Before I get into my recap of the 49th Annual CMA awards show, I wanna ask what everyone else thought of the show? Is it just me or was the most of the performances awful tonight? And don’t even get me started on Brad and Carrie’s hosting duties tonight. And what about some of the winners? More specifically, who is Chris Stapleton and why did he win awards tonight that should have gone to someone else? I don’t know, maybe it is just me. Let me know your thoughts. I have added the list of nominees and the winners below the 49th Annual CMA awards recap!
Related: THE 49TH ANNUAL CMA AWARDS AIRS WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH
The 49th Annual CMA Awards Recap
So the opening of the show features Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley in a Star Wars theme skit. She was Princess Carrie Fisher (get it??) and he was Hero Guitar Solo. We saw Darius Rucker as a Storm Trooper and Luke Bryan as Garth Vader. Weird! Not sure of the purpose of this!
The 49th annual CMA show’s opening act was Hank Williams Jr and Eric Church performing a cover of Neil Young’s song Are You Ready. I am not a fan of either of them but it was a decent performance.
Next up was John Mellencamp and Keith Urban, who performed Mellencamp’s song Ain’t That America. Mellencamp is aging, but he can still sing great.
That led into Keith Urban singing solo to his song, John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16. Appropriate song considering he just sang with John Cougar Mellencamp, now just John Mellencamp. I loved Urban’s performance; that man can play a mean guitar. Amazing!
Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley are announced as the hosts. They start off with a duet that is a take on Willie Nelson’s Crazy, but they call it Cray Cray instead. They included the fact that McDonald’s does breakfast all day now and that Bruce Jenner is a babe now. I thought that their openings in previous years were so much better than this. There was no punchline like they usually have. Next, they talk about couples who split this year like Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner and Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy. Brad says that on an unrelated note, he wants to say hi to Blake Shelton. I liked that and Blake just laughs it off. They talk about the positives like Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean and Kelsea Ballerini.
Steve Martin and Eddie Brickell are the presenters for Single of the Year, which went to Little Big Town for Girl Crush. I love that song, and the award was well-deserved.
Brad and Carrie do a short skit about Little Jimmy Dickens, including a montage of videos featuring Dickens.
Zac Brown Band takes the stage to perform Beautiful Drug. I wasn’t impressed with this performance even though I like them. I thought it had rough vocal patches.
Kenny Chesney is next to take the stage with his son Save It For a Rainy Day. I liked this performance and loved the tiki hut that was displayed on the screen behind him.
Next up on stage was Sam Hunt, singing his hit song Take Your Time. Performance was lovely but didn’t like the outfit he was wearing, donning a priest-like collar along with black shirt over a white shirt.
Miss America Betty Cantrell and Darius Rucker took the stage to present the award for Song of the Year, which went to Little Big Town with Girl Crush. This award actually goes to the songwriters: Lori McKenna, Liz Rose and Hillary Lindsey.
Little Big Town takes the stage to perform Girl Crush, kind of ironic since that song just now won Song of the Year. As always, they played the song amazingly well. I loved how the four of them all matched with some sort of silver and black in their outfits.
Brett Eldredge and Cam are onstage to present the award for New Artist of the Year for the 49th CMA award show, which went to Chris Stapleton. Now I am a huge country music fan and I have never heard of him. I am disappointed that he won over Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett. Not to mention radio doesn’t even play Stapleton’s songs.
Beautiful Carrie Underwood takes the stage singing her new hit song Smoke Break. I love this video but I am not really crazy about this song live.
Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake perform onstage. I know that many people liked this song and this performance but I just wasn’t feeling it. Stapleton begins with his song Tennessee Whiskey, with wife Morgan singing on background vocals and Justin coming in on the second verse. The two then sing Timberlake’s song Drink You Away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KkoYOexplQ
Florida Georgia Line is up performing their new single Confession. I am a huge, huge fan of FGL but what the heck was that they were singing? Very disappointed.
Cole Swindell and two women from the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team were presenters of Duo of the Year award, which went to Florida Georgia Line. Well- deserved of course.
Eric Church takes the stage for his performance of Mr. Misunderstood. He has a surprise album out today. This song is typical Eric Church, a song with country-rock roots.
Another collaboration song with Thomas Rhett and Fall Out Boy. They sang Rhett’s song Crash and Burn and Fall Out Boy’s Uma Thurman. Not impressed at all, even though I like Rhett and I like Fall Out Boy, just not together.
Keifer Sutherland and Lee Ann Womack presented the award for Album of the Year to Chris Stapleton’s Traveller. Again, what? How did he win against greats like Jason Aldean and Little Big Town? Am I missing something here?
Brad Paisley performs his song Country Nation. I think his voice got lost in the instruments. I did like the mascots on the bleachers behind him. Cute!
Blake Shelton is onstage singing his new song, Gonna. WOW! I think this is the first performance of the night I really liked, I mean really, really liked. Great song Blake!
Maddie and Tae take the stage for their song Girl in a Country Song. Again not impressed.
Luke Bryan takes the stage to sing his hit song, Strip It Down. I love this song, and I love Luke, but he sounds a bit flat in some spots.
