Well, we weren’t successful in helping Keith Urban score Entertainer of the Year at last night’s Academy of Country Music Awards. Kenny Chesney took the title for the fourth year in a row (then complained backstage that the award’s integrity had been compromised because it was now a "sweepstakes" voted on by the fans). Check out all the grateful winners here. Below, some of my favorite moments, with links where available (until Viacom has them yanked off of YouTube).
1. Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley’s tribute to Eddy Arnold: Judging from that clip of Arnold accepting his ACM Pioneer Award in 1984 – in which he tearfully said, "You have to forgive me, but I never want accolades. All I want to do is sing" – their intimate duet of "Make the World Go Away" was the perfect way to honor him. I thought Paisley sounded better here than he did in his earlier performance of "I’m Still a Guy." Underwood, meanwhile, rocked her solo effort. She opened the show with "Last Name," wearing an Elvis-inspired, bedazzled white jumpsuit.
2. Sugarland’s "All I Wanna Do": Is there a more joyful act in country music than Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush? Kudos to J. Net for sporting a black jumpsuit with controversial fringe from the kneecaps down. (I liked it better than Carrie’s.) Also, she gets props for later thanking their record label for having "big ones enough" to release their tearjerker "Stay" to radio when it had no drums.
3. Miranda Lambert’s performance of "Gunpowder & Lead": The only thing that would have made that better is if those flags had been burnt by the pyrotechnics and fallen to the floor when the gun shot went off. Next time! (Bonus points to her for mouthing "Holy s—" on her way to the stage to accept her award for Album of the Year.)
4. Taylor Swift’s "Should’ve Said No": Like it or not, the girl went for it. I know it’s a far cry from Britney working the pole, but seeing 17-year-old Swift (pictured) soaked on stage, with a Flashdance-style back light illuminating the water hitting her shoulders and flying from her tousled hair made me a little uncomfortable. Then again, so did her hoodied Avril Lavigne-esque anger. George Strait seemed to dig it. As did Kix Brooks, who said, "Dang, I was wantin’ to get out there in that water. Taylor gets to have all the fun." (Ronnie Dunn was speechless.)
5. Ten-time host Reba McEntire expounding on the differences between now and the first time she emceed, in 1986: "Back then, Roger Clemens wasn’t even interested in country music." Uncomfortable laughter from the crowd. "Hey, I don’t care who you are, that’s funny." She continued: "Back then, neither an African-American nor a woman were considered for President of the United States. Of course, they’re still not nominated for Entertainer of the Year either." You go, Miss Reba! She also had an irreverent take on Nicole Kidman’s pregnancy: "We all know, by now, that Keith is going to be a dad. Congratulations. I don’t want to go into all the details of how that all happened, but Nicole Kidman is definitely calling him Entertainer of the Year."
6. Sara Buxton’s "rhythm gasps" to Keith Urban’s "Tu Compania": I got that technical term from EW’s country music expert Chris Willman. (I didn’t even know that was Sara Buxton.)
7. George Strait’s smile during his "Shiftwork" duet with Kenny Chesney:Watching George smile makes me smile. Speaking of George, another note from Willman: "The funniest thing to me was that he never touched the strings on his guitar once during his ‘I Saw God’ song. Does he just have to have the guitar as a prop because he refuses to sing without it? Or was this one of those pre-recorded backing tracks that filled the night and he refused to strum-synch in protest?"
After the jump, three of my least favorite moments:
1. Rodney Atkins’ pitch-challenged medley: I like "If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows)" as much as the next person, but I don’t think I’ll be going to see him live anytime soon. Maybe his earpiece went dead? Who’s seen him in concert and can shed some light?
2. Montgomery Gentry. Sorry, I just don’t get ‘em.
3. Garth Brooks’ greatest hits medley: As Willman noted, "He might as well have just sung the title of each song, for how short the snippets were." At least we got to see Brooks take off his hat (gray hair!) and refer to Miss Reba as "Miss Yearwood" by mistake. (I bet the neckline of Trisha’s dress was still on his mind. Damn!)
Your turn.
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It seemed like there were quite a few performers who had pitch problems: Rodney Atkins, Taylor Swift and Kellie Pickler. Thinking back now, it was worse than pitch problems. They just could not sing. BTW, what was up with Kellie’s hair? It looked very thin and like she just woke up late and put a headband on.
Love, love, love “J-Net”! And Garth, please rethink your wardrobe choices. Jeans that tight only look good if your name is Keith Urban.
