{"id":589395,"date":"2026-04-17T08:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/589395\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T08:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:14:14","slug":"ella-langley-other-cma-nominees-this-year-played-jacksons-million-dollar-cowboy-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/589395\/","title":{"rendered":"Ella Langley, Other CMA Nominees This Year Played Jackson\u2019s Million Dollar Cowboy Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jackson\u2019s legendary\u00a0Million Dollar Cowboy Bar has spent decades being a stop for some of the biggest names in country music, including a wave of this year\u2019s Academy of Country Music Award nominees.<\/p>\n

Multiple 2026 ACM nominees have taken the stage at the Jackson venue, underscoring its role as both a proving ground for rising artists and a draw for established stars.<\/p>\n

That includes seven-time nominee Ella Langley, whose breakout hit \u201cChoosin\u2019 Texas\u201d has been camping at the top of the country music charts for weeks, and who headlined the Cowgirls at the Cowboy Fest at the bar in October 2025.<\/p>\n

Among the awards Langley up for this year are Entertainer of the Year, Female Artist of the Year and Artist-Songwriter of the Year.<\/p>\n

Other 2026\u00a0Academy of Country Music nominees who\u2019ve played the room include Riley Green, Tucker Wetmore, Avery Anna, and Carter Faith.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The storied stage adds another rising star to its lineup next month with Hudson Westbrook, a newly minted Male Artist of the Year nominee for the 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards.<\/p>\n

And bar booking manager Justin Smith said there\u2019s at least one more nominee on deck, but fans will have to wait until late summer to find out who.<\/p>\n

\"TraceTrace Adkins performs at the 2024 Million Dollar Music Fest at The Cowboy in Jackson, Wyoming. (Courtesy Million Dollar Cowboy Bar)\"MidlandMidland performs at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming. (Courtesy Million Dollar Cowboy Bar)\"CountryCountry music fans pack the Million Dollar Music fest at The Cowboy in Jackson, Wyoming. (Courtesy Million Dollar Cowboy Bar)Arrow leftArrow rightUp-And-Comers<\/p>\n

The bar has hosted legends like Willie Nelson and Hank Williams Jr., and it continues to serve as a proving ground for the next wave of country stars.<\/p>\n

Smith says the bar\u2019s reputation has always hinged on being cool enough that big artists want to play there, even when they don\u2019t have to.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the 1970s, acts that were already selling out massive arenas still would squeeze in shows at The Cowboy purely for its coolness \u2014 and the bar works hard to keep that reputation, he said.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest wins for the Jackson venue is when an artist plays a packed arena one night, and then rolls into Jackson Hole the next, treating The Cowboy as a must-stop on the tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Smith said that kind of loyalty reflects years of effort to earn artists\u2019 trust and stay true to the vision set by longtime owner Bill Baxter.<\/p>\n

From Alabama frontman Randy Owen delivering decades of hits in an intimate setting to a rare acoustic set from Hank Jr. on Nov. 20, 2020, the Cowboy Bar has built what Smith calls an \u201cembarrassment of riches\u201d in country music history.<\/p>\n

That reputation continues to grow alongside the success of artist who\u2019ve played there.<\/p>\n

When Langley dropped her second album \u201cDandelion\u201d on April 10, the venue was tapped as one of just eight locations nationwide to help celebrate the release, a nod to The Cowboy’s influence far beyond Wyoming.<\/p>\n

Since playing The Cowboy in 2023, Green\u00a0has stacked up six No. 1 songs\u00a0on country radio, including his most recent hits \u201cWorst Way\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Mind If I Do,\u201d\u00a0making him the first artist since Taylor Swift in 2012 to score back-to-back chart-toppers he wrote entirely himself.<\/p>\n

Wetmore\u2019s trajectory followed a similar arc.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After he performed in Jackson last September, his career has continued to explode, racking up roughly 900 million global streams and launching him onto an international tour stretching across the United States, the U.K., and Europe.<\/p>\n

Kevin Costner and his band Modern West packed the place for two nights in October 2023 \u2014 their only public performances in three years \u2014 surprising fans by weaving through the crowd mid-show.<\/p>\n

There was Carly Pearce headlining an all-female festival in 2022\u00a0while holding top female vocalist titles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Songwriter Natalie Hemby walked out into the middle of a sold-out crowd in 2022 and sang her hit \u201cCrowded Table\u201d unamplified, \u201cand The Cowboy was as quiet as a church. That was\u00a0a goosebump moment,\u201d recalls Smith.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moments like those are why the place keeps its reputation, Smith added.<\/p>\n

He fondly remembers making the Jenny Toleman music video for \u201cMarried in a Honkytonk.\u201d The video was filmed entirely inside The Cowboy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe cast a bunch of the local dancing community, had local musicians as her house band, and we used so much fog from the hazers that you could barely see the bartender,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe cleaners let me have it the next day when they had to dust the entire bar, front to back, ceiling to floor.\u00a0 Needless to say, we don\u2019t use hazers anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HankHank Williams Jr. performs live at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar on Nov. 20, 2020. (Concert Junkia via YouTube)\"KevinKevin Costner and Modern West Band perform at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming, in October 2023. (Modern West Band via Instagram)\"KevinKevin Costner and Modern West Band perform at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming, in October 2023. (Modern West Band via Instagram)Arrow leftArrow rightMore Music<\/p>\n

Smith said Jackson Hole itself plays a role in the draw.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Artists quickly figure out that the remote mountain town isn\u2019t so hard to reach, and once they get there, it sells itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Between outdoor adventure, wildlife, photography, and the slower pace, the stop becomes less of a detour and more of a destination. Midweek shows also make the venue attractive to touring schedules looking for flexibility, he said.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Smith said the team is gearing up for the seventh annual Million Dollar Music Fest on May 24, an event built to balance tradition with momentum. The goal is to honor the spirit of Western music while putting the hottest new names on the same stage as established stars.<\/p>\n

That philosophy shows up in this year\u2019s lineup pairing newcomers like Westbrook and Anna \u2014 both nominated for top new artist honors \u2014 with veteran two-time TNN\/Music City News Country Awards Entertainer of the Year Neal McCoy and longtime chart-toppers Lonestar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For The Cowboy, it’s about nostalgia and keeping the next chapter loud.<\/p>\n

Contact Kolby Fedore at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com<\/p>\n

\"Jackson(Cowboy State Daily Staff)<\/p>\n

Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jackson\u2019s legendary\u00a0Million Dollar Cowboy Bar has spent decades being a stop for some of the biggest names in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-589395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}