Chris Stapleton took home Album of the Year at the 2016 ACM Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday night (April 3).

Garth Brooks presented the award live via satellite from a gig in Ottawa, presenting the coveted statue to the breakout star of the last year in country music for his much-awarded debut album, Traveller.

Stapleton was practically unknown a year ago, and now he's one of the most-awarded and biggest rising stars in country music on the strength of the album. He took the stage, shaking his head at the turn of events. "Garth Brooks just gave me an award from Ottawa, I think," he said incredulously.

Stapleton thanked his wife, Morgane, as well as all of the musicians, label reps and everyone else who helped him with Traveller along the way. "And I wanna thank everybody here for treating this album so kindly," he added.

Producer Dave Cobb thanked the Stapletons for the opportunity to make the album, as well as God.

Traveller has turned out to be the little album that could. It was released to little commercial fanfare in 2015, and was critically acclaimed, but not particularly commercially successful until November, when Stapleton pulled off one of the most unexpected sweeps in CMA Awards history. He topped off his night with a star-making performance with Justin Timberlake, and then repeated the process at the Grammy Awards, taking home another armload of awards.

Stapleton also won Song and New Male Vocalist of the Year in the 2016 ACM Awards, where he was the most-nominated artist.

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