The 53rd annual Country Music Awards nominations have been revealed! Maren Morris leads the pack! Watch Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 8|7c on ABC to see winners revealed live from Nashville, TN. Here’s a look at the full list of nominations:
I don’t know what’s more emotional, seeing Taylor Swift win her first CMA Award for Song of the Year category for “Better Man”, or seeing her in a plaid shirt and curly hair like it’s 2008 again! The whole thing combined just hit us all right in the feels!
Just two days before her much anticipated 6th studio album, Reputation drops and she is really out there winning awards! Swift is also gearing up to perform on SNL on Saturday night!
Karlie Kloss was there to present the award and Little Big Town who recorded the song, accepted on Swift’s behalf since she couldn’t be there. The award for Song of the Year is only awarded to the Songwriter, not the artist who recorded it, so they said in their acceptance speech that they, of course, didn’t write it, and Taylor couldn’t be there tonight.
“Hey um, we didn’t write this. Um, we’re really grateful that Philip checked his email one night and that song was in that email because he doesn’t check his emails. So we wanna say thanks to Taylor Swift. She couldn’t be with us tonight. But Taylor, wherever you are, thank you for this beautiful song, for loving songs and loving Nashville.”
Swift was tuning into the show and posted a video of her reaction to winning! She turns around shocked, wearing a plaid shirt and curly hair. Safe to say we all lost it!
If there’s one thing Swift does well, it’s write amazing songs. Congratulations Taylor on your first Song of the Year CMA Award!
The 50th annual CMA Awards just wouldn’t seem complete without Taylor Swift, who is the second most award winner in CMA Awards history! Swift’s return to the CMA Awards stage, was long over-due. Country Music has been waiting for her to come back, and she made her return in more ways than one.
Swift show up to present Garth Brooks with the Entertainer of the Year award!
Swift has also been a part of CMA’s Vocal Group of the Year, Little Big Town‘s newest single “Better Man” which they performed at the awards!
Watch the incredible performance below!!
We can’t get this song out of our head! #CMAawards50 @littlebigtown pic.twitter.com/0sGM4ztygs
— CMA Country Music (@CountryMusic) November 3, 2016
Check out all the fun photos!
Then. Now. Forever Country, Has been the catch phrase used to describe the CMA Awards for most of this year and they delivered tonight! The 50th annual broadcast kicked off with stars of the past and present joining together on legendary songs.
Vince Gill started the show off on a sober note singing a tribute to Merle Haggard who passed away earlier this year with Haggard’s son Ben Haggard on guitar.
Then came host Brad Paisley with Roy Clark from Hee Haw fame. They launched into “Pickin’ and Grinning.” CMA award host Carrie Underwood belted out the Tammy Wynette classic “Stand By Your Man.” Charlie Pride joined Paisley for Pride’s song “Kiss An Angel Good Morning.” Alabama kept the nostalgia going with their song “Mountain Music.”
Paisley and Charlie Daniels team up on Daniels’s hit “Devil went down to Georgia.” Following Paisley and Daniels were Reba McEntire , Dwight Yoakam and Clint Black all singing their own songs! Wrapping up the opening performances was Ricky Skaggs and Paisley dueling guitars on Skaggs’s Song “Country Boy At Heart” then Alan Jackson brought 90’s country back to life with his hit “Don’t Rock The Juke Box.”
All through the opening numbers as an artist finished they stayed on the stage but moved to the background which led to the magical moment that took place at the end of the opening number. Paisley and Underwood brought Randy Travis to the stage and sang his hit song “Forever and Ever Amen” with Travis finishing the song out with the very last word Amen which was a miracle in its self since just a few months ago it was believed Travis would never sing again because of a stroke he suffered in 2013.
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The opening performance set the stage for the entire show which was an amazing walk down memory lane as well as a look what the future holds. The 50th annual CMA Awards from Nashville, TN saw many amazing team ups and moments that will for sure be remembered for years to come. The show featured performances by Brooks & Dunn with Superstar Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line with Tim McGraw, and Dierks Bentley and Elle King with their hit song “Different for Girls.”
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood sang a melody of hits from years past including some iconic duets from some of country music’s greatest couples! Also Joining forces were Alan Jackson and George Strait who sang their songs “Remember When” and “Troubadour” which were used for the in memoriam portion of the awards show, which honored the memories of the stars that have passed on. Tonight’s award show also saw superstar Beyoncé joining The Dixie Chicks on the CMA Awards Stage!
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As always there was plenty of jokes and songs from hosts Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley, as always no topic was off-limits. There was jokes about the election, drinks named after artists, Willie Nelson‘s hobbies and of course there was some Tim McGraw and Faith Hill jokes.
While the night revolved around the country music of past, present and future it was also a night of honoring the accomplishments of many of the artist in attendance! This year’s awards saw a lot of artists taking home their first or second CMA awards as well as a country legend returning to the top!
The Winners of the 50th CMA Awards:
The Entertainer of The Year Award was presented to Brooks by Taylor Swift who returns to the CMA Awards stage after being absent from the awards show since 2014 when she crossed over to Pop music full-time!
The 50th annual award show was truly a magical night full of memories of the past and Excitement of the future! Congratulations to all of the winners!
More performers have been officially revealed for the 2016 CMA Awards! Make sure tune in because it is a night you will not want to miss!
Kelsea Ballerini, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Kacey Musgraves, Tim McGraw and Little Big Town will all be taking to the stage at the upcoming show. They join the list of already announced performers, which is shaping up to be a night full of star studded-talent!
The newly announced performers are also all nominated (with the exception of Yearwood) for a CMA Award this year. Country fans are in for a real treat, as this year marks the CMA’s 50th anniversary and who knows what surprises will be in store.
Be sure to tune into the 50th Annual CMA Awards on Wednesday, November 2nd at 8/7c on ABC! For more information about the CMA Awards visit http://www.cmaworld.com/cma-awards/
