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Thursday, November 12, 2020
Eric Church, Luke Combs and Maren Morris Among The 54th Annual CMA Awards Big Winners
The Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker hosted ceremony kicked off with an emotional tribute to country great Charlie Daniels, who unexpectedly died in July of a hemorrhagic stroke. Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Brothers Osborne and Ashley McBryde delivered a show-stopping medley of Daniels’ songs including “Trudy,” “Texas,” “Long Haired Country Boy” and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”
This year’s CMA Awards presented a mix of in-person and pre-recorded performances in front of a social-distanced audience filled with the biggest names in country music.
Not only did the night feature performances from country heavyweights like Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban, and Eric Church, pop artists took the stage as well. Charlie Puth joined Gabby Barrett to perform “I Hope” and Justin Bieber joined Dan + Shay to deliver vocals from their collaboration “10,000 Hours.”
Hosts McEntire and Rucker also took the stage to honor the late Mac Davis who died in September 2020 following heart surgery. Together, the duo debuted their take on Davis’ timeless piece “In The Ghetto,” which he famously penned for Elvis Presley. Country singer and songwriter Joe Diffie, who died this year of COVID-19 complications, was also honored with a performance of his song “Pickup Man” sung by Jon Pardi.
Other notable performances included an homage to the 1980’s Western film Urban Cowboy from Old Dominion. The group performed “Looking For Love” from the movie’s soundtrack, which Rucker credited with changing the world by suddenly having “everybody, everywhere wearing cowboy hats and learning to line dance.”
“There are so many amazing Black women that pioneered and continue to pioneer this genre,” she said. “You have made this genre so, so beautiful. I hope you know that we see you. Thank you for making me so inspired as a singer in this genre.”
Luke Combs followed closely behind Morris, taking home two CMA Awards for Album of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year.
Charley Pride was presented with the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award by Jimmie Allen, who first serenaded the crowd with a snippet of his song “Best Shot” and attributed a lot of his success to the country music hall of famer.
The last award of the night was the highly coveted Entertainer of the Year Award, which Eric Church took home — much to his own surprise.
“I didn’t think I was going to win this,” he said before exiting the stage. “Thank you guys very much.”
He also touched on the current state of the world and shared his belief that music will bring “us out of this.”
“That is the one thing that is gonna save the entire world,” the singer declared.
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood & Thomas Rhett Among Big Winners In 55th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards
Old Dominion won Group of the Year Award for the third consecutive year and won their first Song of the Year Award for “One Man Band” with Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen and Brad Tursi each receiving an additional win as songwriters. This marks two overall wins as a group, with Ramsey, Rosen and Tursi leading the night with three individual wins, each. Miranda Lambert continues her reign as most-awarded artist in ACM Awards history with 35 wins, after taking home this year’s trophy in Music Event of the Year category for “Fooled Around And Fell In Love.” Dan + Shay won Duo of the Year marking their second win in a row in the category.
The evening continued with more first-time wins including Luke Combs earning his first Male Artist of the Year Award and his first-ever win for Album of the Year for What You See Is What You Get. Maren Morris won her first Female Artist of the Year Award and her first Music Event of the Year for “Fooled Around And Fell In Love” alongside Lambert, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes, Caylee Hammack & Elle King. Blake Shelton won Single of the Year Award for “God’s Country” making this his first-ever win in the category.
Previously announced, Riley Green won New Male Artist of the Year and Tenille Townes won New Female Artist of the Year. Townes also won her first Music Event of the Year Award and both performed on the telecast and are featured on the newly released “On The Road Again (ACM Lifting Lives® Edition)” single, Willie Nelson’s timeless hit, featuring the ACM New Artist Nominees Ingrid Andress, Gabby Barrett, Jordan Davis, Russell Dickerson, Lindsay Ell, Caylee Hammack, Cody Johnson, and Morgan Wallen, joined by Nelson. Produced by Ross Copperman and Jimmy Robbins. Proceeds from the single will benefit ACM Lifting Lives COVID-19 Response Fund to be disbursed to individuals in the Country Music community who are currently in need of pandemic relief assistance.
This year’s 55th ACM Awards featured an all-star lineup of collaborations and memorable performances featuring 24 performances, including 41 hit songs. The awards telecast kicked off with Entertainer of the Year nominees performing a medley of each of their greatest hits. Luke Bryan performed “Rain Is A Good Thing,” Eric Church performed “Drink In My Hand,” Luke Combs performed “When It Rains It Pours,” Thomas Rhett performed “It Goes Like This” and Carrie Underwood performed “Before He Cheats.”