Pentatonix is presenting the award for Vocal Group of the Year, which went to Little Big Town. Again, well deserved award. They are an amazing group. Before presenting the award, Pentatonix did a cute rendition of the Oak Ridge Boys’ song Elvira.
Miranda Lambert (love her) is onstage performing Bathroom Sink. This is not Miranda at all. She looks tired and emotional and run-down. This is a great song and one she wrote herself.
My man Jason Aldean takes the stage to perform Gonna Know We Were Here. Again, love him but wasn’t impressed with the performance. He sounded like he couldn’t keep up with the song and the instruments were louder than he was singing.
Kacey Musgraves was on stage with her song Dime Store Cowgirl. I like this song, and I like her. She writes most of her songs herself.
Dierks Bentley is up with his song Riser, accompanied talented violinist Lindsey Stirling. I love Dierks and I love this song of his. Lindsey has so much talent on the violin.
Charles Kelley from Lady Antebellum and Hannah Davis, a model presented the award for Female Vocalist of the Year, which went to Miranda Lambert. Miranda said during her acceptance speech that she needed a bright spot this year.
Next onstage is Reba McIntire with Brooks and Dunn with a medley of Why Haven’t I Heard From You and Play Something Country. It was a fun and energetic performance.
Jennifer Nettles and Erika Christenson presented the award for Male Vocalist of the Year. Can we guess who won this award? Yes, Chris Stapleton. I just don’t get it.
The final award of the night, Entertainer of the Year, was presented by Reba McIntire. The award went to Luke Bryan. Awesome! This is the second year he wins this award.
And that is a wrap for the 49th CMA awards.
Here are the nominees and winners for the 49th annual CMA Awards:
Entertainer of the Year OF THE 49th annual CMA awards
Garth Brooks
Luke Bryan (My prediction for the winner) – WINNER!
Kenny Chesney
Eric Church
Miranda Lambert
Female Vocalist of the Year the 49th annual CMA awards
Kelsea Ballerini
Miranda Lambert- WINNER!
Kacey Musgraves
Carrie Underwood (My prediction for winner)
Lee Ann Womack
Male Vocalist of the Year
Dierks Bentley
Luke Bryan (My prediction for winner)
Eric Church
Blake Shelton
Chris Stapleton- WINNER!
Vocal Group of the Year the 49th annual CMA awards
Lady Antebellum
Little Big Town- WINNER!
Rascal Flatts (My prediction for winner)
The Band Perry
Zac Brown Band
Vocal Duo of the Year
Brothers Osborne
Dan & Shay
Florida Georgia Line (My prediction for the winner) – WINNER!
Maddie & Tae
Thompson Square
New Artist of the Year the 49th annual CMA awards
Kelsea Ballerini
Sam Hunt
Maddie & Tae
Thomas Rhett (My prediction for winner)
Chris Stapleton- WINNER!
Album of the Year the 49th annual CMA awards
Old Boots, New Dirt- Jason Aldean (My prediction for winner)
Pageant Material- Kacey Musgraves
Pain Killer- Little Big Town
The Big Revival- Kenny Chesney
Traveller- Chris Stapleton- WINNER!
Single of the Year the 49th annual CMA awards
American Kids- Kenny Chesney
Girl Crush- Little Big Town- WINNER!
I Don’t Dance- Lee Brice (My prediction for winner)
Take Your Time- Sam Hunt
Talladega- Eric Church
Song of the Year the 49th annual CMA awards
American Kids- written by Rodney Clawson, Luke Laird and Shane McAnally
Girl Crush- written by Liz Rose, Lori Mckenna and Hillary Lindsey (My prediction for winner) – WINNER!
Like A Cowboy- written by Randy Houser and Brice Long
Like A Wrecking Ball- written by Eric Church and Casey Beathard
Take Your Time- written by Sam Hunt, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne
Musical Event of the Year the 49th annual CMA awards
Django and Jimmie- Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard
Lonely Tonight- Blake Shelton featuring Ashley Monroe
Raise Em Up- Keith Urban featuring Eric Church (My prediction for winner) – WINNER!
Smokin’ and Drinkin’- Miranda Lambert featuring Little Big Town
Wild Child- Kenny Chesney with Grace Potter
Music Video of the Year
Biscuits- Kacey Musgraves
Girl Crush- Little Big Town (My prediction for winner)
Girl in A Country Song- Maddie & Tae- WINNER!
Little Red Wagon- Miranda Lambert
Something in the Water- Carrie Underwood
Did you watch the 49th Annual CMA Awards yesterday? Do you have anything else to add to this recap? Did you enjoy it or was it a disappointment?
This is my favorite CMA awards show and I agree that the banter and jokes with Brad and Carrie were not as good this year, but I still love them together. So many of my favorites won this year, and I was surprised that Garth won this year,but he is really good!
i saw a clip of Timberlake singing – he looked good AND he can sing country!
Nice recap. I didn’t watch them so this is nice to read and find out the winners.
Miranda Lambert is really talented. I think she’d be one of my favorites from this list.