Garth Brooks, who lost entertainer of the year at last year’s Country Music Association (CMA) Awards when he returned to music after a 13-year break, won the top prize at the show on Wednesday, where Beyonce and the Dixie Chicks’ surprise duet performance was met with love and hate.
Brooks beat out Carrie Underwood, Chris Stapleton, Keith Urban and last year’s winner, Luke Bryan.
“We are so [expletive] lucky to part of this thing called country music,” Brooks yelled loudly at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
Taylor Swift presented Brooks the award, but she wasn’t the only pop star in the building: Beyonce sang her twangy song Daddy Lessons on a night celebrating the CMA Awards’ 50th anniversary. It was the first time Beyonce, a Houston native, performed at the country awards show. The performance also marked a return for the Dixie Chicks, who hadn’t attended the CMA Awards in some time.
“Everybody get on your feet. Put your hands together,” Beyonce told the crowd.
The diva sported a sheer champagne-coloured dress that plunged in the centre, and wore layered pearls around her neck. Faith Hill sang along, Trisha Yearwood clapped and Miranda Lambert moved side to side during the song, which the Dixie Chicks have also covered at their live shows.
Beyonce and the trio’s appearance, though, wasn’t cheered by everyone: On social media some fans tweeted angrily about the performance — some country music fans have disliked Dixie Chicks since band member Natalie Maines criticised former US President George W. Bush over a decade ago.
The night featured a number of other memorable performances, too: A mix of classic and contemporary country stars kicked off the show, with 12 performances to celebrate its milestone anniversary, which included Randy Travis, Vince Gill, Charley Pride, Roy Clark, Alabama, Charlie Daniels, Ricky Skaggs, Alan Jackson, Dwight Yoakam and Merle Haggard’s youngest son, Ben.
Dolly Parton, who earned the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, was honoured by Reba, Underwood, Martina McBride, Jennifer Nettles and Kacey Musgraves, who all sang a rousing rendition of I Will Always Love You.
“I would have cried, but I didn’t want to mess up my eyelashes,” said Parton, sporting a bright yellow dress.
Chris Stapleton, who won big at last year’s show, was the night’s top winner with two: He took home male vocalist and music video of the year.
“What a wonderful night ... I’ve cried just watching everybody,” said Stapleton, who walked into the show as the top nominee along with Eric Church and newcomer Maren Morris.
Underwood won female vocalist of the year, ending Lambert’s six-year consecutive winning streak since 2010.
“Glory to God, thank you Jesus,” said a teary Underwood, who also thanked her husband and son.
Church won album of the year for Mr. Misunderstood and Morris picked up new artist of the year.
“Last year, I sat across the street at a bar and watched this show. I never thought as a songwriter I’d be standing here today,” she said.
A number of celebrities were in the audience and presented awards, including Matthew McConaughey, Peyton Manning, Jennifer Garner, Olivia Newton-John, Nicole Kidman, Lily Tomlin, Sharon Stone and the Final Five Olympic gymnasts: Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Hernandez and Madison Kocian.
Paisley and Underwood, returning as hosts for the ninth time, told jokes about politics, WikiLeaks, Brangelina’s break-up and more.
“We’re so sick of politics, we don’t even care who wins,” they sang in harmony. At one point, Paisley called Underwood a “nasty woman,” mocking Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The three-hour-plus show, which aired on ABC, also featured performances by George Strait, Brooks & Dunn, Jason Aldean and Little Big Town, who sang their new song Better Man, written by Swift.
The first award of the night went to Thomas Rhett, who won single of the year for Die a Happy Man.
“I gotta first thank the Lord ... my lovely wife in the blue dress” she was the full inspiration of this song,” said Rhett.
Lori McKenna won song of the year for writing Tim McGraw’s Humble and Kind, a tune she said was based on a prayer she wrote for her five children. McKenna co-wrote Little Big Town’s megahit Girl Crush, earning a Grammy Award this year and last year’s song of the year honour at the CMAs.
“I have a job in this town because of this guy’s wife, Faith Hill,” said McKenna, who was escorted to the stage by McGraw.
Kenny Chesney, who released a new album last week, earned the Pinnacle Award. Little Big Town and Brothers Osborne won vocal group and vocal duo of the year, respectively, while Dierks Bentley and Elle King’s Different for Girls won musical event of the year.
Highlights
HONOURING THE TWANG
The CMAs elegantly straddled the line between nostalgia and mouldy oldies by making elegant nods to past idols and educating new country fans to artists who paved the way like Loretta Lynn, Vince Gill, George Strait and Barbara Mandrell. Old clips from previous shows honoured those who have died. And when married couple Brooks and Trisha Yearwood performed an epic medley of country standards, it ended with a lip lock that seemed rooted in genuine love and respect. All night, it was fun to see so many artists in the audience singing along to classics being performed onstage like Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.
SONGS, SONGS, SONGS
Full credit goes to organisers for front-loading a tonne of live music right from the top. A portion of a dozen songs — from Alabama’s Mountain Music to Reba’s Fancy and Carrie Underwood’s Stand By Your Man — took a blistering 10 minutes and gracefully ended with the microphone in the hands of Randy Travis, who has been rehabilitating after a 2013 stroke, and he joined in on the last lines of the song. When Thomas Rhett won single of the year award, he said the sequence left him in tears. The rest of the night was virtually wall-to-wall music, as it should have been.
ROASTED POLITICIANS
Trump and Hillary Clinton both came in for some gentle jokes. Co-hosts Brad Paisley and Underwood pulled out a duffel bag they called a “basket of deplorables,” which Clinton used to describe some Trump supporters. (Inside was “camo and ammo”). Paisley, meanwhile, channelled Trump when he announced: “This show is rigged!” He said he’d accept the results — only if he won, though he wasn’t nominated for any awards — and referred to his co-host as a “nasty woman” and “crooked Carrie”. Later, he jokingly called Jason Aldean and Brooks & Dunn “bad hombres”. None of the presenters or performers got in on the act, avoiding any politics just days before the election.
PRODUCTION VALUES
The CMAs pulled out all the stops to make their birthday look elegant. Sometimes, it worked well, as when Tim McGraw’s Humble and Kind was accompanied by a montage of diverse American faces and when Kelsea Ballerini performed her hit Peter Pan in front of two dancers who did an elegant ballet combining muscular aerial work on wires. But sometimes it crashed, as when Little Big Town performed Better Man in what looked like a hay field with a wind machine on full force. It was poorly lit, the well-dressed group seemed uncomfortable and it looked like they were performing in truck exhaust.