Global superstar and two-time ACM Entertainer of the Year, Taylor Swift, returned to the ACM Awards stage for the first time in seven years with a world premiere performance of “betty” off her record-breaking new album Folklore. 55th ACM Awards host Keith Urban performed the world television premiere of his new single, “One Too Many” with international pop icon P!NK, from Urban’s new album out Friday, Speed of Now. Mickey Guyton made her solo ACM Award performance debut with “What Are You Gonna Tell Her?” featuring surprise guest Urban on piano. Blake Shelton featuring Gwen Stefani performed their latest single “Happy Anywhere.” Eric Church opened his performance with “Ragged Old Flag” a poem read by Johnny Cash which led into his single “Stick That In Your Country Song.”
In celebration of the 95th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry, newly crowned three-time ACM Entertainer of the Year winner, Carrie Underwood, honored trailblazing female Opry members by performing a medley of songs including Patsy Cline’s “Crazy,” Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man),” Barbara Mandrell’s “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool,” Martina McBride’s “A Broken Wing,” Reba McEntire’s “The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia,” and Dolly Parton’s “Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ Like That.”
Additional performances included first-time ACM Awards performer Jimmie Allen (“Make Me Want To”), Kelsea Ballerini (“hole in the bottle”), Gabby Barrett (“I Hope”), Kane Brown (“Worldwide Beautiful”), Luke Bryan (“One Margarita”), Luke Combs (“Better Together”), Dan + Shay (“I Should Probably Go To Bed”), Florida Georgia Line (“I Love My Country”), Riley Green (“I Wish Grandpas Never Died”), Miranda Lambert (“Bluebird”) featuring Songwriters Natalie Hemby & Luke Dick, Tim McGraw (“I Called Mama”), Maren Morris (“To Hell & Back”), Old Dominion (Medley of “One Man Band,” “Written in the Sand,” “No Such Thing as a Broken Heart,” “Break Up With Him,” “Snapback,” “Song For Another Time,” “Hotel Key” & “Make It Sweet”), Thomas Rhett featuring Jon Pardi (“Beer Can’t Fix”), Tenille Townes (“Somebody’s Daughter”), and Morgan Wallen (“Whiskey Glasses”). Presenters included Lauren Alaina, Lily Aldridge, Clint Black and Lisa Hartman Black, ACM National Radio Personality of the Year Winner Bobby Bones, Cam, Darius Rucker, Runaway June and CeCe Winans. Rucker also gave a sneak peek of the National Museum of African American Music, scheduled to open this Fall in Downtown Nashville.
For the first time in the show’s history, the 55th ACM Awards took place in Nashville, broadcasting from three iconic Country Music venues: Grand Ole Opry House, Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium and The Bluebird Cafe. Artists who performed from the Ryman include Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett, Riley Green, Maren Morris, Old Dominion, Thomas Rhett featuring Jon Pardi, and Tenille Townes. Performances from the Grand Ole Opry House included Kane Brown, Luke Bryan, Dan + Shay, Eric Church, Florida Georgia Line, Mickey Guyton, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and Morgan Wallen. Artists at The Bluebird Cafe included Jimmie Allen, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert featuring songwriters Natalie Hemby and Luke Dick, and Tim McGraw. Fans also enjoyed a virtual collaboration by Keith Urban and P!NK as well as a virtual Bluebird Cafe performance with Blake Shelton featuring Gwen Stefani. Multi-ACM Award winning artist Trisha Yearwood delivered a special performance from the Opry House of “I’ll Carry You Home” from her critically acclaimed album Every Girl for the In Memoriam, paying tribute to those we have lost in the Country Music industry.
