When Nashville’s finest get together, there’s bound to be boots and cowboy hats. And jokes about Taylor Swift.
As country’s coolest crooners took to the Bridgestone Arena for Wednesday night’s 45th annual Country Music Association Awards, Nashville’s big night was full of equally big moments.
From down-home, downright fun performances to a heartfelt tribute to Glen Campbell, tell us: What was your favorite moment of the night?
• When Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley get together, they can carry a tune – and score big laughs. For the fourth year in a row, they hosted the CMA Awards, and their chemistry was enough to get Miss Piggy jealous. The duo also performed their sultry single “Remind Me.”
• At the beginning of the show, Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet poked fun at Kim Kardashian, saying her marriage with Kris Humphries lasted “as long as Taylor Swift with her current boyfriend.”
She got the last laugh, though: Swift went home with the night’s highest honor, entertainer of they year, a title she also earned in 2009. She also performed a new, low-key love song, “Ours.”
• Talk about a power couple: Husband-wife country stars Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton, who tied the knot in May, took home top honors for female and male vocalists of the year, respectively.
“It’s gonna be a good night tonight, baby!” Lambert said in her acceptance speech, while Shelton coyly smiled and rubbed his hands together from his seat in the audience.
• He may be more Motown than small town, but Lionel Richie proved he was down for a little country-tinged fun. Richie shared the stage with Little Big Town, Darius Rucker and Rascal Flatts singer Gary LeVox for a soulful medley of his hits “Deep River Woman,” “Stuck on You” and “Dancing on the Ceiling.”
• It was the biggest names in Nashville honoring one of country’s biggest legends: Brad Paisley, Keith Urban and Vince Gill paid homage to Glen Campbell, who announced in June that he has Alzheimer’s disease, through a musical tribute of some of his greatest hits, including “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman” and “Galveston.” Campbell, who mouthed the lyrics from his seat in the audience, was then called on to the stage with his wife of nearly 30 years, Kim Woollen, to strum the guitar.
Story courtesy of Alison Schwartz of people.com
