Blog readers are predicting that The Entertainer of the Year will go to either Kenny Chesney or Keith Urban. It would be Kenny's 3rd consecutive win, and with a previous win added in, it would be his 4th, which would tie him with Garth Brooks.
The Red Carpet arrivals: Your co-hostess Carrie Underwood.
Carrie's costume change tally: I I I I I I I+ the red carpet.
Co-host Brad Paisley's wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley arrives with her red carpet date, sister Ashley, since her other half was inside preparing to open the show:
Nominee Keith Urban and his wife / presenter Nicole Kidman:
Country Couple #2: Julianne Hough and Chucks Wicks appear as a public couple.
Co-Host Brad Paisley finishes dressing as he opens the show. See how long it takes to get dressed Brad? Now you know why you have to wait on a woman. 
PERFORMANCES:
Brad Paisley / Keith Urban "Start A Band" Those two should just tour together. Great guitarists. First time performance together.
Kelli Pickler "The Best Days of Your Life" new single co-written with Taylor Swift. Black leather mini-dress and stiletto boots should be as memorable as last year's red dress. 
Alan Jackson "Good Time" The man has 79 CMA Award nominations to his credit. Nice touch to follow the theme of the video and have all the line dancers in the aisles.
Miranda Lambert "More Like Her" Sweet acoustic performance from the girl who's lit up the stage at past shows.
Lady Antebellum "Love Don't Live Here" Nominated for the New Artist Award.
Martina McBride "Ride" Always fun to have an upbeat new single from Martina. She also went shopping at the stiletto boot store. Like all the ladies, bedazzled in lovely jewels.
Rodney Atkins "It's America" New single from another "new artist" nominee who's been paying his dues with hits that date back to "Honesty (Write Me a List)"
Taylor Swift "Love Story" Theatrics come to the CMA stage as Taylor recreates her fairy tale video with dancers and her band dressed in period costumes, then pulls a quick change from a purple gown to a white dress at the bridge. Justin Gaston, the video romeo, made a cameo at the end.
Kid Rock "All Summer Long" During the intro Carrie Underwood wondered if he'd wear a shirt. Yes. A Tennessee Titans jersey. Guitarist's "Joe the Strummer" shirt was a cute touch. First standing ovation of the night.
George Strait "River of Love" Pure class from a CMA favorite. The stage was just barely big enough for the talent of the Ace in the Hole Band.
Jason Aldean "She's Country" Energetic introductory performance of new single from upcoming 3rd album - nominated as "new artist".
Brad Paisley - acoustic tribute to Jerry Reed.
Brooks and Dunn with Reba McEntire "Cowgirls Don't Cry" Classic performance from the trio of old friends who always sound great together.
Darius Rucker "Don't Think I Don't Think About It" Late-added performance put Darius in front of his industry and peers for largely the first time.
Brad Paisley "Waitin' On A Woman" Reigning Male Vocalist, co-host, and Entertainer of the Year nominee deserves two performances.
Keith Urban "Sweet Thing" New single from upcoming album played in front of his real life sweet thing, Nicole Kidman. 2nd standing ovation of the night.
Carrie Underwood "Just A Dream" Now that was a surprise special guest: an introduction by Leslie Ponder, an average American woman who had lost her husband during the war in Afghanistan. That took guts to get up there and talk about her husband who has only been gone three years. She did a great job and touched the audience who rewarded her with a standing ovation for an introduction. Carrie wore the giant emerald - the $60,000,000 necklace. She was rewarded with nothing less than a standing ovation.
Sugarland "I Say It's Love" Keeping with the night's theme of introducing new music, the lighted umbrellas sure added an artistic touch to the stage for the already double CMA winner.
James Otto "Just Got Started Loving You" First CMA performance for the man with his first #1 hit this year. Also a new artist nominee, an award conceded to Lady Antebellum earlier in the show.
Kenny Chesney with the Wailers "Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven" Heavenly performance that transported the audience right into the tropics, punctuated by Brad Paisley's joke about vacuuming up sand in the dressing room. Fun to have The Wailers blend in "Don't Worry 'Bout a Thing, Every Little Thing Is Gonna Be Alright." Gotta have a standing ovation for that fun number.
