When country singer-songwriter Chad Bushnell returned to his Shasta County home from the 11th annual Josie Music Awards in Nashville, he carried a prize he couldn’t wait to show his dad.
The 35-year-old Anderson man won the independent music organization’s Country Artist of the Year award at the JMAs on Nov. 2 at the Grand Ole’ Opry.
His father, Wade Bushnell of Red Bluff, was “pretty excited,” said the soft-spoken music artist, who worked at shoeing horses in his youth. “He shook my hand and said, ‘Good job.’”
Bushnell “just got off the boat … and headed straight to Nashville” after performing on a country music themed cruise with Royal Caribbean in late October. “I got three nominations” — the other two for Vocalist of the Year and Extended Play of the Year — “so I thought I’d go attend,” he said.
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As has been the case throughout his career, his mother Donna Vann Bushnell and wife of 7 years Stephanie were at his side at the awards ceremony. “After, we went to the Scoreboard music bar in downtown Nashville … to get a bite to eat and watch some music,” Bushnell said.
Red Bluff native Chad Bushnell’s rise to country music fame
The 2025 award marks Bushnell’s third Josie in five years. He won vocalist of the year 2020, and modern country song of the year for his hit “Fallin’ in Love” in 2023.
The 2020 win caught him off guard. He was so sure he wouldn’t win, he sat down with the other nominees when they called his name. So his mother Donna jolted him out of his musings. “I said, ‘Chad, they announced your name!’ He got up again,” she told the Record Searchlight.
Bushnell became a national name in country music when his song “What Would Jesus Do?” topped Christian Music Weekly’s country music chart in December 2019. The song sat in the top 20 for two months. Three more of his songs have topped charts since then, he said.
Bushnell had another surprise this year. He and his wife are expecting a baby in February.
A Red Bluff-raised cowboy, Bushnell said he likes living in Anderson because it’s 15 minutes in either direction to Redding and his parents home in Tehama County.
He’ll return to his hometown this weekend to perform at the Red Bluff State Theatre. His fourth annual Honky Tonk Throwdown opens at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15. Guest artists include Craig Lynn Boyde, season seven winner on “The Voice.”
Not one to stay on the road 24/7, he still shoes horses in his spare time, he said; “It gives me a breather.”
JMAs honor more than 240 indie music artists at awards show
The largest independent music award show in the world, the JMAs honor the best in the independent music across genres, handing out 244 awards this year.
The JMAs were created in 2015 by mother-daughter team Josie Passantino-Boone and Tinamarie Passantino for independent music artists, songwriters and industry professionals to celebrate their work.
