CMA's 2005 Recap....

So, the CMA awards moved to New York City this year, and I guess they had a good shindig of it. For the most part, it was a good country show, with some good performances, a couple surprises, and only a few “What the?” moments. The highlights: Lee Ann Womack picked up 3 awards. Remember my blog entry waaaay back saying how good her album There’s More Where That Came From was? Well, looks like I wasn’t the only one who thought that. Oddly enough, after winning Single of the Year, Album of the Year and Vocal Event of the year with George Strait, she didn’t win Female Vocalist – that went to Gretchen Wilson. I thought that was a surprise considering how new Gretchen is and the push Womack was getting. Brad Paisley sung a great new tune When I Get To Where I’m Goin’. They kind of faked the audience out with what sounded like Alison Kraus backing vocals on the chorus, but she didn’t come out on stage even though the audience applauded like they thought she would. The song though, had some great lyrics: When I get where I’m going, on the far side of the sky, The first thing that I’m gonna do, is spread my wings and fly…. Going to walk with my Granddad, and he’ll match me step for step, And I’ll tell him how I missed him every minute since he left, and then I’ll hug his neck, Yeah when I get where I’m goin’, there’ll be only happy tears, I will shed the sins and struggles I have carried all these years, Yeah, I’ll leave my heart wide open, I will love and have no fear Yeah, when I get where I’m going, don’t cry for me down here… Wish I could have heard more of Willie Nelson and Norah Jones on Still Crazy after all these years… Song of the Year went to Whiskey Lullaby writers Bill Anderson and Jon Randall. It was really great to see a solid country tune like that win Song of the Year. I’m a big fan of the song and the video, so it’s good to see some of the award deciders in Nashville still have some good taste. The big event of the night was a Garth Brooks return in Times Square singing his tribute to the late Chris Ledoux, Good Ride Cowboy. Garth rocked New York City one more time and proved he’s still got it as he performed the song with Chris’s road band, Western Underground. Wonder if this is the first step in a Garth comeback? Kris Kristofferson introduced Martina McBride to sing his song Help Me Make It Through the Night from her latest album Timeless. She did a pretty good job of it, though I still like Kris singing it better. She did prove though how good a singer she is when she’s not singing pop… Really surprised that Vocal Duo of the Year award went to Brooks and Dunn and not Big and Rich. Big & Rich had a much bigger year, but maybe the CMA association isn’t quite ready for their brand of ‘country’ yet, or they’re waiting to see if they go the way of the Kentucky Headhunters… Sugarland came on next to perform – thank goodness I recorded it and can skip ahead…hey was that Bon Jovi in there? With Sugarland? Um, ok…next…. Faith and Tim performed their latest Like We Never Loved at All, written by Big & Rich’s John Rich. They did a good job of it, but it seemed like Faith’s voice cracked a couple times hitting some of those notes. Still like the song though… Glen Campbell was inducted into the hall of fame as was Alabama. Hall of fame? Already? I must be getting old. Nice to see these guys get the nod though. Miranda Lambert came on with the song Kerosene. Rocked it out, including tossing her guitar to a stagehand and pyrotechnics and fire on the stage. Still, all I could think about was that somewhere Steve Earle should be getting royalties… Keith Urban lit it up with the song Better Life, then went on to win the next announced award for Male Vocalist of the Year. Good to see these CMA guys are starting to think a little more like me (haha) Alison Kraus performed a good country / bluegrass tune and then apparently sent the Yahoo search buzz upward with her ‘sort of’ see through dress. I don’t know about that, but she looked good and sound good like always… Good pick with Dierks Bentley winning the Horizon Award for best newcomer. A little odd considering he’s been around a couple years now and has 2 albums out, but at least he won something. Wasn’t a big fan of the first album’s singles, but he got a new fan with the 2 singles so far from his Modern Day Drifter album… Rascal Flatts won Vocal Group of the Year. Ok. Moving on… In the “What the?” moment of the night, they brought out Elton John. On the CMA’s. Ok. At least they teamed him with probably the only country performer who could pull off the segment successfully in Dolly Parton. Would have rather heard an original Dolly number by herself though… Then, it was time for the big award of the night – Entertainer of the Year. Presented by Shania Twain and Billy Joel, I thought this was a foregone conclusion to go to Kenny Chesney after the money year he had. I’ll bet I wasn’t the only one expecting that either. Then from a group including Alan Jackson, Toby Keith and Brad Paisley, the CMA’s pull the biggest surprise of the night out of nowhere and award Entertainer to Keith Urban! Alright!! Considering Keith’s acceptance speech, I wasn’t the only one surprised. He started with “Thank you very much. Wow. I’m completely weirded out at the moment.” Nice that he won it with his Mom there to see it too. Anyway, maybe the CMA’s realize they’ve got a good thing here with Urban connecting with a young crowd (read: disposable cash) and better promote the heck out of it. Either way, it’s good to see someone who’s a musician, singer, and songwriter who’s worked really hard to get to this point win the big award… And that’s about it for the CMA’s. Enjoy this recent run of awarding good country music, ‘cause it’s probably only a matter of time before they start moving back towards pop. It’s a cyclical thing – they always do…