Mac McAnally 'Can't Believe' 2015 CMAs Musician of the Year Win

Mac McAnally won his eighth consecutive and 10th overall CMA Award for Musician of the Year during the 2015 CMA Awards on Wednesday (Nov. 4). The Alabama native, who was nominated along with Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Paul Franklin and Dann Huff for the honor, was stunned by the victory.

"I keep waiting for someone to come tap me on the shoulder and say I have to give the rest of them back," McAnally told The Boot and other reporters backstage after his win. "... It’s unbelievable. I can’t believe it."

However, the musician and singer-songwriter was sure to praise his fellow Musician of the Year nominees as well.

"They are my heroes," McAnally says. "We sat together. I’ve taken all the ribbing ... Sam Bush is the best in the world. Jerry Douglas is the best in the world. Paul Franklin is the best in the world, and I’m proud to be among them."

McAnally admits that he might soon run out of room for all of his trophies.

"My studio’s down in Muscle Shoals, [and] there’s a few on the mantle down there, and there’s almost a mantle full up here in Nashville. It's a great problem. It's one of my best problems I've ever run into," he says. "You won’t find a luckier guy in the building. I thank you all for even paying attention to somebody strumming a guitar. I love it."

McAnally divides his time between performing on the road, both as a solo artist as well as in Jimmy Buffett's band, and spending plenty of time in the studio.

"They’re both awesome jobs," he says of his dual roles, "but they’re diametrically opposed, in that, in the studio, your job is to play and then immediately forget it, because you’re about to get something brand new. In five or four minutes, you’re getting a brand-new song. On the road, you need to remember everything ... Different jobs, but they’re both really awesome. I’m really blessed to be able to do both."

The 58-year-old recently released a brand-new album, A.K.A. Nobody, which is his first studio album in six years.

"'Nobody' is what it says on my guitar straps," McAnally explains of the title. "We’re pretty much anonymous, studio musicians, but I love writing, and I love singing. When I have a batch of songs that tap me on the shoulder and say it’s time, I go record. I don’t usually make a record because I have a bus payment or something. It’s because the songs mean something to me, and I think it’s time to talk."

Mac McAnally ‘Can’t Believe’ 2015 CMA Awards Musician of the Year Win