I loved Keith Urban’s performance. I also thought Taylor Swift’s exceptance speech was very sweet and heart felt.
i’m sorry, but on the “best performances by female artists who are getting rained on while singing,” taylor swift is no kelly clarkson. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzuIIj0B0w8
I bet if you were to look George Strait’s performances from the last 8 years worth of award shows on youtube, you would only have about 30 seconds of him actually strumming his guitar in total. I have noticed this so many times and it drives me nuts!!! I love me some George though…
I bet if you were to look George Strait’s performances from the last 8 years worth of award shows on youtube, you would only have about 30 seconds of him actually strumming his guitar in total. I have noticed this so many times and it drives me nuts!!! I love me some George though…
Oh yeah, did anyone else find Pickler’s song choice ironic? She was singing all about being proud of who you are and not changing for anyone while showing those two bought balloons on her chest to full advantage.
Thought Taylor Swift’s revolutionary stage show was out of this world! She’s what country needs to announce that this ain’t your momma’s C&W anymore! Way to kick tail, girl!
Least favorite moment- Reba joining in on the Brooks and Dunn song and only knowing 5 words. Oh, and not knowing when to sing those 5 words.
How dare you call Kenny Chesney an “ungrateful” winner because he “complained” about the integrity of the entertainer of the year award. As a singer who sells out ENTIRE STADIUMS in a manner of minutes how was it even FAIR to have the fans vote for the winner? It’s taking away from the academy rewarding the person who truly works the hardest throughout the year based on a variety of factors. Fans pressing a button for you online has nothing to do with it at ALL! Stop taking his modesty about winning and spinning it to make him sound bad for stating the obvious! Love ya Kenny, can’t wait to see your amazing concert in Cleveland this weekend!
Taylor was awful. No way would she have made it through American Idol. Shows you can make anyone in the studio sound good. Taylor is always terrible live. And that rain performance and hoodie costume is so not country. Carrie in both her opening performance of “Last Name” and the tribute to Eddy Arnold with Brad was awesome. Nice of Kenny to win (when he shouldn’t have) because of the fans, and then bash the fact they voted for him. And why are no females nominated for Entertainer of the Year. Damn. Some of the females are the reason country is still selling, and yet they aren’t being recognized. Stupid!
Brandi, I think you’re right some of those performers last night simply can’t sing and should be banned from further tv appearances!
Most notably Taylor Swift who now uses everything she can to distract people from the fact SHE CAN NOT SING!
Regarding Rodney, and other pitch problems experienced by the artists…There were definite problems with the sound mixing, and it seemed like they had difficulty hearing themselves. If you watch closely, all of them (Rodney included) were touching and adjusting their ear monitors. At one point, Kellie Pickler obviously reached back and adjusted hers. It was particularly bad for Rodney, because there was some hesitation, and at one point I think he missed a line because he couldn’t hear where we was in the song. The artists could definitely sing – the mixing was so poor, and didn’t play well on TV.
I’ve never seen a Country artist lip-synch before. Why would the ACM allow Taylor to do that? Another Ashley Simpson in cowboy boots. Come on ACM, keep Country real.
I still can’t understand why a guy like Rodney Atkins gets air time on a major award show and yet at the same time a very talented and gifted artist like Blake Shelton is in the audiance …. wow.
“I’ve never seen a Country artist lip-synch before. Why would the ACM allow Taylor to do that? Another Ashley Simpson in cowboy boots. Come on ACM, keep Country real.”
Most of the song was not lip-synched. When she was standing in the downpour, yeah, that part was pre-recorded. Why? Come on, guess.
If you’ve never seen a country artist lip-synch before, you must be pretty young! In the ’90s, most of the performances on the CMAs and ACMs were lip-synched. Only recently has there been a push for “authenticity” at awards shows. But even last night, most of the instrumentalists were pre-recorded.
Carrie rocked it, Garth sucked and can’t sing, Sugarland sucked too. Oh, and I hated the girl who sang background with Keith. Didn’t know who she was and she was hamming it up for the camera like no other, acting like she was the lead singer. Watch it again, she is so annoying.
Boo hoo, Kenny. If you were so against the fans voting for this award, why is the Associated Press running a story about how your MySpace page STILL has a message encouraging your fans to vote for you and has a link to the voting sight????
Carrie Underwood was the class act of the night- she and Brad were amazing together! But I also loved Carrie’s opening number– Last Name. IT rocked!
