Nominations are out for the 2024 CMA Awards, and competition for one of the most coveted prizes of the night — Entertainer of the Year — is especially fierce.

Lainey Wilson won CMA EOTY in 2023, and it was well-deserved given her massive year. She’s up for it again in 2024, the lone woman in a category that also includes Luke Combs, Jelly Roll, Chris Stapleton and Morgan Wallen.

When CMA regular Miranda Lambert stopped by Taste of Country Nights last week, we asked her who she thinks should take home the prestigious award this fall. Her answer may surprise you.

Miranda Lambert Picks Her 2024 CMA Entertainer of the Year

“Gosh, you know, I have to say Morgan (Wallen), because he is out there slaying,” Lambert says. “You play for that many people in a weekend … like that is a huge deal.”

Adds the fourteen-time CMA winner: “I respect him as an artist. He is really authentic to who he is. He’s playing for stadiums full of people, for multiple nights. That’s entertainment, you know?”

The 2024 CMA Awards will air live from Nashville on ABC on Nov. 20.

Lambert, who is currently promoting her single “Wranglers,” doesn’t have a big presence among this year’s nominees, but it wasn’t an album cycle year for her. Expect that to change next year: On Sept. 13, Lambert’s new album, Postcards From Texas, comes out under her new label deal with Republic Records.

Evan Paul is the host of Taste of Country Nights, a syndicated radio show heard on more than 130 country radio stations nationwide, every night from 7PM to midnight. He plays the best new country music and interviews today’s top stars, like Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Kenny Chesney, Miranda Lambert, Dan + Shay, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton, Lady A, + more!