Tearful Lainey Wilson Takes Home 2023 CMA Awards Entertainer of the Year: 'Thank Y'all for Letting Me Be Me'

The 2023 CMA Awards, cohosted by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning, are airing live from Nashville's Bridgestone Arena on ABC

"Workin' Overtime" has paid off for Lainey Wilson.

At Wednesday's 57th annual CMA Awards, the "Watermelon Moonshine" singer took home the grand prize and was named the entertainer of the year.

Wilson, who was visibly emotional as she walked on stage in Nashville for the award, gave a speech about her love for the genre and the dedication that has gone into her award-winning year — not just in the studio, but on the road.

"This is all I've ever wanted to do, it’s the only thing I know how to do," a tearful Wilson, 31, began her speech. "We have played... I think at the end of the year we’ll have played about 186 shows this year and we‘ve worked our butts off this year and so many years in between. I've been in this town for 12-and-a-half years and it finally feels like country music is starting to love me back."

Related: Lainey Wilson and Boyfriend Devlin 'Duck' Hodges Step Out Together for Date Night at 2023 CMA Awards

Wilson then spoke about the number nine, which she said may just "be my lucky number."

"That’s how many times we were nominated for the CMAs this year," she explained. "But it’s also the year that I wrote my first song. It’s the year that I got my first pair of bell bottoms. It’s the year that my mom and daddy brought me to Nashville for the very first time and took me to the Grand Ole Opry for the first time. It’s the year that my mom and daddy brought home this horse named Tex and the horse was, it was wild and it needed breaking and they put me on the back of that thing and they said 'You better hold on, you better ride.'"

"And I tell you what, there were times where I was crying and I wanted to get down, I’m like, 'Let me off the back of this thing.' But y’all, every time it would start bucking, I’d hold on a little bit tighter," she added of the horse.

As Wilson explained, she felt the horse "prepared me for this ride, because it is wild."

"And thank y’all for letting me be me and thank y’all for, for giving me this opportunity," Wilson concluded her speech. "Thank you Jesus. Thank you. Thank you every single person on my team.
I love y’all. I love you Duck. Do love you Mom and Daddy, Jane, the boys, God bless you."

Last month, Wilson announced the Country’s Cool Again Tour, which will take her to more than 35 cities across North America starting in May 2024.

“Nothing gets me buzzin’ like putting on a show and singing along with the crowd,” Wilson said in a statement. “I want to give a big thank you to all of the fans who have continuously showed up and showed out this year. We can’t wait to see you nationwide on the Country’s Cool Again Tour!”

Wilson — who recently notched her fifth No. 1 country single, which marked the first time in two years a female artist had topped the Billboard Country airplay chart — will be joined by Ian Munsick, Zach Top and Jackson Dean as opening acts.

Check out PEOPLE's full CMA Awards coverage to get the latest news on country music’s biggest night.

The singer released her fourth album, Bell Bottom Country, in October 2022, and has won a number of country music awards in recent years, including CMA female vocalist of the year in 2022, female artist of 2023 at the People’s Choice Country Awards, and female vocalist of the year and album of the year at the 2023 ACM Awards.

“I grew up in a town where country music is life: We eat, sleep and breathe it. I have loved it with my entire heart, and I feel like country music is finally starting to love me back," she told PEOPLE in August.

The 2023 CMA Awards, hosted by Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning aired from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and will stream exclusively on Hulu the following day.

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Read the original article on People.