CMA Recap!

Well, it has been almost two weeks since the CMA’s so I thought I should look back at on the show, my predictions on who won, etc.

First of all, Carrie and Brad did a good job at hosting the show!

Second, Here is a recap of the winners vs. my predictions:

Entertainer of the Year: Kenny Chesney (I predicted Brad Paisley)
Female Vocalist of the Year: Carrie Underwood (I predicted correctly!)
Male Vocalist of the Year: Brad Paisley (I predicted correctly!)
New Artist of the Year: Lady Antebellum (I predicted correctly!)
Vocal Group of the Year: Rascal Flatts (I predicted correctly!)
Vocal Duo of the Year: Sugarland (I predicted correctly!)
Single of the Year: “I saw God today” by George Strait (I predicted “You’re Gonna Miss This” by Trace Adkins)
Album of the Year: Troubadour by George Strait (I predicted “Carnival Ride” by Carrie Underwood)
Song of the Year (award goes to songwriter): “Stay” by Sugarland (I predicted correctly!)
Musical Event of the Year: “Gone Gone Gone” by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant (I predicted “Shiftwork” by George Strait and Kenny Chesney)
Music Video of the Year: “Waitin’ on a Woman” by Brad Paisley featuring Andy Griffith (I predicted correctly!)

So, I got 7 out of 11 correct!

Third, here are links to some of my favorite performances from the show:

Taylor Swift – “Love Story” – Not the best vocalist but as this performance shows, a great performer!
Miranda Lambert – “More Like Her” – Gotta Love Miranda!
Martina McBride – “Ride” – Martina may be the best female vocalist of all time! I love seeing her back on an Award show performing again.
Sugarland – “Love” – This is a great song by a great duo!
Keith Urban – “Sweet Thing” – Again, such a great song!

Couldn’t find the video but here is another one:

George Strait – “River of Love” – I am not a big George fan but I LOVE this song!

The CMA’s are here! Woo-Hoo!!!

As most people that know me know, I am a country music fanatic! So, whenever a country music award show comes on TV, I make sure to watch it! Tonight is the annual CMA (Country Music Association) Award show on ABC at 8:00 PM. It will be co-hosted for the first time by Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley. That should be good!

The biggest reason I love these award shows is because of the live music. This year’s performers include Darius Rucker, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Rodney Atkins, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney w/ the Wailers, James Otto, Martina McBride, Kid Rock, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, George Strait, Sugarland, Alan Jackson, The Eagles, and Kellie Pickler. They also keep talking about a surprise guest. I am particularly looking forward to the performances of Carrie Underwood, Sugarland, Martina McBride, Darius Rucker, James Otto, and Lady Antebellum.

Here are some thoughts related to tomorrow’s award show and who I think will win, should win:

Entertainer of the Year

Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley (will win)
Sugarland (should win)
George Strait
Keith Urban

First of all, George being nominated is such a joke! He only does like 15 concerts a year! Kenny has won it the past 3 out of 4 years. I am going to go out on a limb and guess that he won’t win it this year. Though, it is likely he might. I am actually going to predict that Brad will win this year. Though, if I had my choice, Sugarland would win. It is there first time being nominated for this award but they are such great entertainers!

Female Vocalist of the Year

Alison Krauss
Miranda Lambert
Martina McBride
Taylor Swift
Carrie Underwood (will win, should win)

Carrie has won it the past two years and I predict she will win it for a third. Though, Taylor could bring some strong competition. Don’t be surprised if there is an upset!

Male Vocalist of the Year

Kenny Chesney
Brad Paisley (will win, should win)
George Strait
Alan Jackson
Keith Urban

This one really is a toss up for me! Though, I think Brad will win take home the trophy! I will say that Trace Adkins deserves to finally be included in this category. Hopefully next year!

New Artist of the Year

Jason Aldean
Rodney Atkins
Lady Antebellum (will win / should win)
Kellie Pickler
James Otto (should win)

This one is really tough! Jason, Rodney, or Lady Antebellum could easily win this! I am torn on whom I want to one. I will be happy if either James Otto or Lady Antebellum win.

Vocal Group of the Year

Eagles

Lady Antebellum (should win)
Emerson Drive
Little Big Town (should win)
Rascal Flatts (will win)

Yet again, I am torn on this one! I think Lady Antebellum or Little Big Town deserve to win. They are both GREAT acts. Though, Rascal Flatts have won this award the past 5 years and will probably win again this year. They don’t show any sign of slowing down.

Vocal Duo of the Year

Big & Rich
Brooks & Dunn
Montgomery Gentry
Sugarland (will win, should win)
The Wreckers

Last year Sugarland unseated Brooks & Dunn and I don’t think B&D will get it back this year. 2008 is the year of Sugarland! They will win it and deserve to win it!

Single of the Year

“Don’t Blink” by Kenny Chesney
“Stay” by Sugarland
“Gunpowder & Lead” by Miranda Lambert
“You’re gonna miss this” by Trace Adkins (will win, should win)
“I saw God today” by George Strait

I really have no clue. Though, it might be considered an upset, I think there is a good chance Trace could win this. If he doesn’t then my bet is on the Sugarland song.