Trace Adkins "You're Gonna Miss This" Trace always thought it was odd that performers would use the coveted performance slot on unfamiliar music rather than doing the song that they're nominate for. So Trace did the song that garnered the nominations over his current single. The audience is just spending its night on its feet now.
The Eagles "Too Busy Being Fabulous" Second year CMA performance equals the second single form earlier this year for the legendary group who blew up the country charts last year with the hit "How Long" and a top-selling album. It was a great year for the Eagles, and they earned the nomination for Group of the Year, but it wasn't enough to unseat Rascal Flatts who took the award earlier in the night. And yes, the audience is still not real fond of sitting down at the end of songs.
AWARDS:
Nicole Kidman / Hugh Jackman present Single of the Year: George Strait "I Saw God Today" George's 3rd win in the category.
Billy Ray Cyrus / Miley Cyrus present Song of the Year: "Stay" written by Jennifer Nettles for Sugarland.
Heidi Newfield / John Rich present Vocal Group of the Year: Rascal Flatts. 6th win in the category. Since Brooks and Dunn gave up their namesake award last year, this one will have to be renamed the "Rascal Flatts Award."
Taylor Swift passed the New Artist crown to Lady Antebellum. Charles Kelly, Dave Heywood, and Hillary Scott were thrilled for their first CMA performance and win, as were their moms in the audience.
Jake Owen, Jimmy Wayne, and Julianne Hough presented Vocal Duo of the Year: the former Brooks and Dunn award went to Sugarland for the second year in a row. The tides of country music have changed.
Off the air, Mac McAnally, Kenny Chesney's new duet partner, won the Musician of the Year award.
Josh Turner and Lee Ann Womack present Album of the Year: George Strait Troubadour. 8th win in the category.
Off the air, Brad Paisley won Video of the Year for co-starring in "Waitin' on a Woman" with Andy Griffith.
Off the air, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant won Vocal Event of the Year for "Gone, Gone, Gone."
Vince Gill introduced the year's Country Music Hall of fame inductees, Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, The Statler Brothers, and Ernest "Pop" Stoneman. Presentation for Female Vocalist of the Year: Carrie Underwood. 3rd win in the category.
Reese Witherspoon presented the Male Vocalist of the Year to Brad Paisley. That makes a match set of repeat wins for the hosts. That had to be one of the cutest acceptance moments when Brad took the time to run into the audience to kiss his wife and unborn baby, yet he was intercepted by Keith Urban who surely believed that jog of exuberance was meant for him! 
My, my, my ... Shania Twain was the special guest, in house to present the Entertainer of the Year. Let's see if you're right.....Shania is talking.... hinting that it's really good to see everyone again real soon ...... 
YES YOU ARE! ! Kenny Chesney! 
Seemingly distracted by Shania "you look really good" Twain, Kenny remained humble through his heartfelt acceptance speech thanking those close to him in his organization. 
Not a lot of surprises in tonight's show. Apparently CMA voters were not looking for change. Aside from songs and albums which are new every year, the only new winner was in the artist based categories was Lady Antebellum, because Taylor Swift cannot have the New Artist award two years in row. Overall, a very traditional show, spiced up by some young music. Brad and Carrie served well as hosts, interjecting some humor with some realism while trying to keep up with the teleprompter. Good representation of country music. Highlights were surely the performances. But Shania Twain's back in town, huh? Could this be a sign that the status quo is about to shift to the next phase of country music? Historically, every time the pendulum swings, it knocks the longtime winners down a couple of notches.
1 comment:
when they were introducing George Strait, Carrie anticipated something being said by Brad(saw it on teleprompter) and SHOVED! him out of the way and said something along the line of..."no brad, you're not going there, it's not that kind of show, especially when you're talking about our king". Do you think it was going to be an "off color" punchline to his statement about all the guys wanting to (be) George (and all the women wanting to (do) George?) That's how I took it...how bout you?
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