Oh, CMT Music Awards. You’re a night where one man (our friend Dierks Bentley) brings his dog Jake as his date and another (Toby Keith) gets bleeped for saying the words “Long Dong Donkey” while discussing what his rap name could be with his co-presenter, T-Pain. A night where a young woman (Taylor Swift) could win the biggest award of the evening, Video of the Year, for a sweet song like “Love Story,” and another (nope, still Taylor Swift) could close the show essentially stripper dancing while re-creating her CMT Crossroads “Pour Some Sugar on Me” duet with Def Leppard. A night where “Start a Band” collaborators Brad Paisley and Keith Urban actually accept their award from ventriloquist Terry Fator and his dummy Vicky the cougar. Here, a closer look at the best and worst of the fan-voted 2009 CMT Music Awards:
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Best moment in host Bill Engvall’s opening: The video where he crushed Taylor Swift’s dream of hosting the show. You see, her dreams always come true. Cue her insisting that she be in the new Star Trek movie even though it’s already been released and her collaborating with T-Pain on the rap track “Thug Story.” Watch it above.
Worst moment in host Bill Engvall’s opening: When Bill mistakenly thought that the audience would laugh at this joke: “Do you know what Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and John Rich all have in common? At one point or another this year, they all had to be bailed out.” Crickets. Except for in my living room. He continued. “But last week John Rich said on Larry King that he might run for the governor of Tennessee in 2010. It’s not that he likes politics that much, he just thinks it will be easier than asking for a pardon.” Half the audience grew a sense of humor.
Best acceptance speech: Hands down, Brad Paisley and Keith Urban. Urban was clearly creeped out by Vicky, which was adorable. (Through the miracle of our live blog, I was able to ask EW’s Whitney Pastorek, who was backstage in Nashville, to ask Paisley if he knew why. “It has to do with when he was young he was attacked by a ventriloquist dummy,” he said. “When he was asleep as a little boy.”) Onstage, when Paisley first took the mic, he quipped “First of all, Martina’s shorter than I thought,” noting the resemblance between Vicky and Martina McBride. Ha. When Urban ended their “thank you”s by encouraging kids to learn how to play a real guitar, Paisley followed up with “Rock Band never got anybody a date. Never.” (Runner-up: Kid Rock, who said the Wide Open Country Video of the Year buckle he accepted for “All Summer Long” must have been based on creativity. “Because what’s more creative than a strip pole on a pontoon boat?”) For a full list of winners click here.
Worst presenter patter: Honestly, pretty much every pairing was painful. From Bill O’Reilly and Naomi Judd (who may have insinuated that O’Reilly had bad breath before they introduced Trace Adkins) to poor Alison Krauss and Ted Nugent (they talked about hunting or something — you couldn’t pay me to rewind). The only bright spot was Melissa Peterson and Dierks Bentley. She borrowed some of Taylor Swift’s determination and laid one on him. “Wow, I thought that was supposed to be on the cheek. You, uh, got me on that one,” he said. “It was my dream. Don’t you step on my dream!” she answered. (She looked hot when they presented, right?)
Best dressed: Kellie Pickler. Not in the short, silver, metallic, sequined, fringe number she wore to perform, but the long, elegant, actually-covered-most-of-her-breasts gown she wore until then. Sexy but classy, Pickler. And not wearing a necklace that would compete with that gorgeous bejeweled neckline — well, done.
Worst dressed: Katie Cook. Now, I love this woman. I think she (and her red carpet cohost and fellow presenter Lance Smith) is smart and funny, which is why even when she tried to interview the notoriously quiet Alan Jackson, I wasn’t worried. (She finally asked him about his most recent car purchase and he gave a full sentence.) She deserves a dress that doesn’t make her look like she’s going to the prom on a budget and shoes that actually match.
Best song to dance to: Tie between Lady Antebellum’s “Lookin’ For a Good Time” or Jason Aldean’s “She’s Country” (with special guest guitarist Keith Urban). I can’t decide. Disqualification: “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” I don’t know why, because I’m not usually a prude, but Taylor Swift’s hip action and 13 hair tosses made me so uncomfortable I couldn’t enjoy that duet. It also could’ve been because she sounded kinda karaoke.
