Live blog: CMT Music Awards
7 p.m.: Here we go, the CMT Music Awards are starting live from Nashville. We’re starting off with cheesy skit (or video segment, not sure) about post-”Celebrity Apprentice” Trace Adkins trying to score CMT Music Awards tickets for his “Hannah Montana”-crazed children. Instead, she gives her tickets to Piers Morgan, the reality show winner. Then, she turns down requests from presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. Miley jokes “When did award shows get so political.” That’s actually a pretty good line.
After seeking advice from Larry the Cable Guy, Trace goes to hang out around the door, fields a call from Hillary Clinton and gets a tip on a scalper from Gretchen Wilson. When he approaches the scalper, you got it, a diamond-toothed Billy Ray Cyrus is selling the tickets. Miley feigns embarrassment at her dad, like that’s unusual for a teenage girl, although as a Disney teen idol, you’d think her tolerance for embarrassment would be exceedingly high.
7:05: OK, so five minutes after the labyrinthine beginning, Miley throws it right to the first performance, Keith Urban, playing “Raise the Barn,” his duet with Ronnie Dunn. He is quickly joined by Brooks & Dunn. It could be my obvious Okie favoritism showing, but Ronnie Dunn’s voice is still really great after decades in the country business. (I should note that Keith Urban was very sweet walking the red carpet with his crimson-clad, Oscar-winning wife Nicole: He was proudly showing off her baby belly. They are expecting their first child and are visibly excited.)
7:10: The screams of preteen girls are deafening as Miley and Billy Ray take the stage. Billy Ray is back in the cowboy duds, and he’s so excited to be there, he says “To heck with the Oscars,” referencing his daughter presenting at the Academy Awards. Mr. “Achy, Breaky Heart” jokes that “this is not my first time at the rodeo, I know you’re using Miley to get to me.” Pretty good sport, he even dances a bit to a video of his 1992 hit. Miley feigns embarrassment, or maybe she’s not pretending. The mullet’s pretty tough to take.
7:12: Here’s Martina McBride, looking ever-young and elfin with her short black hair and short black dress with sparkling star-like shape at the neck. She’s presenting group video and the nominees are:
Bon Jovi — “(You Want To) Make a Memory”
Little Big Town — “A Little More You”
Rascal Flatts — “Stand”
Rascal Flatts — “Take Me There”
And the winner of the night’s first buckle: Rascal Flatts’ “Take Me There.”
Gary LeVox thanks Miley for the tickets and thanks the fans for “employing us.” Since these are fan-voted awards, we can expect a lot of thanks for the fans, and that’s as it should be and a little refreshing. Jay DeMarcus quips, “We’re glad we beat that other band, Rascal Flatts.”
Joe Don Rooney of Picher then thanks his wife, Tiffany, who is getting ready to be the mother of his child, so she couldn’t be there. Awww.
For every buckle won, CMT One Country is making a donation to the winner’s charity of choice, Billy Ray points out.
7:16: Young rising star Bucky Covington, who’s got gorgeous long, wavy blond hair I’d kill for, performs us to the commercial break.
7:21: With her microphone buzzing like a wasp is stuck in it, Miley announces that more than 4 1/2 million votes have been cast by fans. She and her dad are announcing the four finalists for video of the year. Here are the eight semi-finalists going in:
Brad Paisley (Director: Jason Alexander) — “Online”
Carrie Underwood (Director: Roman White) — “Wasted”
Kenny Chesney (Director: Shaun Silva) — “Don’t Blink”
LeAnn Rimes (Director: David McClister/LeAnn Rimes) — “Nothin’ Better To Do”
Rascal Flatts (Director: Shaun Silva) — “Take Me There”
Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson (Director: Roman White) — “Because of You”
Sugarland (Director: Shaun Silva) — “Stay”
Taylor Swift (Director: Trey Fanjoy) — “Our Song”
And here are the four finalists. It looks like the three Okies in the running here (Reba, Rascal Flatts and Carrie) are out of the race for the “biggest buckle of the night,” as Billy calls it.
Brad Paisley (Director: Jason Alexander) — “Online”
Kenny Chesney (Director: Shaun Silva) — “Don’t Blink”
Sugarland (Director: Shaun Silva) — “Stay”
Taylor Swift (Director: Trey Fanjoy) — “Our Song”
Billy gives instructions on how to vote: CMT.com or Verizon customers text their fave’s last name to 23882. Miley is distracting him by texting. ”I love to text,” she apologizes. ”I know, I pay your cell phone bill,” he says. “Don’t kid yourself, I pay yours,” she counters. Like I said, he’s a pretty good sport about his lot in life.
7:25: LeAnn Rimes doesn’t let the fact that she was just eliminated from the best video category faze her. She and a group of sexy backup dancers come out dressed like unbelievably hot prison inmates in gray cotton dresses that would be drab without the super-short skirts, fishnet stockings and high heels. She croons “Nothin’ Better To Do” and she and her posse do some dancing that looks less like country, more like “Chicago.”
7:32: Miley introduces one of her BFFs, Taylor Swift, all in texting language. Looking fresh and lovely in a red dress, Taylor playfully announces that her sparkly heels were killing her, so she took them off. ”My stylist is going to kill me.”
