Luke Bryan and Sam Hunt Each Won Two Awards at Last Night’s American Country Countdown Awards
After one year off, the “American Country Countdown Awards” returned last night, and it was all about the performances. They didn’t have co-hosts stumbling through bits and jokes, and it made the night move along.
Jennifer Nettles, Cam, and Martina McBride kicked the show off with a performance of “This One’s For the Girls”. It set the tone for the whole night.
Also, since the awards were based on radio airplay charts, sales, and streaming data, producers knew in advance who would get the trophies. They used that to their advantage by having several winners perform right after their name was called.
There were two big winners. LUKE BRYAN won Artist of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year. SAM HUNT also won twice. He took home the Breakthrough Male of the Year and Digital Album of the Year for“Montevallo”.
CARRIE UNDERWOOD won Female Vocalist and surprised everyone by dedicating it to a “special fan” named Isley Thibodeaux. She’s a 10-year-old girl who was killed by a drunk driver on her way home from Carrie’s recent concert in Louisiana.
REBA MCENTIRE was there to present BROOKS & DUNN with the NASH Icon Award. The duo followed it up by performing “Red Dirt Road”.
CHRIS STAPLETON won Album of the Year for “Traveller”. He’s on the road so he sent an acceptance speech that he recorded from his tour bus.
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY introduced the Merle Haggard tribute, and gave a moving speech about his impact to country music. He brought out TOBY KEITH who performed with Merle’s band the Strangers.
Billboard.com ranked the performances from worst to best. They had a lot of love for Toby’s tribute to Merle, and CHRIS JANSON’s performance of “Buy Me A Boat”. Not so much for DAN + SHAY and FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE.
You’ll find tons of photos from the stage, red carpet, and backstage, by hitting up the Twitter hashtag #ACCAs.
Here’s your complete list of last night’s winners . . .
Artist of the Year: Luke Bryan
Male Vocalist of the Year: Luke Bryan
Female Vocalist of the Year: Carrie Underwood
Group / Duo of the Year: Florida Georgia Line
Breakthrough Male of the Year: Sam Hunt
Breakthrough Female of the Year: Kelsea Ballerini
Breakthrough Group / Duo of the Year: Old Dominion
Song of the Year: “Die A Happy Man”, Thomas Rhett
Album of the Year: “Traveller”, Chris Stapleton
Digital Song of the Year: “Girl Crush”, Little Big Town
Digital Album of the Year: “Montevallo”, Sam Hunt
Touring Artist of the Year: Garth Brooks
Nash Icon Award: Brooks & Dunn
Gibson Is Selling an Eric Church Signature Guitar
Gibson has created an ERIC CHURCH signature edition guitar. It’s called the Hummingbird Dark, and it’s a customized version of their Gibson Hummingbird acoustic. You can see Eric playing it in his “Record Year“video.
Guitar geeks can check out the special features, plus find out details about when it’ll go on sale, by hitting up Gibson.com.
FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE went to the seaside near Melbourne, Australia to film the video to their song“H.O.L.Y.”
This is a no-brainer. The city of Muskogee, Oklahoma is planning to install a public memorial that would honor MERLE HAGGARD. It’s actually been in the works for a while but things are finally moving forward. (Full Story)