Kenny Chesney opened the show with his big hit "Beer In Mexico". Okay, I think that the country award shows need to find themselves a new opening act- personally, I am sick of seeing Kenny open everyone of them, just my take! Shania Twain was dubbed the "special guest" of tonight's show, she introduced the host, Reba McEntire. Reba's opening monologue was nothing to write home about- dull and boring.
The first award of the night was for Song of the Year and George Strait's "Give It Away" took the honors. Miranda Lambert then performed her latest, "Famous In A Small Town," sporting a blue dress. Directly following Lambert was the Queen of Country herself (no, not Underwood), Martina McBride, who performed "Anyway," which made no sense because she has a great new song at radio, "How I Feel." Martina turned away from performing to present the award for Album of the Year, which, unfortunately, went to the pop album "Some Hearts" by Carrie Underwood. I'm sorry, but Underwood's album is not country- George Strait got cut bad tonight!
MANY performances tonight, next up was Josh Turner to perform his big hit, "Would You Go With Me," and the crowd did as they were really into his performance- look out for this guy, he's going to do great things in country music! The Top New Male Vocalist award went to Rodney Atkins who was sporting blue jeans and a baseball cap- not what one would expect for an award shows, but whatever "floats your boat." The King of Country followed Rodney's win with his latest hit, "Wrapped." I am very proud of Little Big Town and am very pleased that they won Top New Group or Duo honors this year, what a great group of folks. Carrie Underwood had a GREAT performance tonight, she did her latest #1, "Wasted."
Taylor Swift's acoustic performance of "Tim McGraw" was concluded when she walked into the audience and finished the song singing to its namesake, Tim McGraw. I was not at all impressed with her performance! Rascal Flatts followed with a touching performance of "He Ain't the Leavin' Kind," with a touching dedication to the vicitims of the Virginia Tech massacre. The Top New Female Vocalist was a tight race this year, but Miranda Lambert came out on top as the winner. Better luck next time Kellie! Brad Paisley followed that award with a performance of his latest hit, "Ticks." Toby Keith followed Brad's performance with one of his own, "High Maintenance Woman."
The Home Depot Humanitarian Award is a big accomplishment for any artist as it recognizes those with big hearts. Vince Gill, recipient of last year's award, presented the award to Brooks & Dunn. Next up were Big & Rich to perform their latest, "Lost In This Moment," with John Legend. The trio gave a great performance of such a touching song. Little Big Town were one of the best performances tonight with their AWESOME performance of "A Little More You." I honestly believe these guys could sing a rap song and make it sound great! Immediately following the great performance from LBT came a mediocre performance from Rodney Atkins of "These Are My People."
George Strait won the first award of the night, Song of the Year, with "Give It Away," and he also won Single of the Year with the same song. "Give It Away" was an excellent song from George and I was glad to see both titles given to a song co-written by Mr. Bill Anderson and performed by George Strait. Jason Aldean brought the Man In Black back to Vegas tonight with his performance of his hot new single, "Johnny Cash," while Reba McEntire debuted her brand new single, a duet AND cover with pop star Kelly Clarkson titled "Because of You." The song was a huge hit for Kelly on AC charts and the duet will be released to country radio today (5/16).
BIG kudos to Brad Paisley, I am so glad he won Male Vocalist of the Year! Brad is a great guy with a GREAT voice. I was scared Kenny Chesney would win, but the voters of the ACMs were not fooled and gave the award to the worthy recipient. Brooks & Dunn followed Brad's big win with a performance of their hit, "Hillbilly Deluxe." The Top Vocal Group honor went to Rascal Flatts this year, but watch out, Little Big Town has your number guys! Faith Hill performed a brand new song tonight that she has only known for about seventy-two hours now, well, that's what Reba said. The song was called "Lost" but it never found me- I was bored through the entire performance, this song just doesn't cut it for me.
Sugarland always delivers an energetic performance, and they didn't let the fans down tonight! The duo was GREAT, performing their brand new single, "Everyday America," while puzzling home viewers, well me at least, with their tricks on the conveyer belt. Another tight race, Top Vocal Duo, followed Sugarland's performance, and it's nickname "The Brooks & Dunn Award" held true tonight as Brooks & Dunn took home the award for the fourteenth time! While I personally was hoping to see Sugarland win the award, my second pick was Brooks & Dunn. At the rate Sugarland is going, they will no doubt have that award in the next few years.
Tim McGraw gets the award for most touching performance. I don't really claim to be a Tim McGraw fan, his latest CD is good, but this performance tops it all for me! He performed a song that, I believe, is called "I'm Already Home" about fallen soldiers. At the end of the song, the lights came up and behind Tim were the families of fallen soldiers. GREAT PERFORMANCE! The Top Female Vocalist award followed the performance and, of course, Carrie Underwood won it and even commented on Tim's performance in her acceptance speech.
Vince Gill gave the final performance of the night with "Sweet Thing." Now for the big daddy of them all, the Entertainer of the Year award, presented by Shania Twain, went to Kenny Chesney, making this the third consecutive win in the category for Kenny. This ties him with greats such as Alabama and Hank Jr. Congratulations to all of tonight's winners!
And the winners are.....
- Entertainer of the Year- Kenny Chesney
- Top Male Vocalist- Brad Paisley
- Top Female Vocalist- Carrie Underwood
- Top Vocal Group- Rascal Flatts
- Top Vocal Duo- Brooks & Dunn
- Top New Male Vocalist- Rodney Atkins
- Top New Female Vocalist- Miranda Lambert
- Top New Group or Duo- Little Big Town
- Album of the Year- "Some Hearts" Carrie Underwood
- Single of the Year- "Give It Away" George Strait
- Song of the Year- "Give It Away" George Strait
- Video of the Year- "Before He Cheats" Carrie Underwood
- Vocal Event of the Year- "Building Bridges" Brooks & Dunn/Sheryl Crow/Vince Gill
BEST MOMENTS: Little Big Town's win for Top New Group or Duo, Carrie Underwood's performance, Rascal Flatt's touching performance, Brad Paisley's "buggy" performance, Brooks & Dunn's Humanitarian win, Little Big Town's performance, Brad Paisley's big win for Male Vocalist, Sugarland's performance, Tim McGraw's performance
WORST MOMENTS: Reba's opening monologue, Taylor Swift's performance, Faith Hill's performance
Overall show rating: B+
Comments: Nothing that great about this show, but it did provide some AMAZING performances!
How Did I Do?
I presented my predictions a few days before the awards, here's how well I did:
Correct Predictions:
- Entertainer of the Year- Kenny Chesney
- Top Female Vocalist- Carrie Underwood
- Top Vocal Group- Rascal Flatts
- Top Vocal Duo- Brooks & Dunn
- Top New Male Vocalist- Rodney Atkins
- Top New Group or Duo- Little Big Town
- Video of the Year- "Before He Cheats" Carrie Underwood
So, that gives me 7 out of 13 correct, making me 54% accurate!
rus' "Achy Breaky Heart" on Tuesday night when he was voted off of ABC's reality show, Dancing With the Stars. 