Following is the list of winners in the 13 categories voted on by Academy members:
Entertainer of the Year:
Thomas Rhett
Carrie Underwood
Maren Morris
Luke Combs
Duo of the year
Dan + Shay
Group of the Year
Old Dominion
New Female Artist of the Year
Tenille Townes
New Male Artist of the Year
Riley Green
Album of the Year [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)]
What You See Is What You Get – Luke Combs
Record Label: River House Artists/Columbia Nashville
God’s Country – Blake Shelton
Producer: Scott Hendricks
Record Label: Warner Bros. (Nashville)
Song of the Year [Awarded to Songwriter(s)/Publisher(s)/Artist(s)]
One Man Band – Old Dominion
Songwriter(s): Josh Osborne, Matthew Ramsey, Trevor Rosen, Brad Tursi
Video of the Year [Awarded to Producer(s)/Director(s)/Artist(s)] *(Off Camera Award)
Remember You Young – Thomas Rhett
Director: TK McKamy
Producer: Dan Atchison
Songwriter of the Year *(Off Camera Award)
Hillary Lindsey
Music Event of the Year [Awarded to Artist(s)/Producer(s)/Record Company–Label(s)] *(Off Camera Award)
Fooled Around And Fell In Love – Miranda Lambert Featuring Maren Morris, Ashley McBryde, Tenille Townes, Caylee Hammack & Elle King
Producer: Jay Joyce
Record Label: Vanner Records/RCA Records Nashville
Thursday, November 14, 2019
53rd Annual CMA Awards Celebrates The Women In Country Music - Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris, Ashley McBryde Among Big Winners
Luke Combs and Kacey Musgraves were the nights big winners, each receiving two wins. Last year’s CMA New Artist of the Year winner Combs took home the CMA Male Vocalist of the Year as well as CMA Song of the Year for “Beautiful Crazy,” alongside songwriters Wyatt B. Durrette III and Robert Williford. Musgraves won two trophies—CMA Female Vocalist of the Year as well as CMA Music Video of the Year for “Rainbow,” alongside director Hannah Lux Davis.
Garth Brooks took home the coveted CMA Entertainer of the Year, extending his reign as the most-awarded CMA Entertainer of the Year with seven career wins. CMA New Artist of the Year was awarded to Ashley McBryde, winning for her first ever CMA Awards nomination.
Maren Morris took home her first CMA Album of the Year win for GIRL, alongside producers Greg Kurstin and longtime collaborator busbee, who passed away in September. In her speech, she shared that she’d be remiss “if I didn’t mention a huge facet of why this album sounds the way it does and we miss him so dearly. He texted me the morning we got the nomination for Album of the Year this year and we were so excited and that’s our friend busbee.”
CMA Single of the Year was awarded to Blake Shelton’s “God’s Country,” alongside producer Scott Hendricks and mix engineer Justin Niebank.
Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus won CMA Musical Event of the Year for their record-breaking hit “Old Town Road (Remix),” along with producers YoungKio, Michael Trent Reznor and Atticus Matthew Ross, all first-time CMA Awards nominees alongside Lil Nas X.
Old Dominion extended their reign as CMA Vocal Group of the Year, while Dan + Shay were awarded their first ever CMA Awards win for CMA Vocal Duo of the Year.
Fiddle player Jenee Fleenor made CMA Awards history, marking the first time a woman received a nomination as well as a win in the CMA Musician of the Year category.
In a year that saw unprecedented exposure to Country Music through Ken Burns’ PBS documentary, “Country Music,” the release of groundbreaking new music and the relentless efforts of Country artists touring the world, this year’s CMA Awards celebrated both the genre’s legends and fresh new faces. Willie Nelson teamed with fellow Texan Musgraves to perform “The Rainbow Connection,” a song Musgraves performed as a child. She even shared a video of an early performance days before the ceremony.
The CMA Awards have long been known for unique pairings of pop, rock or rap artists with Country Music stalwarts, always resulting in visually explosive moments on stage. This year was no exception. Halsey and Lady Antebellum demonstrated that great songs know no boundaries as they delivered a mashup of Halsey’s “Graveyard” with Lady Antebellum’s “What If I Never Get Over You,” with Hillary Scott and Halsey trading lines at the end in a potent crescendo. P!NK and Chris Stapleton teamed for an electrifying performance of “Love Me Anyway,” which held the audience spellbound as their burlap and silk vocals intertwined resulting in one of the evening’s most affecting performances.
The CMA Awards’ three leading ladies thrilled the crowd with some of the evening’s most memorable moments. Parton joined forces with award-winning Christian music duo for KING & COUNTRY to render an evocative performance of their hit “God Only Knows” and then sang “There Was Jesus” with Christian hitmaker Zach Williams. Her segment ended on a blockbuster note as Nashville’s Christ Church Choir joined the Country legend for a rousing rendition of “Faith.” McEntire belted out fan favorite “Fancy” with all the explosive sass and style long associated with her iconic hit. Underwood took a break from hosting duties to wow the crowd with a sultry performance of her latest single “Drinking Alone,” from her hit album Cry Pretty.
