Carrie Underwood brought the Academy of Country Music Awards to the church.
Maran Morris won two honors, including Song of the Year. Miranda Lambert performed three times and holds her record as the most decorated winner in ACM history. And Mickey Gighton, the first black woman to host the award show, gave a powerful, top-notch vocal performance.
Although female country stars did not compete for the night’s top award – Luke Bryan was named Entertainer of the Year – they had Sunday’s ACM Awards.
Underwood’s performance was the highest. She was joined by Gospel legend CeC Winans and the dynamic duo mixed their voices like angels. Underwood kicked off the lyrics of his recent gospel hymns album “My Savior” on set with “Amazing Grace” and “Great Is Te Faithfulness”. Vince then joined in, matching his strong vocal performance.
Lambert had a fun performance with three-time, rock-pop singer Elle King, for an energetic performance of their new duet “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home).” Lambert, who founded Pet Shelter Beneficiary Mutations, performed the album with winner of the year Chris Stapleton for “Maggie’s Song”, a tribute to Stapleton’s dog, who died in 2019. His last performance was with Jack Ingram and John Randall.
Performances that aired Sunday were pre-taped at various locations in Nashville, Tennessee, including Grand Ole Opry House, Raman Auditorium, and The Bluebird Cafe. The winners are accepted in real time in front of a small audience made up of medical and health care workers, wearing masks.
Bryan was set to perform on Sunday but dropped out of the show as he recently tested positive for coronovirus.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t go there,” he told Los Angeles. “And to all my fans there and on the country’s radio, we remember touring. We have missed being on the road with everyone which makes me an entertainer. My bus driver, my band, my crew, a challenging year. But we will be back on the road doing all the fans and what we love. “
Morris talked about the tax year without live music when she won Female Artist of the Year.
“Really happy in a category with just women who were not able to tour this year, but this year brought so much heat to sports in country music. You have inspired me so much to no end , And even in a year where no one has got to play the show, I have heard some of the best music from all of you in the last year. So thanks a lot for motivating me.
The collaboration onstage was the subject of the award show, and Morris and husband Ryan Hurd sang together, ending with a kiss. A teary-eyed Morris won the song of the year for his Grammy-nominated hit “The Bones”, which topped the country’s music charts for months last year.
Morris lost a part of the year, where all the nominated songs were performed by female artists. Carly Pearce and Lee Bryce’s platinum duet, “I’m Hope You’re Happy Now,” won the award.
“We wrote this song about our story and I think it resonates with everyone,” Pierce said on stage, also thanks to Busby, who produced the song and died in late 2019 Has gone. “This is the last song my producer worked on.”
Another tender moment came when Blanco Brown presented Old Dominion with the group of the year. It marked Brown’s first public appearance since significant injuries in a head-on vehicle collision last year.
But the entire three-hour show did not go smoothly. Grammy-winning duo Dan + She performed their latest hit, “Glad You Exist”, but pre-tapped moments went out of sync.
“Apparently there was an audio / video sync issue on the television broadcast,” the two tweeted. “We are amazed about it, but it happens, especially when demonstrations are taking place in multiple venues.”
Another accident occurred when Martina McBride announced the winner of the single. McBride correctly announced “I Hope You’re Happy Now”, although “I Hope” appeared on TV screens by Gabby Barrett.
Pearce and Bryce’s “I Hope You’re Happy Now” also won the concert of the year, while Barrett was named the new female artist of the year. Reet won Male Artist of the Year and Jimmy Allen was named the new Male Artist of the Year.
Those acts performed on Sunday, as did Alan Jackson, Lady A, Blake Shelton, Ashley McBride, Brothers Osborne and Guyton, who gave an all-star performance of “Hold On” during the show, which they did with Kevin Urban Hosted with. She recently had her first child and this year became the first Black Solo woman nominated for a Grammy in the country category.
Little Big Town also performed – but as a threesome. The Grammy winners sang “Wine, Beer, Whiskey” without band member Phillip Sweet as they recently tested positive for COVID-19.
Sweet and Bryan were not the only country stars missing from the show. Morgan Wallen, whose latest album and single has had major success on both the country and pop charts, was caught on camera using a racial slur earlier this year after he was disqualified by ACM.
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