Album of the Year

Carnival Ride by Carrie Underwood (should win, will win)
Cowboy Town by Brooks & Dunn
Good Time by Alan Jackson
Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates by Keith Urban
Troubadour by George Strait

I think it will be a close call but Carrie Underwood will squeeze by with the win!

Song of the Year (award goes to songwriter)

“Good Time” by Alan Jackson
“You’re Gonna Miss This” by Trace Adkins
“I saw God today” by George Strait
“Stay” by Sugarland (should win, will win)
“Letter to Me” by Brad Paisley (will win)

This song goes to songwriting, which makes this one even tougher to predict. There is a lot good picks to choose from here. I loved “Stay” by Sugarland as soon as I heard it. Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland wrote it as a response to the 80’s Reba McEntire hit “Whoever’s in New England”. That song was about being the spouse of a cheating husband. The Sugarland song is about being the woman who the cheating husband is having the affair with. For me, it is a song of empowerment and hope for anyone who finds themselves in a relationship with someone who is married. Equally, “Letter to Me” could win. It is also a GREAT song!

Musical Event of the Year

“Another Try” by Josh Turner featuring Trisha Yearwood
“Every Other Weekend” by Reba McEntire and Kenny Chesney (should win)
“Shiftwork” by George Strait and Kenny Chesney (will win)
“Gone Gone Gone ” by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant
“Life in a Northern Town” by Little Big Town featuring Little Big Town and Jake Owen (should win)

The Association likes George Strait and Kenny Chesney and the will salivate over the fact that they teamed up for a duet. Though, I would like to see the cover of “Life in a Northern Town” or “Every Other Weekend” win.

Music Video of the Year

“Stay” by Sugarland (will win, should win)
“You’re Gonna Miss This” by Trace Adkins
“Good Time” by Alan Jackson
“Waitin’ on a Woman” by Brad Paisley featuring Andy Griffith (will win, should win)
“Don’t Blink” by Kenny Chesney

For me, this is a complete tie for who should win and who will win. Both of the video’s are superb! Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland gave a moving performance for “Stay”. There is no doubt that she could go on to also be a successful actress if she wanted to be! Brad Paisley makes great video’s and has won this award a bunch of times already. The “Waitin’ On A Woman” video is one of my favorite and having Andy Griffith on it was a great touch!

The Grammy’s – What a bore!

So, I am an award show junkie! I love them. Growing up I would always make a really nice dinner on award show nights, prepared just in time for the award show to begin. Even to this day, I sometimes still do it. I like all award shows, but especially the ones that are for music. I love seeing the live performances. Obviously, I love the ones associate with country music (CMA, ACM, and CMT Music Awards), but, I also usually really like the Grammy’s and the American Music Awards show. So, you can guess how excited I was to watch the awards show but after watching the three and half hour bore-fest I was quite bummed!

Here are some random thoughts on the 2008 Grammy’s:

> Best Performance: Tina Turner & Beyonce! The whole thing they did was fantastic. First it was just Beyonce, then just Tina, then they joined forces on “Proud Mary”.

> Worst Performance: I don’t think there was necessarily a horrible performance just many dull performances.

> Weirdest Performance: Watching Kid Rock duet with the aging Keely Smith. It was just awkward and looked uncomfortable.

> Worst Acceptance Speech: Kanye West after winning Best Rap Album: “For Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse, if I don’t get to get up here for album of the year, you deserve it as much as me. I deserve it too.”. He has such a big head. He is a talented artist but so were all the other nominees. Halfway through his acceptance speech the music started to play to signify that he needs to stop. He then went on to talk about the death of his mother. He made some comment to the effect of “Your really gonna keep playing that”. I think they should have regardless of who he was talking about. Everyone has the same time limit. Get over it Kanye!

> Funniest Acceptance Speech: Vince Gill after winning Country Album of the Year: “I just got an award presented to me by a Beatle. Have you had that happen yet, Kanye?”. It as a great line and even Kanye seem amused. Vince was also nominated for Album of the Year and was not happy with Kanye’s previous comments and thus this was his public response.

> The Not-So-Sure-About-This Performance: Watching Carrie Underwood sing “Before He Cheats” while being backed up by a Stomp-esque group and her band. I am not sure who thought of including the percussion group into that performance but not so sure it was the right move. Jury is still out on this one for me.

> Worst Song Choice: Brad Paisley singing “Ticks”. I like this clever song but I would have never picked it to perform at the Grammy’s! What was he thinking!? We should be trying to debunk the country-music-equals-hick-music attitude of others. Singing this song didn’t help. If I were him I would have chosen “Online”. That song has much more unversal appeal.

> Amy Winehouse: Everything leading up to and during the Grammy’s this year was about Amy Winehouse. After hearing her perform, I now know why. I like her voice, it has that raw, organic sound to it. Though, they should have put her performance at the end of the awards show. After she gave her much-hyped-about performance, the show just seemed like it was being strung along for no apparent reason.

> Hostless?: I hate it when Awards Show don’t have hosts. I am guessing this had to do with the writer’s strike but still they should have had a host.

> 50th Anniversary: This should have been a great awards show and it wasn’t. This was the 50th anniversary for goodness sakes!!! I think they should have done more to commemorate that like have current artists sing the songs that have won Record of the Year in the past.

> Alicia Keys: One of my favorite female singers! She did a great job opening the show with her Frank Sinatra duet and then later singing her hit “No One” with John Mayer on the guitar!