It’s been 25 years since Alexander City native Chad Wilson has been on stage at the Grand Ole Opry.
“When I was 17 and a senior at Benjamin Russell, I entered a competition advertised in the newspaper,” Wilson said. “I ended up winning it and going to the finals. At 17 years old I performed two songs at the Grand Ole Opry. I didn’t win the competition, I came in third.”
Cliff Williams / The Outlook Chad Wilson performs on the stage on Main Street in Alexander City for the inaugural Lake Martin Songwriters Festival and the A Little Love Concert.
Just a few days ago Wilson returned to the famed stage to accept the Josie Award for Male Country Vocalist of the Year.
“When I walked across the stage Sunday night to get that award, that was the first time I had been on that stage since,” Wilson said. “I was pretty special.”
Wilson received the one award, but he was nominated for three others. His ‘Lie Like You Love Me’ was nominated for single of the year and video of the year. Wilson was also nominated for country artist of the year.
Last year Wilson was nominated three times for Josie Awards.
The nomination process for the Josie Awards is tough. Wilson said more than 53,000 submissions were made and only 1.1 percent made it to a ballot.
“They have their own panel with two different rounds to get to the ballot,” Wilson said. “They go through all the submissions. It’s a big panel but it is made up of these giants in the industry.”
While performing with his brother Kyle as The Wilson Brothers, the duo topped the Country Music Television video charts for a few weeks and won best group or band for the NIMA Awards in back to back years.
Wilson said the recognition as a solo act was very gratifying.
“These past two years have been some of the hardest of my life just because of all the situations going on with the industry being shut down because of COVID and the stuff that goes with it and I stepped out on my own,” Wilson said. “Winning this award is such validation to be recognized. It’s so cool. It means so much to me.”
Wilson credits the success to support from friends and family in Tallapoosa County.
“I don’t know that I would ever be in a position to win an award like this without the support from home,” Wilson said. “My hometown of Alexander City and the surrounding areas and Alabama has done more for me and my career than I could have ever imagined. I still have supporters from there. I had people from home at the awards show.”
To celebrate Wilson and Lexie Lew will perform at The Eclectic Warehouse starting at 6 p.m. Saturday.
“We are going to do a little victory celebration there,” Wilson said. “It’s a family deal. I’m just going to sit down with my guitar and just pour my heart out for three to four hours.”
Children can get in free and the cost is $10 per person. There is no alcohol being sold but attendees can bring their own within reason.
The Josie Music Awards is the largest, all-genre, privately-owned, independent music award show globally since its inception in 2015. This team set out and successfully created an award show where winners are selected on their talent, skill, material, professionalism and more and not by button pressing voting. Nominee suggestions go through a lengthy review process by a team of industry leaders and the official nomination list is created from their final decisions. Winners are also selected by the industry leader deciding panel.
