Carrie Underwood Won Two Buckles at Last Night’s “CMT Music Awards”
The awards were spread out pretty evenly at last night’s “CMT Music Awards”. The only two-buckle winner was CARRIE UNDERWOOD. Her song “Smoke Break” won Best Female Video and CMT Performance of the Year.
TIM MCGRAW took home Video of the Year for “Humble And Kind” . . . and BLAKE SHELTON won the first-ever CMT Social Media Superstar of the Year. No surprise.
ERIN ANDREWS and NFL star J.J. WATT co-hosted for the first time. To ease them in, the show opened with a video of them as bosses at the CMT offices, while tons of stars acted as their employees, or begged them to be on the show. (Here’s that.)
Erin was smooth the whole night, and J.J. held his own. I liked the bit where he flirted with country stars’ wives in the crowd. When he got to Carrie Underwood, MIKE FISHER had his fists up ready to fight. If only. The NHL vs. the NFL? I’m in.
This year’s overriding theme was “superstar collaborations” . . . and I believe they overdid it. Keith Urban,Maren Morris, and Brett Eldredge performing “Wasted Time” was good. Billy Ray Cyrus and Cheap Tricktogether was interesting.
But Pitbull with Cassadee Pope, and Leona Lewis felt forced and entirely out of place. Even the twerking dancers couldn’t save that mess.
That brings us to the real pros. Carrie Underwood kept her streak alive of never disappointing me with an awards show performance. She lifted the house while singing “Church Bells”. And thank you JASON ALDEAN for keeping it country.
Speaking of real country. Blake Shelton and the OAK RIDGE BOYS did a mashup of “Doin’ It To Country Songs” and “Elvira” . . . and man, that Oak Ridge dude with the deep voice is awesome. His name is Richard Sterban, by the way. (Here’s video.)
Finally, just because LITTLE BIG TOWN recorded some kind of dance song with PHARRELL WILLIAMS doesn’t mean you should close a major country awards show with it. Again, trying too hard with the collaborations.
Here’s your complete list of last night’s winners . . .
• Video of the Year: “Humble And Kind”, Tim McGraw
• Male Video of the Year: “Die A Happy Man”, Thomas Rhett
• Female Video of the Year: “Smoke Break”, Carrie Underwood
• Group / Duo Video of the Year: “Girl Crush”, Little Big Town
• CMT Performance of the Year: “Smoke Break“ . . . Carrie Underwood (from CMT Instant Jam)
• Breakthrough Video of the Year: “Fire Away”, Chris Stapleton
• CMT Social Superstar of the Year: Blake Shelton
Did Steven Tyler Disrespect Traditional Country Music?
STEVEN TYLER was talking about his new album on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” . . . and although he may not have tried to insult traditional country music, he did. He said, quote, “Country music is the new rock ‘n’ roll.
“It’s not just about porches, dogs, and kicking your boots up. It’s a whole lot more. It’s about being real.” (You’re so right, Steven. Waylon, Cash, and Loretta would’ve been so much better if they sang gems like “Love In An Elevator”.)
Anyway, the album’s called “We’re All Somebody From Somewhere” and it’ll be out July 15th.
LUKE BRYAN banged up his forehead, and then posted a photo of it on social media. He wrote, “My head catches more stuff.” According to TasteOfCountry.com, it was caused by a skeet thrower.
LITTLE BIG TOWN has been dragging PHARRELL WILLIAMS all over the place to promote their album“Wanderlust”, which he produced. That included a stop at the Grand Ole Opry on Tuesday where they performed the song “C’mon”. (Here’s a clip. The song starts at 1:20.)
LORETTA LYNN posted some very sad news on Facebook. Her grandson, Jeffrey Allen Lynn, died unexpectedly on Monday. He was 47. Obviously, she’s postponing her concerts this weekend to be with her family.