Brooks & Dunn to receive CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award
Brooks & Dunn will receive the 2026 CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the 60th Annual CMA Awards in Nashville.
The duo of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn will be honoured during the ceremony on Wednesday, Nov. 18 at Bridgestone Arena. The show will air live on ABC and Disney+, and will be available the next day on Hulu, according to Billboard.
The prize recognises career contribution to country music. Brooks & Dunn arrive with 20 CMA Awards, more than any other artist in the show's history. That tally still leads everyone.
They are not only being celebrated. The pair have earned their 57th CMA nomination, reported by Yahoo Entertainment, and are nominated for vocal duo of the year at the November ceremony. They have won that category 16 times.
On the charts, Billboard credits them with 20 No. 1 hits on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart, which tracks the most-played and most-bought country songs in the United States. They also have seven No. 1 albums on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart.
The duo were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019. Ronnie Dunn separately entered the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2018. Brooks & Dunn also hosted the CMA Awards for three consecutive years from 2004 to 2006.
Vince Gill received the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025. George Strait received it in 2024.
What makes this stand out is the timing. Brooks & Dunn are being honoured for a career stretching back more than three decades while still competing for vocal duo of the year on the same night.
