LimeWire Music Blog

It was Nashville’s biggest night of the year, as the 43rd Annual Country Music Association Awards were telecast last night on ABC from Nashville’s Sommet Center, and it was a big night for some of country’s new blood, particularly a 19 year old who set quite a few historic marks last night. The big winner of the night was that teenager, Taylor Swift. The Big Machine phenom walked away with Video Of The Year for “Love Story,” Album Of The Year for her Fearless disc, Female Vocalist Of The Year, and the night’s big prize, Entertainer Of The Year. In winning the final two, she snapped long winning streaks by Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney, respectively.

Swift kicked off the show with a clever opening to her song “Forever And Always,” with Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell. Iit might be a good idea to drop the running joke about writing songs about her exes; I think that anyone who dates Taylor knows they could be next. Trust me, I’m a Taylor fan, but it might be getting a long in the tooth to those who are not in her core.

Next up were hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, who I thought did an even better job than they did last year. The two definitely seem to have a comic chemistry together that works well. I liked the song parodies they did early on, poking fun at everything from Kanye West’s interruption of Swift on the VMA’a and the impending retirement of Brooks & Dunn. They needed to do more of that! I also liked the fact that the pair were allowed to be somewhat corny, showing a little bit of (gasp!) personality!

The first prize of the night was a total surprise. I had thought that Billy Currington was almost a lock for his “People Are Crazy” single, but presenter Kid Rock announced the name of Lady Antebellum for “I Run To You.” It’s not a bad choice by any means, but I was a little surprised. Darius Rucker took to the stage next, and I am impressed Hootie’s stage presence. It was funny watching the crowd as he mingled, especially some of the people who wanted to stare directly at the cameras, but didn’t! While some pop/rock acts look at a jump to country music as a way to increase lagging sales, you can tell he is serious about his career choice. With that said, I was glad to see the crowd reaction to that, as well as his winning the New Artist Of The Year Award, though I don’t see why it’s still not called the Horizon Award. But, some people just don’t like change!

Two of the night’s best-looking performers, Jake Owen and Kellie Pickler took to the stage to present the Song Of The Year trophy. Pickler’s change to a red-head look was definitely a winner, as was Owen’s suit. If Hollywood ever makes a serious movie about the late Gram Parsons, I think Owen would be a natural fit. The winner of the trophy was “In Color,” and I don’t think the voters could have made a better choice. Jamey Johnson is one of those acts that is simply…real.

Miranda Lambert came out next with her new release, “White Liar.” I think it’s one of her best records yet, and it’s interesting listening to her. There may be more sex appeal, but she reminds me of what a modern-day Loretta Lynn would sound alike. Host Paisley came out next and performed his current hit, “Welcome To The Future.” I will go on record by saying that it’s not my favorite release of his, but I loved the video game graphics behind him on screen. Following Brad was newcomers The Zac Brown Band, who dazzled the crowd with a superb version of The Charlie Daniels Band classic “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” Make no mistake about it, the “Chicken Fried” band should be around for a while!

Hall Of Famer George Strait made his presence known with his latest, “Twang.” It’s your basic throwaway ditty, but George Strait is….George Strait. Some may disagree, but he can get away with it every now and then. Plus, not every Jones or Haggard song sounds like Shakespeare. Have you ever heard “High Tech Redneck?”

Following Strait were the winners of Single Of The Year, Lady Antebellum. I think that “Need You Now” is one of the best records to come out of Nashville this year, and very well could be the Single of 2010….but I’m getting ahead of myself. The Capitol artists were shocked, as were a lot of people, when their names were announced as Vocal Group Of The Year, breaking a six-year run from Rascal Flatts. I thought they would be the ones to do it, but I didn’t think it would happen quite yet.

So…we’re off to hour two. Carrie Underwood electrified the crowd with her chart-topping “Cowboy Casanova.” I don’t think the song merits where it has landed on the charts, but the performance will likely set tongues wagging. Honestly, and no one will ever admit it, I think the song was recorded for her to create such a performance around. There’s a lot better material on her just released album, Play On, but I bet people are going to be talking about that performance all day. And why not, she is the modern day Shania Twain!

