November 2, 2012
By Aaron Short
The 46th annual CMA Awards are in the books. With surprising winners, great performances and one heck of a tribute to the great Willie Nelson, this will be one to remember. Oh yea, Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood did a pretty good job hosting again also.
The night opened with a performance from Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean and Eric Church singing “The Only Way We Know.” That set the stage. Brad and Carrie then opened with their introduction for the 5th consecutive year, poking fun at Taylor Swift and her relationship/break up with Connor Kennedy, a “Moves Like Haggard” parody song and Brad explaining to Carrie what “motor-boating” really meant. We also got to see The Band Perry debut their new single while Eric Church performed his number one hit “Springsteen” which he altered to feature a little snippet of the Boss’s “Born to Run.”
One of the big highlights of the night was a tribute to Willie Nelson where artists like Blake Shelton, Lady Antebellum and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill(braces and all) teamed up to sing a few Willie covers in honor of the legend. Willie also received the first ever Willie Nelson Life Time Achievement award, much deserved for the long time country ambassador.
And perhaps the one thing to not take for granted last night; it was really up in the air on who was going to win what award, which is always nice. Taylor Swift went home empty handed for crying out loud! Who would’ve thought? As they say for all those without hardware after last night, there is always next year.
Here are the winners of the 46th Annual CMA Awards, in case you missed it, or if you played the CMA Awards drinking game and can’t remember anything…
Entertainer of the Year
Blake Shelton
Album of the Year
Eric Church,Chief
Male Vocalist
Blake Shelton
Female Vocalist
Miranda Lambert
Vocal Group of the Year
Little Big Town
Single of the Year
"Pontoon," Little Big Town
Song of the Year (Award to Songwriter)
"Over You," Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert (Writers)
Musical Event
"Feel Like a Rock Star," Kenny Chesney duet with Tim McGraw
Vocal Duo
Thompson Square
New Artist
Hunter Hayes
Music Video
"Red Solo Cup," Toby Keith