Country Music Awards Review

The 50th annual Country Music Awards took place last night, airing from Nashville, Tennessee.

While the biggest names in country from the past ten years still held reign, some places opened up for new artists, some of which were surprising. Let’s go through the highlights of the entire show:

Opening Sequence

Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood opened the show with a medley of songs from past Entertainer of the Year winners such as Charley Pride (1971), Roy Clark (1973), Alabama (1982-1984), Reba McEntire (1986), Ricky Skaggs (1985),Alan Jackson (2002-2003), as well as Vince Gill (1993-1994). They also mocked the past presidential election with a few jokes about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, making them similar to every other host until the end of time, since this is clearly the most mockable election yet.

Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton was honored with the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award. Martina McBride, Pentatonix, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Nettles, Kacey Musgraves, and Reba McEntire all helped perform a medley of her songs to introduce her to the stage and Parton even made a Nelson joke “For me to be receiving the Willie Nelson award, this is an absolute high for me,” she said.

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Garth Brooks Takes It Home

Garth Brooks received the honorable Entertainer of the Year award, Taylor Swift presenting for it. His career has spanned since the 1980’s and just this year he released his brand new studio album Gunslinger. This has been his 16th studio album and he and his wife, Trisha Yearwood, performed a medley together at the show.

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And who can talk about this year’s CMA show without mentioning:

Beyonce and the Dixie Chicks Stole The Show

After a lot of speculation on whether or not Beyonce would perform at the show, she showed up and absolutely killed it. Performing “Daddy’s Lessons” with the Dixie Chicks, she showed up and completely blew the roof off the place. The song was changed slightly to fit more into a country vibe and Bey switched several lines with the Dixie Chicks but over all it was definitely the performance of the night, one that will be hard to forget.

Here are the following winners of the night:

Entertainer of the Year: Garth Brooks

Male Vocalist of the Year: Chris Stapleton

Musician of the Year: Dann Huff

Female Vocalist of the Year: Carrie Underwood

Pinnacle Award: Kenny Chesney

Vocal Group of the Year: Little Big Town

Vocal Duo of the Year: Brothers Osbourne

Album of the Year: Eric Church — Mr. Misunderstood

New Artist of the Year: Maren Morris

Song of the Year: Lori McKenna — “Humble and Kind”

Single of the Year: Thomas Rhett — “Die a Happy Man”

Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award: Dolly Parton

Music Video of the Year: Chris Stapleton and Tim Mattia — “Fire Away”

Musical Event of the Year: Dierks Bentley and Elle King — “Different for Girls”

By Irina Alejandro