CMA Awards 2019: Maren Morris thanks late friend Busbee through tears, "We miss him so dearly"
Its been a great day for Maren Morris. The 'Girl' singer rocked the red carpet with her baby bump in full glory at the Country Music Asociation Awards on Wednesday night and then went on to win the Album of the Year for 'Girl', her very first trophy of the night and her second since her first CMA Award in 2016 for New Artist of the Year. It was an emotional moment for the singer, but not just for obvious reasons.
The most nominated artist this year, she got super emotional as she got on stage and thanked her fans and friends for helping her win. She then remembered a special person who helped her create 'Girl' -- Michael James Ryan Busbee.
"This is incredible, thank you country music," she said sobbing through tears, "thank you for the peers in this room who I love so much for voting for me." She then thanked Greg Kurstin and Sarah Aarons, who wrote the title song together with Morris. "I would be really remiss if I didn't mention a huge facet of why the album sounds the way it does," said Morris continuing to look very emotional, "and we miss him so dearly."
"He texted me the morning we got nominated and we were so excited and that's our friend Busbee," she said, crying. Busbee produced multiple songs on the album. He was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, a form of brain cancer, over the summer of 2019. He died on September 29, 2019.
Speaking to Jess, his wife, who was in the crowd, Morris said, "Thank you for sharing your husband with us once a month. My heart just goes out to you and your beautiful daughters. I hope when they listen to this album or any of his work, they remember how amazing their father was."
Morris' 'Girl' broke the record for the largest streaming week ever for a country studio album by a woman, with approximately 24 million streams in its first week.