In recent years, appearances from George Strait at industry events have been pretty rare. So his attendance at the 2024 CMA Awards marked a chance for the King of Country to mingle with the genre’s young crop.

Country music has never been more diverse than it is in 2024, and the CMAs reflected that. Rapper-turned-country-superstar Jelly Roll performed alongside Brooks & Dunn, Thomas Rhett teamed with R&B star Teddy Swims and Shaboozey performed his stratospheric cross-genre hit, “A Bar Song (Tipsy).”

Strait was at the front of the audience to watch those performances, and during Shaboozey’s turn on stage, the camera panned to see the King of Country’s reaction.

Sitting next to his wife Norma, Strait seemed largely expression-less as he watched “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” sitting stone-faced in his chair instead of dancing or singing along to the song like many other celebrities in the crowd.

Of course, Strait likely doesn’t keep up with the latest happenings on the country charts, so it makes sense that he might not have known the words to Shaboozey’s song, which came out in April.

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On the other hand, Strait seemed to enjoy spending time with Post Malone. The rapper and singer, who put out his country project F-1 Trillion earlier this year, was seated next to Strait and his family.

Malone’s a huge admirer of country music, especially classic country, so it’s no big surprise that these two had quite a bit in common. Posty even posed for a photo with Strait and Norma during the awards show.

Less of a surprise was Strait’s warm support of some of the traditional-leaning younger country artists, some of whom he knows well.

Strait was honored with the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2024 awards show, and as part of those festivities, he took the stage with Chris Stapleton to perform their duet “Honky Tonk Hall of Fame.”

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Other performers involved in the tribute included Parker McCollum, Lainey Wilson, Jamey Johnson and Miranda Lambert — the latter of whom Strait has performed with in the past. At the conclusion of the all-star medley, Strait thanked the performers for their renditions, joking, “I’m so glad I got [the songs] before you.”

The CMA’s Wiilie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award isn’t handed out every year; it’s reserved for artists who’ve reached the very highest pinnacle of artistic success and recognition. Legends like Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn have won this award in the past.