One of my favorite performances was the next one featuring rocker Daughtry and Vince Gill. Vince might be a little older, but if you want to see what class is, that’s a great example to me. The guy can sing with anybody from Del McCoury to Daughtry — that’s a pretty cool thing, if you ask me.

Possibly the most hilarious moment came when Underwood paused to compliment Paisley on his video for “Welcome To The Future.” Paisley began to do a mock acceptance speech, only to be interrupted by Little Jimmy Dickens, who told him he had a nice video, but the best one was Taylor Swift. “You go, honey,” said the most unlikely comparison to Kanye West. The CMA voters agreed, as Swift added that award to her tally, as well. Paisley had one of the best lines of the night, wondering how a 4’9, 88 year old got past security!

Other high watermarks of the second hour included Keith Urban’s “Till Summer Comes Around,” Sugarland’s somber “Keep You,” and Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice.” I will be the first to admit that the song is a little bit clichéd, but give me a RC Cola and a Moon Pie, and let me enjoy it just the same. The only award that I totally disagreed with was Album Of The Year, which went to Swift. It’s not anything against her, but I thought that Defying Gravity by Keith Urban made such a statement by not making one, but four million fans can’t be wrong, right?

The final third of the telecast was launched by Brooks & Dunn and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, with their current “Honky Tonk Stomp.” While I am sad to see the duo call it a day, I think we’ll hear plenty from both of them. Like Strait, it’s not their strongest song, but it should end their career on a high note. Song Of The Year winner Johnson performed his “Between Jennings And Jones” with Kid Rock. I will say that I probably will never attend a Kid Rock show, and couldn’t last five minutes hanging out with him backstage….but if you want to see a performer who respects country music, and “gets it,” go no further. He’s an incredible talent. I would love to trade album cuts with him sometime; I bet it would be fun!

There was only one major problem I had with the show, and it happened midway through hour three. There was a brief mention of Roy Clark being inducted into the Hall Of Fame, and then a lavish tribute to Barbara Mandrell by Martina McBride with her “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool” hit from 1981, featuring fellow inductee Charlie McCoy playing almost identical harmonica licks as he did on the original. The crowd roared when George Strait re-emerged to play the part of George Jones on the , and then Mandrell was given a chance to speak.

My problem with this has nothing do with Mandrell. Ask my wife, and she will be the first to tell you — I’m one of the biggest fans the still-stunning singer has. However, in their attempt to be relevant to “Today’s Country,” the CMA has for years barely acknowledged the inductees into the Hall. Last year, Tom T. Hall, The Statler Brothers, and Emmylou Harris weren’t given a chance to speak, so I don’t understand the double standard. In fairness, maybe Clark couldn’t attend, but I think it should be either one way or the other. Let the inductees speak, or let them not. The show, which used to be 90 minutes long, is three hours long……Could you not do a spotlight on one per hour? I don’t think it would ruin the precious 18-34 demo ratings. With that said, I want to stress that I am glad Mandrell got to speak…I just think that all three should have gotten air time.

The show came to an end with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill announcing the winner of the Entertainer Of The Year prize. I don’t think that too many people were surprised when Taylor Swift’s name was revealed. There are going to be some that are going to have issues with this, whether due to her age, or her cross-over status. Let them have issues. While I am not part of Swift’s core, I have admired the way that she has handled her success every inch of the way. There have been points that she could have gone down another road, but she has always represented country music with class and honor. No, I don’t identify with some of her hits, but hey, I’m 35, Swift knows what she’s doing and who she’s singing to. And if you saw her on Saturday Night Live last week, we’ve got a huge mass-appeal star on our hands, and I applaud her every inch of the way. She’s not going anywhere!

Well, those are my thoughts. Three months and two weeks from today, I don’t know if anyone will remember the winners except…the winners themselves. But, I thought it was a better-than-usual telecast. There was only a couple of glitches with the sound, which has been one of the low points of some of the award show’s past but all in all, a great night for country music. Let me know what you think!

award show images via cmt.com