By contrast- Taylor Swift’s horrendous shower scene was more fit for the MTV awards- not a prestigious country music awards show. Her vocals were horrendous as well. Maybe that is why she resorts to using all the props and smoke screens– to hide and distract us from the really bad singing. But do we really need another britney spears type of bad singer selling sex– especially in country music?? I think not. Go to pop taylor- country doesn’t need or want your britney spears’ antics.
Thank God for Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisely– they are sweethearts and boy did they sound lovely together! But other then those 2— Whatever happened to good singing in country music? Leanne rimes was decent but I couldn’t undertand the words. Kellie and miranda were ok- but pretty pitchy. But the WORST offender– was Taylor Swift. That girl CANNOT SING!!! Period! How can EW put her performance on the Best of the night list??? The LA Times put her as the worst of the night- and I agree. I still don’t get how she got a record deal– oh that’s right- her rich daddy bought one for her. She is absolutely dreadful…and arrogant to boot. Nice shower scene for an 18 year old who is supposed to be a role model to young girls. She and her mom should be ashamed.
Kenny might sell more tickets but it is because he books the most popular stars to tour with. If he is such a great entertainer, why doesn’t he win any of the other awards?hmmmm Is it how much you make or how talented you are? Keith Urban is the winner in the TALENT part of Entertainer of the year.
As award shows go, I like to be entertained. A tribute to fans of celebs be it music/film/movies. I have to say overall it was an ok show. I did not enjoy Kenny Chesney and his comment! he will never get another dime of mine.
Taylor Swift cannot sing! She is horrible! How in the world did she get a record deal??? There are plenty of other young, pretty girls who can actually sing who deserve a record contract.
Kenny Chesney is a no-talent d-bag. Taylor Swift needs to get some vocational training and get a real job.
Sarah Buxton acted ridiculous, Keith looked ridiculous in that three piece suit and chunky tie. What has happened to him? He used to be good-looking. Nicole needs to stop grabbing her crotch to show us how big she is. We get it, you are pregnant, it happens all the time, not a big deal lady.
Carrie and Brad sounded beautiful singing Make The World Go Away. I wish Carrie would sing more country songs like that one, her voice is suited for it.
That new Sugarland song is awful.
Thought Kenny was right, shouldn’t fan-vote Entertainer of the Year. He can say it since he won, and it doesn’t mean he isn’t grateful that his fans voted for him.
uhh, I think it was the ppl behind the audio, who should of known what in the hell they were doing but didnt.. at first i was thinking,man Rodney sounds like sh*t, so does so and so… then Kellie pickler came on, and i am a big fan.. have seen her live sooo many time, and she sounds better live then on her cd.. but last night was not there. she took her ear piece out, and was reaching behind her.. i think it had to do with the sound ppl, etc.. it an award show you would think these ppl know what in the hell they were doing and would have everything set up , ready to go, and they way they needed it for the performers. Obviously NOT, because no ONE SOUNDED very good last night. So, I don’t think it was the artists,necessarily with the exception of taylor swift, she never could sing. Felt like i was at the circus watching her..lol
but whoever was in charge of that fiasco last night should be fired.
I don’t really listen to country but I was clicking through the channels and saw a very young girl trying to sex herself up by standing in the rain. OH COME ON! That is why the rest of us see country as so tacky. It is why “pop” stars like Britney ultimatly hit rock bottom. There are tons of pretty girls and cute guys in this world. For once, we’d like to see talent and not just someone not afraid to try to look sexy. Please.
I don’t really listen to country but I was clicking through the channels and saw a very young girl trying to sex herself up by standing in the rain. OH COME ON! That is why the rest of us see country as so tacky. It is why “pop” stars like Britney ultimatly hit rock bottom. There are tons of pretty girls and cute guys in this world. For once, we’d like to see talent and not just someone not afraid to try to look sexy. Please.
a quote from below – “a prestigious country music awards show.” I’m sorry, but I can’t stop laughing. That show was a joke. George Strait carries a guitar but doesn’t play it, Taylor can’t sing and I’m not quite sure she knows what country music is, Rodney Atkins can’t sing either, Toby Keith sings “She’s a Hottie!” in a full-on jeans outfit… I could go on, but need I?
So, has anyone seen this headline yet?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24714839/
Looks like Kenny Chesney is a hypocrite.
George Strait, Brad Paisley or Keith Urban should have won.