Worst song to dance to: Darius Rucker’s “Alright.” I even found his tame dancing slightly uncomfortable, but just because I’ve never seen a male country artist dance. I couldgrow to like it if the song is better than “Alright,” which I don’tthink would be any kind of a hit for anyone who hadn’t been famousbefore its release. Also, while pretty much everyone on the main stage in the first half of the show had pitch problems — maybe there was something wrong with their earpieces or my television? — Darius was consistently flat and no amount of dancing or enthusiasm could hide that. (Runner-up: Rascal Flatts’ “Summer Nights,” which I still insist sounds like something off the High School Musical 2 soundtrack.)
Best haircut: Jason Michael Carroll! Now shoulder-length! He was the B-stage performer I was happiest to see. Having those up-and-coming artists play us to commercial was a nice way to get them exposure without me having to listen to an entire Carter Twins song.
Worst haircut: Or lack thereof: Trace Adkins. Look at Jason. See how pretty you could look.
Best way to tell that you’re watching the CMT Music Awards rather than the MTV Movie Awards: The only two movies I remember being advertised were, not surprisingly, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
Worst way to tell that you’re watching the CMT Music Awards rather than the MTV MovieAwards: The biggest movie star in the house still gets to present the final award, but it’s not Denzel Washington, it’s “Hollywood heartthrob Luke Wilson.”
Best way to be reminded that someone can actually sing: Okay, this Brad Paisley performance wasn’t entirely memorable, but the album cut of “Then” is. He’s more than a quick wit and a great guitar player.
Worst way to be reminded that someone can actually sing: I’m split on Sugarland’s decision to perform “Love Shack” with the B-52’s. I’m willing to follow Jennifer Nettles anywhere because she and Trisha Yearwood are my favorite female vocalists — and I appreciate that she is all about the love and fun and being country music’s best female dancer — but I’d rather have heard a Sugarland song. The real saving grace, however: When Nettles told Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson “Let’s Bang” and Fred Schneider said “Knock a little louder, Sugarland!” Awesome. Also, when they all talked to Whitney backstage. Asked about “Love Shack” crossing over to country, Kate said: “Tin roof, rusted? How much more country can you get?” Nettles said: “Good music is good. It’s no longer defined bysome image or lifestyle. It’s about what makes you feel good. And theseguys make us feel good.” And Kristian Bush (who got to sing!) said he wants to do a concert in Atlanta with other Georgia bands: Sugarland, B-52’s,R.E.M., and Indigo Girls…
Best plug of the night: The commercial for the CMT Crossroads of Jason Aldean and Bryan Adams that premieres June 26. They duet on each other’s songs, and the montage we were shown looked like this could be up there with Sugarland and Bon Jovi.
Worst plug of the night: Three-way tie between CMT’s The Singing Bee and Can You Duet and whatever movie Luke Wilson was there to promote. Could not tell you its title if it meant that I got to sit on the aisle of the row where Keith Urban performed part of “Sweet Thing.” (I love when he goes into the cheap seats like that.)
That’s my take. Your turn.
More country music:
Whitney Pastorek’s live blog of the 2009 CMT Music Awards
EW’s Music Mix Blog: Brad Paisley Q&A
Dierks Bentley takes the EW Pop Culture Personality Test
Jason Aldean takes the EW Pop Culture Personality Test
Comments (1-30) of 106 Add your comment
Kellie Pickler was the best dressed! Also a best presenter and performer!
Just a correction actually!
Brad Paisley said Guitar Hero not Rock Band.
Overall, the night wasn’t that bad. I totally agree on the presenter couples, those were just bad mash ups.
As for the “Pour Some Sugar On Me” performance, I challenge you to get up and dance to that song without it becoming “stripper dancing”. I think it’s just a given with that song, plus Taylor isn’t some 16 year old doing it, she is an adult.
Other than that, I agree with just about everything else.
The highlight of the show had to be Joey & Rory having “I miss country music” written on his guitar. Because, quite frankly, so do I. I won’t say these artists lack talent, but really? Just because you sing songs about Tim McGraw (Taylor Swift), use riffs from “Sweet Home Alabama” (Kid Rock), use the word “country” or “hillbilly” or “honky tonk” or any variation of those words in the title of a song (Jason Aldean, Brooks & Dunn, a million others) does not in any way, shape or form, REMOTELY make you a country singer. Where the other Alan Jacksons, George Straits & Brad Paisleys of the world? I mean, at this point, I would consider Sugarland & Little Big Town more country than half of the artists out there – at least they aren’t contrived & insistent on flaunting how “country” they are. It just is.
THE REAL HIGHLIGHT: Dierks Bentley and his dog. Like it’s not cute enough he’s in practically all of his music videos, but now he’s bringing him award shows? Could they BE more adorable?
