Lainey Wilson snagged two CMA Awards, both for Female Vocalist of the Year and New Artist of the Year. Wilson shared the Female Vocalist of the Year category with Carly Pearce, who won in 2021, along with Miranda Lambert, Ashley McBryde and Carrie Underwood, but it was Wilson who was crowned the winner.

“I was definitely not expecting this at all,” an emotional Wilson said from stage. “I look up to every single one of the ladies in this category. They have all influenced me and inspired me. I am also honored just to be nominated for this. This is huge.”

Wilson also spoke about her father, Brian Wilson, whom she calls “Deddy,” and his recovery from a fungal infection and stroke, which nearly cost him his life.

“A couple of months ago, my Deddy got real sick,” Wilson shared. “We thought we were going to lose him. He spent two months in ICU, and he’s walking the carpet with me tonight, and he’s here. This one right here is for my Deddy, Brian Wilson. I ain’t talking about the Beach Boy. I’m talking about the cowboy … This is for my family who believed in me before anybody did.”

Wilson also won the trophy for New Artist of the Year, a win she admits she wasn’t expecting.

“If you know me, you know that I am rarely speechless, and I feel pretty speechless right now,” Wilson said. “I will say this one, right here, is for that nine-year-old girl, who wrote her first song, and who knew in her heart that this is what she was supposed to do. This is for those 11 years that I have been here in Nashville and not taken no for an answer. This right here is for everybody who has believed in me, and for the ones who didn’t.”

Wilson went on to thank numerous people in her life, including her family, and the people in her small hometown of Baskin, Louisiana, with a population of just 200 people, and more.

See the complete list of CMA Awards winners here.