And the Winners Were: A Recap of the 2007 CMA Awards

I know I’m really late with this, but the following is my recap of the 2007 CMA Awards. Enjoy!


The 41st Annual CMA Awards held November 7, was filled with many wonderful performances and few surprise winners. I really liked the multi-host format this year, and I hope the show is presented that way in the future. Most of the nominated artists gave stand out performances showcasing why they were nominated to begin with.

Performances:
Rascal Flatts opened the show, followed by first-time female vocalist nominee Miranda Lambert rockin’ the house with her newest single, “Gunpowder and Lead.” The Flatts boys also returned to the stage later in the show to perform with Jamie Foxx.

Despite slight audio problems, Horizon Award nominee Taylor Swift gave a bubbly performance of “Our Song.”

Among the performance highlights for me was the Brentwood High School Marching Band joining Brad Paisley for a performance of “Online,” along with his tour mates, Taylor Swift and Kellie Pickler, who reprised their roles from the video and joined Brad on stage to dance around and just have a blast.
Sugarland took the stage right after snagging the “Brooks and Dunn Award,” and despite the initial shock of the win, Jennifer Nettles gave one of the most emotional and powerful performances of their latest hit, “Stay,” that I have seen to date.

Winning the prize for most emotional performance of the night was Horizon Award nominee Kellie Pickler, who sang the powerful “I Wonder,” a song written about her mother, who abandoned her as a young child and left her to be raised by her grandmother. When Kellie broke down at the end of the song, the crowd roared its support as she openly wept on stage, no doubt taking in the special moment of performing on the CMA stage as a first-time nominee in a major category.

In another great performance, Reba McEntire joined forces on stage with LeAnn Rimes to sing “When You Love Someone Like That” from Reba’s Duets release.

One performance I didn’t understand was Little Big Town performing “Boondocks.” I mean, I am a huge fan of the group, and that is the song with which I discovered them and became a fan of their amazing harmonies. However, the song was released nearly two years ago, and as vocal group and Horizon Award nominees, they should have been allowed to perform a song from their new cd, released the day before the awards telecast. Maybe it was their choice, I don’t know. Still, they gave a great performance showcasing their wonderful harmonies. I predict, if they keep up their current pace, there definitely will be a vocal group win for this deserving quartet in the very near future.

Of course, the most highly anticipated and buzzed about performance of the night belonged to the Eagles, who made their debut appearance on an award show after 30-plus years in the business. Despite the debate over whether or not they belonged on a country music award show, there is no denying this legendary group of southern rockers, at least in some small way, influenced the vast majority of today’s generation of country artists.

In a good move by the CMA, Dwight Yoakam paid tribute to late country legend and Opry star Porter Wagoner, as did Big and Rich, who dedicated their rousing performance to “The King of Bling.”

I have to admit, it was a great night highlighting some of the best country music has to offer.

Here is a recap of the winners at the 41st Annual CMA Awards:

Entertainer of the Year:
Kenny Chesney - Mr. Chesney garnered his third entertainer award in four years. Despite some stiff competition, he continues to dominate the touring aspect of the country music industy with sold out shows everywhere he plays, whether it be arenas or the larger NFL football stadiums.

Female Vocalist:
Carrie Underwood - No surprise here. Carrie has been the female vocalist to beat for the past couple of years. Her singles have consistenly gone to number one at a time when many female artists are struggling to get their songs into the top 10, much less number one. And with her sophomore release currently ruling the charts, while her debut album continues to make waves some two years later, she easily could be up for a three-peat next year.

Male Vocalist:
Brad Paisley - First-time winner Brad was both humbled and honored when his name was called. In his acceptance speech, he said, “I can’t tell you what this means to me to win this. I’ve always wanted to win this award at least once. This will do. It’s unbelievable to me to be in the company that I’m in with these fantastic men.” Note to Brad - With the roll you are on, you are bound to win this award again, as well as the coveted entertainer title, sometime in the future.

Vocal Group:
Rascal Flatts - Again, no surprise here. The Flatts boys continue to dominate this category with the undeniable success of their record sales, sold out shows and rabid fan base.

Vocal Duo:
Sugarland - In a huge upset in one of the strongest duo categories in recent history, Sugarland became only the second act to interrupt Brooks and Dunn’s 16-year reign as duo of the year, a streak that began in 1992. (The only other time Brooks and Dunn lost the title was back in 2000, when Montgomery Gentry took home the crystal trophy.) After the initial shock wore off, Jennifer Nettles and Kristina Bush thanked Brooks and Dunn by saying, “If we’re standing up here and we have this lofty view, it’s because we’re standing on the shoulders of giants, those people who have come before us...Brooks and Dunn, they always rock it out and they are so deserving. We are happy to be receiving this.” The crowd of peers and fans were just as shocked and excited for this deserving duo to win the award. I have been a big fan of Sugarland since the beginning, and having seen their high energy, rockin’ show live, I was very happy to see them acknowledged with a win in this category.

Horizon Award:
Taylor Swift - Was anyone surprised that 17-year-old teen sensation Taylor Swift was named this year’s Horizon Award winner? Anyone? She excitedly thanked the fans, radio and Brad Paisley, whom she opened for, before giving perhaps the best quote of the night, “This is definitely the highlight of my senior year.” However, since the CMAs, the young star received another huge honor in the form of her first Grammy nomination, a nod in the prestigious best new artist category, alongside the likes of troubled British R&B/pop diva Amy Winehouse.

Album of the Year: (Award goes to artist and producer)
It Just Comes Natural
George Strait
Producers: Tony Brown and George Strait
MCA Nashville

Single of the Year: (Award goes to artist and producer)
“Before He Cheats”
Artist: Carrie Underwood
Producer: Mark Bright
19 Recordings Limited/Arista Records

I was not surprised at all to see this huge hit receive single of the year honors. This song ruled the top of the country charts for nearly a year before enjoying another long run over on the pop/ac charts.

Song of the Year: (Award goes to songwriter and publisher)
“Give It Away”
Songwriters: Bill Anderson, Buddy Cannon and Jamey Johnson
Publishers: Sony, ATV Tree, Mr. Bubba Music, Slow Run Music and EMI Blackwood

Musical Event:
“Find Out Who Your Friends Are”
Artists: Tracy Lawrence featuring Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney
Rocky Comfort Records, CO5

Music Video of the Year: (Award goes to artist and director)
“Online”
Artist: Brad Paisley
Director: Jason Alexander

I was very happy to see the CMA recognize this genius and hilarious video. Brad and company showed off their considerable comedic skills in this video parody.

Musician:
Randy Scruggs – Guitar

The only three categories I missed were the song, album and musical event categories. Don’t get me wrong, King George still has it and is very deserving, I just didn’t think he would win the song and album categories. And I thought the Reba McEntire/Kelly Clarkson duet was a total shoo-in for vocal collaboration. However, Tracy Lawrence’s collaboration with buddies Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney was a huge hit on country radio and had a very long chart run, earning Tracy his first number one single in several years. Having missed only those three categories, I guess you could say I did farely well with my picks this year.

With the CMAs over until next year, it is now time to get ready for the Grammys (February 10, 2008), which rarely showcase the country music categories during the live telecast, and the other two big country music award shows, the CMT Music Awards (April 14, 2008), and the ACMs (May 18, 2008). The ACMs are usually a precursor to the following CMAs and generally have very similar, if not identical, nominee lists in most categories. The Grammy nominations have already been announced (more on that in a future blog entry), and the CMT and ACM nominations should be announced sometime after the first of the year.