I couldn’t watch… just couldn’t. As soon as I saw Bill O’Reilly would be on, the TV was shut off.
Why in the world would CMT put that creature on?
I have a couple favorite moments. Favorite singing moment was Keith Urban, still sounds good, just saw him in Detroit a week in half ago. Favorite acceptance speech was Keith Urban and Brad Paisley, Keith said at the end “Goodnight Baby Girl!”. I did catch one thing, when Katie Cook is interving Keith & Sugarland, she said Happy 1st Father’s day, and he said for the 1st one, so does that mean he and Nicole are having another baby, plus she didn’t show up with him! I don’t know!!! Way to go to everyone!
Favorite performance Keith Urban. I saw him in Detroit, MI a week in a half, he was awesome!!! Favorite speech was Keith & Brad about the playing a guitar, and Keith said “Goodnight Baby Girl”. Also did you notice at the start he was talking to Katie Cook with Sugarland, and Katie said, Happy 1st Fathers Day, and he said for the 1st one. So does that mean he and Nicole are having another child, she wasn’t there and she wasn’t there for the Tony Awards. So maybe? Everyone was awesome, music a little werid sounding, wasn’t very impressed with Taylor Swift, nothing against her but to much was with her or about her.
Peyton — there is no country music anymore. Even Alan Jackson has lost his edge with the garbage he puts out these days. He’s become a real sissy (pun intended) in the past few years. Only George Strait is still holding onto country music. The rest are all pop singers who couldn’t make it onto the traditional Top 40 charts so they jumped into the country genre. 25 years ago, Nashville would not only have laughed them off Music Row, they’d have laughed them out of the state.
.
And what’s with all the bubblegum pop star chicks? How much peroxide do they use in the 615 area code these days? Why do they all look alike? More importantly, why do they all SOUND alike?
Peyton may be right. The T Pain and Taylor Swift video was a bold 2 step forward for some old school country music fans! What is next WII Calf Roping and Bronco Busting? It’s a new era of Country Traditions influenced by radio and television marketing. Which brings us to a Top 4 list from the Morning Rush Home Office in Pelion, SC: http://www.975wcos.com/pages/Jonathonrush.html
Peyton may be right. The T Pain and Taylor Swift video was a bold 2 step forward for some old school country music fans! What is next WII Calf Roping and Bronco Busting? It’s a new era of Country Traditions influenced by radio and television marketing. Which brings us to a Top 4 list for the Morning Rush Home Office in Pelion: http://www.975wcos.com/pages/Jonathonrush.html
what channel were they on? i looked and saw nothing….for weeks.
Keith Urban and Brad Paisley are always class acts. (I’m with Keith on the puppet thing — spooky!) Taylor Swift’s lack of talent, as always, was embarrassing. The so not even close to country self promoters who are invited to share the stage left me scratching (and shaking) my head. The show left me longing for the likes of Vince Gill, so I listened to one of his CD’s on the drive to work this morning. Long live sweet country music!
I am so sick of Taylor Swift….I seriously had to check a couple times to make sure I was watching the CMT awards and not the Taylor Swift show. I’ll be so glad when Nashville gets their fill of her and moves on to someone who can actually sing. As for the other performances, I agree that the first half of the show every performer seemed to be having pitch problems…not sure if it was because they couldn’t hear the monitors (the music drowned out the vocals several times) or what. Favorite performances for me were Dierks Bentley, Keith Urban and Trace Adkins. Overall, I thought the whole show wasn’t up to par, and was disappointed with 95% of it.
Well, I dont like Taylor Swift much anyhow…not as a country artist. That being said, she clearly looked like some groupie that was dragged out of the audience and handed a mike to sing along with Def Leppard! I nearly threw up!
And Brad Paisley DID say ‘rockband, NOT guitar hero’ never got anybody a date!
I love Taylor Swift, she is very sweet girl, talented, wins all these awards but she’s still humble. I can’t believe how the rest of teeny bopper population is drooling over Jonas garbage.
Has anyone seen my country music? Rappers, thugs and washed up 80ties bands are not country or respectful to those who led the way. If you want to be country be country. Cash,Haggard, Jones, thats country. I don’t know what that was last night
SUNNY – you took the words right out of my mouth! I had my fill of Taylor Swift after her 15 minutes of fame. I’m sorry, I know that lots of kids love her and people think she is a good role model, but she is overrated. And hair flipping! Are you kidding!!? She did that in the entire Crossroads show with Def Leppard, in her video with Kellie Pickler and all last night. Like an 80’s hair band wanna be. And did anyone hear her sing – or should I say try to sing? There are way too many other very talented people out there that are being overlooked. Very disappointing.
