The 47th Annual CMA Awards held Wednesday evening on ABC featured great entertainment by so many talented country artists as well as humorous jokes by hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and the many presenters; from the “Why Can’t We Be Friends” dealing with some of the inside feuds between several country artists, the “Obamacare By Morning” on the failed Healthcare.gov website, to the parody of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” with the Miley Cyrus twerking by the Duck Dynasty gang.
The woman in country music made their presence at the awards show and one comment on particular caught my attention. Connie Britton of ABC’s hit television show “Nashville,” commented, “the women of country music have always made me so proud because they’ve always brought such beauty, guts and grace to our world.”
When presenting the Album of the Year Award, Sheryl Crow made mention of the new duet by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers called ” You Can’t Make Old Friends” and that it is a must hear. She also said, “Years ago, Emmy Lou Harris told me that the way to support…the way to vote for sombody you love is to buy their records. I know everybody doesn’t necessarily buy records, but for all y’all out there watching, that’s a great way to vote, to actually buy records…buy singles.”
Performances by several female country artists included:
Kacey Musgraves – “Follow Your Arrow”
Miranda Lambert’s duet with Keith Urban – “We Were Us”
Taylor Swift accompanied by Alison Krauss (violin), Vince Gill (guitar), Sam Bush (mandolin), Edgar Meyer (bass) and Eric Darken (percussion) to perform Taylor’s hit song “Red.”
Carrie Underwood performing a Hits Melody
Taylor Swift Receives Pinnacle Award
To open the segment for the Pinnacle Award, young stars from the TV show Nashville, Lennon and Maisy Stella, sang a short rendition of “You Belong With Me” to Taylor Swift. Presenting the award were band members Rascal Flatts, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, George Strait, Keith Urban, and Brad Paisley, during which Tim McGraw said that Swift had actually opened up for each one of them in the beginning of her career.
The young 23 year old multi-award winning Taylor Swift received the Pinnacle Award for what Tim McGraw stated was her “ground-breaking place in music through her positive impact in the appreciation of country music worldwide.” Prior to Swift taking the stage to receive the award, a tribute video was shown describing how Swift has sold more than 26,000,000 million albums, has had over 75,000,000 downloads, played to sold out crowds all over the world, and talked about all of her charitable work including the $4 million donation to the Country Music Hall of Fame for the Taylor Swift Education Center which recently opened. Also in the video were musicians and celebrities giving a huge “shout out” to Swift including Vince Gill, Carly Simon, Keith Urban, Justin Timberlake, Mick Jagger, Reese Witherspoon, Julia Roberts, and Ellen DeGeneres. Even Ethel Kennedy spoke of Taylor’s impact of her charitable work on the lives of children.
In her acceptance speech, Taylor graciously stated, “To the CMA and to whoever made this choice, you’re not only rewarding my hard work and exhaustion, you’re rewarding the hard work and exhaustion of my family and my label and anyone who works with me, but most of all…the fans who filled stadiums. I love you!”
Miranda Lambert Receives Female Vocalist of the Year Award
Up against some of the finest female country vocalists in the industry, Miranda Lambert wins her 4th Female Vocalist of the Year Award beating out Kelly Clarkson, Kacey Musgraves, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. Upon accepting her award, she said, “I really didn’t think this one was gonna happen this year” and paid tribute to all of the nominees in this category. At the end of her speech, she gave a big shout out to hubby Blake Shelton telling him she loved him and said, “Thanks for putting up with all my crap!” Ironically, Blake Shelton also won his 4th Male Vocalist of the Year Award this year.
Kacey Musgraves wins New Artist of the Year
Presenters Hunter Hayes and Jason Mraz wowed the audience with their performance of “Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me” that led into the announcement of the New Artist of the Year Award. The only female artist nominee in the category, Texas native Kacey Musgraves won over Florida Georgia Line, Lee Brice, Kip Moore and Brett Eldredge…so congrats to Kacey!
Musgraves thanked her family and made a special mention of her Grandmother being in the audience and said, “She was my booking agent when I was 10 years old.”
Recap and Winners at the 2013 CMA Awards
Of course we love all country music artists. The evening was full of entertainment by Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Little Big Time, Eric Church, Tim McGraw, Hunter Hayes and Jason Mraz, Darius Rucker, The Band Perry, Zac Brown with Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, and so many more!
Alan Jackson and George Strait performed a wonderful tribute to George Jones.
Jennifer Nettles, Rascal Flatts and Darius Rucker paid a tribute to Kenny Rogers who received the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award…and Kenny joined in! Rascal Flatts sang “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” followed by Darius Rucker singing “The Gambler.” Rogers and Nettles performed “Islands in the Stream.” What a great year it’s been for Rogers as he was recently inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Upon receiving the award, Rogers said, “The Hall of Fame last week, and then this week. I can’t wait to see what next week brings!”
Winners of this years’ CMA Awards:
Entertainer of the Year – George Strait
Male Vocalist of the Year – Blake Shelton
Female Vocalist of the Year – Miranda Lambert
Vocal Duo of the Year – Florida Georgia Line
New Artist of the Year – Kacey Musgraves
Vocal Group of the Year – Little Big Town
Album of the Year – Blake Shelton, Based on a True Story
Single of the Year – Florida Georgia Line, “Cruise”
Song of the Year – Lee Brice, “I Drive Your Truck”
Music Video of the Year – Tim McGraw feat. Taylor Swift and Keith Urban, “Highway Don’t Care”
Musician of the Year – Mac McAnally (Guitar)