Girl power was evident throughout the night with the ladies of Country Music delivering some of the most talked about performances of the evening. Seated in the midst of the sold-out audience, Kelsea Ballerini delivered a poignant performance of her rising hit “homecoming queen?” and then segued into Little Big Town’s CMA Award-winning hit “Girl Crush” as the mainstage became filled with a who’s who of Country Music’s most exciting young female artists, including Lindsey Ell, Maddie & Tae, McBryde, Carly Pearce and Runaway June. Little Big Town’s Fairchild, Schlapman, Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook took the stage to finish up their groundbreaking hit. After the performance, she introduced every young artist on stage by name and then said, “Ladies and gentlemen, you’re looking at the future of Country Music.”
Although it was a night that celebrated the talented women in Country Music, the genre’s top male vocalists took their turn center stage for some of the evening’s most magical moments. Thomas Rhett delivered a soulful performance of “Remember You Young” from his latest album Center Point Road. As the set glowed with a backdrop of flames, Blake Shelton roared through an incendiary performance of his chart-topping celebration of rural life “God’s Country.” Armed with just a guitar, Keith Urban turned in a riveting performance of “We Were” and in another understated but effective moment, Eric Church shared “Some of It.”
Saturday, August 17, 2019
That Nashville Sound Saturday Newsbytes: New Projects From Phil Vassar, Miranda Lambert, Hunter Hayes, Old Dominion and Midland
- Phil Vassar will be releasing a new EP right after the first of the year called Stripped Down. It will feature new material as well as a cover of “Postmarked Birmingham,” which was recorded by Blackhawk, and was co-written by Vassar along with Don Sampson. “We’re peeling back the music to the core with just a piano and guitar, so we can give fans an intimate evening of conversation and music. It’s how these songs were written and I think it will be a fun, unique experience,” Vassar shared.
01. White Trash (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby, Laura Veltz)
02. Mess With My Head (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)
03. It All Comes Out in the Wash (Miranda Lambert, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose)
04. Settling Down (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)
05. Holy Water (Miranda Lambert, Brent Cobb, Mike Harris, Joshua Taylor)
06. Way Too Pretty for Prison [feat. Maren Morris] (Miranda Lambert, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose)
07. Locomotive (Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, K.S. Rhoads)
08. Bluebird (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby)
09. How Dare You Love (Miranda Lambert, Jamie Kinney, Ashley Monroe)
10. Fire Escape (Miranda Lambert, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose)
11. Pretty Bitchin’ (Miranda Lambert, Luke Dick, Natalie Hemby, Jon Randall)
12. Tequila Does (Miranda Lambert, Jack Ingram, Jon Randall)
13. Track Record (Miranda Lambert, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Liz Rose)
14. Dark Bars (Miranda Lambert, Liz Rose)
1. Madness (Hunter Hayes, Sam Ellis, Sara Haze)- Old Dominion have announced the details for their long awaited and highly anticipated new album. The album will be self-titled and will be released on October 25th. Lead singer Matt Ramsey has this to say about the new project, "It’s a self-titled album, so we’ve been kind of slowly releasing some songs off of it so everybody can get a little bit of a taste of what it’s gonna sound like. It sounds like us, but it’s definitely gone a little bit of a different direction than it has in the past. But we still love the craft of writing songs and take great care in that, so we’re very proud of all of these songs. I think they just expand who we are as a band, at least we think that way. I think it’s just a natural evolution of who we are as a band and who we are as men, and the period of our lives that we’re in. I think we’ve just become that way – a little bit more introspective and a little bit more honest in our writing. And those were the songs that spoke to us a little bit more. Because we’ve certainly written our fair share of catchy ditties too. So I think those were just the songs that spoke to us a little bit more as we were recording this album.
2. Wild Blue (Hunter Hayes, Troy Verges, Gordie Sampson)
3. Heartbreak (Hunter Hayes, Thomas “Tawgs” Salter, Gordie Sampson, Simon Wilcox)
4. One Good Reason (Hunter Hayes, Sam Ellis)
5. Dear God (Hunter Hayes, Andy Grammer, Dave Spencer)*
6. Loving You (Hunter Hayes, Jordan Reynolds, Dave Barnes)
7. My Song Too (Hunter Hayes, Jordan Reynolds, Dave Barnes)
8. One Shot (Hunter Hayes)**
9. Night and Day (Hunter Hayes, Derrick Southerland, Sam Ellis)
10. Still (Hunter Hayes, Troy Verges, Tommee Profitt)
1. Make It Sweet
2. Smooth Sailing
3. One Man Band
4. Never Be Sorry
5. My Heart Is a Bar
6. Midnight Mess Around
7. Do It With Me
8. Hear You Now
9. I’ll Roll
10. American Style
11. Paint the Grass Green
12. Some People Do
And last, but certainly not least, Midland has a new music video for their new song, "Fast Hearts and Slow Towns":