Advertisement

firehouse pizza banner

Against The Grain by: Andy Sullivan

The 46th annual CMA Awards were held Thursday November 1st.  Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and Eric Church kicked off the show performing “The Only Way I Know” from Aldean’s Night Train album.  After a funny skit by hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood, they introduced Tim McGraw to sing his new single “One Of These Nights”. 
Newcomer Jana Kramer and Jake Owen presented Thompson Square with Vocal Duo of the Year, their very first CMA award.  That must’ve been very exciting for them! Miranda Lambert performed “Fastest Girl In Town” next.  Afterwards, Zac Brown Band performed a personal favorite, “Goodbye In Her Eyes”.  Brad introduced a solid performance by Dierks Bentley, followed by a performance by the Band Perry.  I began to notice this year’s show was heavy on performances, with which I was totally cool.
Eric Church, who would go onto win Album of the Year for Chief(a great album), performed his hit “Springsteen”, to a great ovation.  Kellie Pickler and Darius Rucker presented Song of the Year to Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert for “Over You”, a very emotional song written by the pair after Blake’s brother passed.  Brad Paisley played the theme to the Andy Griffith Show. It was tribute to his late friend, Andy Griffith.
Little Big Town performed another favorite of mine, their big hit “Pontoon”. Music Video of the Year was presented before the show to Toby Keith for “Red Solo Cup”.  In my opinion, there was no better video in 2012.  Connie Smith, who was in attendance, was recognized as a newly minted member of the Country Music Hall Of Fame.  I was a little disappointed that Garth Brooks, another 2012 inductee, wasn’t there.  I figured he’d perform.
Faith Hill performed her new single, “American Heart”, with an American flag as back-drop.  Zac Brown joined Keith Urban to perform Keith’s single “Georgia Woods”, from Keith’s latest album.  I thought they sounded great together.  Band Perry presented Justin Beiber, I mean Hunter Hayes (I feel he’s the Beiber of Country), with New Artist of the Year. Brad Paisley performed his latest hit “Southern Comfort Zone” from his upcoming album.  Carrie Underwood performed her new single, the title track to her album “Blown Away”.  I found it interesting that both Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift were shut out of the CMA’s this year.  Suffering from a bit of overkill, perhaps?
Olympian Shawn Johnson and Scotty McCreary presented Little Big Town with Vocal Group of the Year.  After a song by Vince Gill and Kelly Clarkson, Martina McBride presented Blake Shelton with his 3rd CMA Male Vocalist award.  The women of the television show Nashville (great show, btw, Wednesday at 9 pm on ABC) presented Miranda Lambert with CMA Female Vocalist of the Year. 
There was a great tribute to Willie Nelson, who was receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award.  Some of Willie’s greatest hits were performed by today’s artists.  Lady A performed “Always On My Mind”, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban performed “Whiskey River”, Tim and Faith sang “Good Hearted Woman (would’ve sounded better if Blake and Miranda performed it).  Willie took the stage to play “On The Road Again” with all the other artists. 
Last Man Standing star Tim Allen and Malibu Country star(and Country legend) Reba presented Entertainer of the Year to a clearly shocked Blake Shelton.  I told you he and Miranda were going to have a big night! There are always highs and lows to the CMA’s.  It’s a definite fact that Blake and Miranda experienced some tremendous highs on this night.

Hello, my name is Andy Sullivan. I received my bachelor’s degree in business from Mid-Continent University in May 2009. I began writing for Beech Tree News in July 2009.  I enjoy playing guitar, the occasional Wii game, writing, and listening to music. I write a sports blog that can be found at http://www.tumblr.com/blog/sports-news-and-views.   If you have a comment, feel free to leave it in the space below.

Tags: 


Bookmark and Share

Advertisements