Big & Rich...yeah, I like 'em. Big Kenny cannot sing worth jack live though (The deeper voice, for those wondering). But, as long as I focus on John Rich's vocals, they put on a pretty good performance.
Though I appreciate the fact that Whiskey Lullaby is a great song and deserves an award for Song Of The Year...wasn't it a nominee last year? I can't stand when award shows do that.
LeeAnn Womack and Brad Paisley walked into the night doing quite well for themselves, getting six nominations a piece. LeeAnn...she did well at the end of the night too, winning three awards. Paisley, on the other hand, walked away empty-handed, which is a travesty in my opinion. At the very least, Brad deserved the award for Musical Event Of The Year with Sara Evans over LeeAnn's part in George Strait's Good News, Bad News.
Or, perhaps the even bigger travesty was that Brad was beat out by Toby Keith in the Music Video Of The Year category. As Good As I Once Was...yeah, it follows along with the song, but it's just a dumb song in general. Alcohol, on the other hand, is a great song and video because of it's ability to expose both sides of the alcohol realm...the fun and the...not-so-fun...of course, anyone would have been more fit to win the award than Toby. Look, I know Toby is a great guy (And I greatly appreciate him going at it with the Dixie Chicks and putting boots in asses), but really, most of his music is just terrible.
I really think that Album Of The Year belonged to Keith Urban's Be Here this year. Okay, so he's Australian. So what? The guy has catchy, upbeat tunes that have extended past the lines drawn by country and have become mainstream forces as well. I completely respect that LeeAnn Womack is doing a more traditional style, and I really do enjoy the traditional style as much as "modern" country. But, in all honesty, LeeAnn's disc was just not as good as Keith's.
As for Single Of The Year, I'm not necessarily disappointed, but I am surpirsed that Rascal Flatts' Bless The Broken Road did not win it. They're a favorite every year lately, even if you're not a huge fan of them. And on the Rascal Flatts thing, they won Vocal Group Of The Year, but it was a pretty weak category this year. The only other group truly deserving of winning was Allison Krauss & Union Station.
Dierks Bentley's performance was excellent. Come A Little Closer is such a simple song, but it's such a great one. I really would have enjoyed seeing a longer version than the cut-up one they made him perform because of "time constraints" or whatever. But hey, he won the Horizon Award, which he totally deserved. Sugarland is overrated and did not deserve the award. Big & Rich are really the only ones that I think had the chance to beat Dierks, but Dierks deserves to get himself some awards for his quality music.
Carrie Underwood...the girl can flat out sing. Her voice does not suffer in studio or live. She can hit the same notes in both areas, and those notes...yeah, they're big and bold. Very impressive. I expect to see her up for Female Vocalist Of The Year next year. Unfortunately, this year's winner was Gretchen Wilson. Come on...Gretchen Wilson? Over Sara Evans, Martina McBride, Allison Krauss or LeeAnnWomack, all of which are far superior vocalists? I just don't get it sometimes.
Entertainer Of The Year...the big one. Kenny Chesney didn't win it this year, but it would've been tough for him to do so with his latest studio disc coming out just recently. No, instead, it was Keith Urban, a guy who said he learned a lot from Chesney this past year when they were working together. So, I guess, the Chesney legacy lives on.