Dan + Shay are the reigning Duo of the Year at the ACM Awards! Both Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney accepted the award, thanking their family and fans for the honor.
“I love you so much,” Smyers said to Mooney. “I’m so proud to be back up on this stage with you. We’ve been on quite the wild journey over the last ten years. We’ve seen a lot of highs and a lot of lows. But the one thing that has remained the same is the love and support of this country music community. You all are family to us. Thank you so much for everything you have given us.
“Thank you to the ACMs, everybody who voted,” he continued. “Thank you country radio, all the streamers, the fans. I gotta say thank you to my wife Abby, who is holding it down in Nashville with our dog, Joy, who is kicking cancer’s a– right now. Abby, I love you so much.”
Mooney also spoke out about the honor, and the milestone of being part of country music for so long.
“First of all, I want to thank God,” Mooney continued. “I wanna thank my wife. I wanna thank my three boys, Asher, Ames and Abram. It’s been a long time. I’m sorry Daddy’s not home. I’m a little overwhelmed. I’m looking out here, and I’m seeing all my friends. You guys are my family. Thank you guys for getting us here. Thank you for allowing us to make country music. This is unbelievable. God bless Texas. God bless country music, and by the way, God bless Reba McEntire!”
ACM Duo of the Year!!! Huge congrats to @DanAndShay🥳🥳 #ACMawards pic.twitter.com/Dv05wH7Smj
— ACM Awards (@ACMawards) May 17, 2024
The pair are having a whirlwind few months. They celebrated their tenth No. 1 hit with “Save Me The Trouble.” The song is from their Bigger Houses album, released last September. They are also enjoying their first season as joint coaches on The Voice, all accomplishments that almost didn’t happen.
Both Smyers and Mooney were vocal about their four-month separation, unsure initially if they would make music together again. Fortunately, they reunited, and felt it important to tell their fans what they had been through, and how they came out stronger on the other side.
“We felt it was important that we were very candid with our fans and with people, because I think with anything else with the need, like anxiety that other people go through, the more you talk about that stuff, the more it helps,” Mooney explained. “And we felt like it was our responsibility to be open and vulnerable, so other people know that somebody else is going through this as well.”
Find all of Dan + Shay’s music and tour dates at DanandShay.com.