43rd ACMs Promote Entertainment Value

If Award shows were really about awards, don’t you think they would spend more time on acceptance speeches? Duh! Of course. These extravaganzas are about entertainment, ratings, glamour and hopefully getting a few extra records sold in the process. So yes, there’s a winners list below for the record, but let’s talk about the entertainment value of Sunday’s 43rd ACM Awards (5/18).

Three hours is a long time for an ADD nation, but fortunately, there were some outstanding moments to partially justify the time commitment. Topping the list was triple Platinum Taylor Swift. The precocious teen’s performance was a study in dynamics and theatrics. She began singing “Should’ve Said No,” with just her own guitar, wearing an oversize charcoal hoodie, stage center. Soon her band appeared and two male dancers literally pulled on her sweatshirt which obediently split down the middle revealing an elegant black gown underneath. The song’s finale found Swift getting drenched under a lifesize waterfall. (Fortunately this compelling stunt did not result in a wardrobe malfunction.)

Sugarland also delivered the goods. Debuting the new single, “All I Wanna Do,” Jen was both sexy and fun. As rose petals tumbled everywhere she irresistibly implored, “I wanna lay here and be lazy, drive me crazy.” As the song closed she and Kristian climbed a staircase, spread out their arms and then purposely fell backwards like off the edge of a cliff. The odds on this song climbing the airplay charts will be like betting on Big Brown at last weekend’s Preakness…maybe even more of a sure thing.

And special mention must go to the Yoda of country music showmanship, Garth Brooks. Brooks was honored with the ACM Crystal Milestone Award and performed a medley of almost a dozen pages from his music book. Trisha Yearwood made a brief duet appearance during the medley and when accepting the award from Reba, Garth accidentally referred to the Oklahoma redhead as “Miss Yearwood,” before laughing, correcting his mistake and telling Reba, “I love you, I love you, the best part of this award is having you present it to me.”

Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley showed that simplicity can also work, as they sang an understated but eloquent tribute to Eddy Arnold, “Make The World Go Away.”

Some of the evening’s “no brainers” missed the mark. Master songwriter Toby Keith’s single “She’s A Hottie” may shine on radio, but it tumbles down the musical food chain when compared against the artist’s other material and didn’t translate to a TV performance. A tentative Kenny Chesney/George Strait pairing on “Shiftwork” seemed overly restrained like the two were digging on the graveyard shift, and acts such as Rodney Atkins and Montgomery Gentry fell victim to the evening’s dry vocal mix which negatively colored many of the show’s performances by accentuating pitch variations.

This year’s Entertainer Award was fan-voted and so I tried to vote at 7:21 central time. Despite getting heavy traffic, the CBS.com web site accepted my input. Voters were required to offer email and birthday information (mobile phone was optional). I tried to vote again several times, but the system only thanked me for already having voted. (That’s good.) I then tried to vote using my iPhone, but could never get the default CBS mobile site (m.cbs.com) to load. The entertainment value of viewer voting appears to have been a successful experiment and helps the ACM differentiate itself from the CMA TV show which is industry voted.

Finally, there were a number of solid, if not life-changing, performances which helped propel the show from performers such as Brooks & Dunn, LeAnn Rimes, Kellie Pickler, Miranda Lambert, Keith Urban and Trace Adkins. The mix of presenter faces from film, TV, fashion catalogs and country music blended well in the non-traditional NashVegas setting and Reba McEntire, hosting for her tenth time, was effective delivering humorous lines and injecting her obvious love for the music. Diehard fans undoubtedly found a lot to like at ACM #43. As for the more casual channel surfers, the ratings reports will write the final chapter.

ACM Awards Complete List Of Winners

Entertainer Of The Year Kenny Chesney
Top Male Vocalist Brad Paisley
Top Female Vocalist Carrie Underwood
Top Vocal Group Rascal Flatts
Top New Male Vocalist Jack Ingram
Top New Female Vocalist Taylor Swift
Top New Duo Or Vocal Group Lady Antebellum
Album Of The Year Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Miranda Lambert, Columbia, Produced By Frank Liddell, Mike Wrucke
Single Record Of The Year “Stay” Sugarland, Produced By Kristian Bush, Byron Gallimore, Jennifer Nettles
Mercury
Song Of The Year “Stay” Sugarland Writer: Jennifer Nettles; Publishers: Jennifer Nettles Publishing (ASCAP)
Video Of The Year “Online” Brad Paisley Producer: Frames Per Second; Director: Jason Alexander
Vocal Event Of The Year “Find Out Who Your Friends Are” Tracy Lawrence With Tim McGraw And Kenny Chesney; Produced By Julian King, Tracy Lawrence; Rocky Comfort/CO5