sunday night (May 17).
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
