Post Malone and Chris Stapleton Open CMA Awards With ‘California Sober’

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The freewheeling duet appears on Malone's country album F-1 Trillion

The 2024 CMA Awards opened with a performance that paired the traditional with the face-tattooed: Chris Stapleton and Post Malone took the stage on Wednesday night to perform “California Sober,” the duo’s collab on Posty’s F-1 Trillion album.

Both Malone and Stapleton are nominated for Song and Single of the Year, thanks to Stapleton’s “White Horse” and Malone’s “I Had Some Help,” which features Morgan Wallen. The Malone-Wallen collab is also nominated for Music Video and Musical Event of the Year. (Stapleton won the first award of the night with Single of the Year, for “White Horse.”)

Separately, Stapleton is up for Entertainer of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year, and is set to perform three times during this year’s CMAs. Stapleton’s album, Higher, is also nominated for Album of the Year.

“Post is the story of the year, in our format, and then Chris has never opened the show before,” CMA Awards EP Robert Deaton told The Hollywood Reporter about having the pair perform. “Post came in, made a country record… he gave [some artists] more exposure, and I think we’re gaining fans because of it.”

This is the first year that Malone is up for a CMA award, on the strength of his country effort F-1 Trillion, which dropped in August. Posty did perform at the awards show last year when he joined Wallen and Hardy for a medley of “John Deere Green” and “Pickup Man” as part of a Joe Diffie tribute.