Enough about Taylor Swift. The CMT Awards should now be the Taylor Swift awards. I stopped watching the show because it was all about her. Is anybody going to ever figure out the girl cannot sing and her dancing is just as bad. She totally tortured one of the best songs ever by Def Leppard. The show was not very good this year, think its the worst one ever, next year consider getting a new host and not focus on one person the whole show, there’s more talented singers out there that’s not recognized.
As with all award shows there are good and bad moments. However,with that being said the sound engineers should be fired. What a disgrace for a music award show. Poor sound quality and missed starts. Embarassing
I feel like there’s some sort of country music awards show on every month.
John James has it right! Where are more of the true country stars?!!
This hip-hop-rock-country mix is getting reallllly old!!
They’ve gone away from country completely!!
It used to be fun to watch the awards shows and the red carpet before the show because the stars dressed up like it was something special they were going to attend.
Last night they showed up in ripped jeans, caps on backwards and generally looked like someone living on the street! If they’re stars…ACT like it! Dress up and put on a show that shows the audience you CARE about what you’re attending!
These new “country” stars are no fun to watch, much less listen to since half of them can’t sing and shouldn’t be allowed to…..even in the shower!!
What happened to the “real” country music performers…it seems like they are all 20 year old “pop tarts” Where are Garth Brooks, George Stait, John Anderson, Collin Raye, Toby Keith, Travis Tritt, Randy Travis, The Judds, together or Wynonna alone, Reba McEntire, Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood (hands down the best female voice in country music), John Berry, Tim McGraw, Lorrie Morgan, the list goes on but we never hear their music…they defined a generation of country music, got people to listen to it, and then they are replaced by blonde 20 year old pop tarts with little talent, although I do like Kellie Pickler and Carrie Underwood; they actually have talent. I can understand trying to reach a younger demographic but we have exchanged quality coutry music for people that can marginally sing but look good.
Oh Jen you just said everything i was thinking!!! it was all about taylor swift and i will never ever understand why! the girl cannot sing she sound awful live! and where was Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert-give those with pipes the limelight not teeny boppers who write about high school and can’t sing all that great. if they are the future of country music then I’m out. give me trisha yearwood and patty loveless anyday.
This event had nothing to do with country music. No country music was presented. This music is nothing more than watered down pop. It represents the worst of America.
The CMT Video show was not that good this year. I became a not Taylor Swift fan last night. Best performance–Keith Urban and Brad Pasley!!!! The host was terrible.
“When he was asleep as a little boy.”
Wow. Thanks for including that. Really made the article.
Still have editors at EW?
Knock Taylor Swift if you must, But don’t knock Def Leppard since you have no clue as to the history of this group, virtually an icon group, if you want to nock a rock group, go after the ones with crack heads and alcoholics. While Def Leppard had their share of tradgedy with such things back in the 90’s, they persevered and overcame and did a damn good job, one of the few groups THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS enjoy listening to……..Keep rockin Def, tops on my list!!!!!!!!!!
What has happened to “real” country music. I felt like I was watching a rock show. How sad that the good old days of country are gone. Will not be watching again.
Let’s face it – until last night, most CMT award viewers thought T Pain was a medical condition.
What a nightmare and a total waste of 2 1/2 hours of my life. CMT should be ashamed. I agree when did this award show become all about one person, Taylor Swift, and when did it become about a person who can not carry a tune and certainly can not dance, again Taylor Swift. I am just perplexed as to what the music industry is doing with her!!!!! You look at the other talented women and she is just a joke. Unplug your ears Nashville and get rid of her. Next time I will tape the show and fast forward through anything to do with her or possibly just not watch.
I started not to watch the end of the show when she performed but my daughter said “I’ve had a bad day, lets watch so we can laugh at her”. Pathetic is the only word I can come up with.
To Tom Woolf:
Concerning Bill O’reilly, the vast majority of country fans are not liberal morons who support the U.S. becoming a socialist state.
Thank goodness traditional country music is not as prominent as it once was. I never liked it, especially that god-awful pedal-steel. The only country music I could ever tolerate was country-pop or country-rock.
Ever since Kellie Pickler and Carrie Underwood, I have become more of a fan of the genre. Besides these two, I also like Martina McBride, Miranda Lambert, Faith Hill, Blake Shelton and Kenny Chesney.
From my perspective, country music is now far better than it used to be.