She’s here to present the USA Weekend Breakthrough Video award, which she won last year and took to all her shows. Here’s the noms list:
Bucky Covington — “A Different World”
Chuck Wicks — “Stealing Cinderella”
Kellie Pickler — “I Wonder”
Luke Bryan — “All My Friends Say”
And the winner is Kellie Pickler, who isn’t here but manages to stammer and gush her way through her acceptance speech via satellite from Scottsdale, Ariz. She says it’s “the first time I’ve ever won anything in my whole life.” After verbally flopping through her speech, she finally begs the camera to go away. Unmercifully, they keep her on a few painful moments more.
7:36: Rascal Flatts comes on to perform “Bob That Head.” They’ve got a lot of fans there, and they’re obviously having a good time. The song’s pretty catchy, too. It’s hard not to follow the exhortation of the chorus. And Joe Don is doing us proud with the scorching guitar solo. The guy’s got skills.
7:39: There is a bit of a gyp involved with the performance of “Bob That Head.” The band had a contest in which fans could submit video of themselves bobbing their heads to the song. They promised to pick some and play them on the video screens behind them during the CMT Music Award performance. The band was true to its word, but the cameras don’t stay on the screen long enough for people watching at home to even get a quick glimpse. Not very fan-friendly for a fan-voted telecast. If I had submitted a video, I’d be irritated. Not the band’s fault, but disappointing. The least they could have done is shown one extended shot.
7:40: James Otto, who has a wonderful deep voice, plays us to another break on the smaller stage. That’s a cool showcase for the lesser-known, up-and-coming talent. He’s playing “Just Got Started Lovin’ You.”
7:45: And Tulsa native Rodney Carrington and four others winners just got gypped. CMT added five new categories to the awards show this year, but gave no extra time to present those awards. So, CMT talking heads Katie Cook and Lance Smith just sped-read through five different winners and five different categories. Here’s the noms and winners:
Supporting character of the year:
Best supporting character whose guest appearance enhances the video concept; awarded to the special guest
Christian Kane — Carrie Underwood’s “So Small”
Jason Alexander — Brad Paisley’s “Online”
Rodney Carrington — Trace Adkins’ “I Got My Game On”
Tyler Hilton — Taylor Swift’s “Teardrops on My Guitar”
And the winner is Carrington, whose great sense of humor was wasted as all he got to do was sort of grin bemusedly from the audience.
Performance of the year
Musical performance on a television show, series or variety special on a broadcast or major cable network; awarded to the artist (individual, group or duo)
Dierks Bentley — “Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)” from A Capitol Fourth 2007 (PBS)
Kellie Pickler — “I Wonder” frpm the 41st Annual CMA Awards (ABC)
Sugarland — “Stay” from the 2007 CMT Music Awards (CMT)
Tim McGraw — “If You’re Reading This” from the 42nd ACM Awards (CBS)
Winner: Pickler. Thank goodness she didn’t give another speech.
Tearjerker video of the year
Best video most likely to stir emotion, whether tears of joy or sadness; awarded to the artist
Billy Ray Cyrus — “Ready, Set, Don’t Go”
Kellie Pickler — “I Wonder”
Kenny Chesney — “Don’t Blink”
Sugarland — “Stay”
Winner: Pickler again. I’m astounded. I can’t believe Sugarland’s “Stay” didn’t get that one. I love that song; chokes me up every time.
Comedy video of the year
Best video to convey a song’s humor and wit; awarded to the artist (individual, group or duo)
Blake Shelton — “The More I Drink”
Brad Paisley — “Online”
Toby Keith — “High Maintenance Woman”
Trace Adkins — “I Got My Game On”
Winner: Paisley’s hilarious “Online.” Not surprising, as that video got four nominations.
Director of the year
Best video director of the year; awarded to the director for his or her body of work from the past year
Trey Fanjoy, whose work includes Yearwood’s “Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love”; Miranda Lambert’s “Famous in a Small Town”; and Taylor Swift’s “Our Song.”
Michael Salomon, whose work includes Keith’s “High Maintenance Woman” and “Love Me if You Can,” and Adkins’ “I Got My Game On.”
Shaun Silva, whose work includes Rascal Flatts’ “Take Me There”; Kenny Chesney’s “Don’t Blink”; and Sugarland’s “Stay.”
Roman White, whose work includes McEntire and Clarkson’s “Because of You”; Underwood’s “So Small”; and Sara Evans’ “As If.”
Winner: Salomon, who missed his 15 seconds to be famous to the general public.
7:48: Not-so-funny comedian Tom Arnold and Jewel are nattering about beer and Jewel’s date, bullrider Ty Murray. Thank goodness they just introduced the next performance: Sugarland, Little Big Town and Jake Owen are on stage to do a huge countrified renditon of the ’80s hit of “Life in a Northern Town.” It’s a nice rendition – Owen’s voice is terrific – but the production is all wrong. There’s too many flashing lights for such a low-key ballad.
7:55: “American Idol” judge and pop comeback in the making Paula Abdul is on stage to introduce the next performance. She’s getting all schmaltzy about being so proud of all the “Idol” alumni in the audience, calling herself a proud mom to their “little angels.” She sounds kind of shaky now, but on the red carpet before she sounded like she was getting a good beer buzz on; she was very slurred.
Anyway, there’s at least some point to her being on stage – to introduce Tim McGraw and Faith Hill performing. It’s just them sitting very close and singing very passionately their duet “I Need You” with a guitarist playing off the side. Very pretty.
8:02: Tim Daly of “Private Practice” says all the nominees for female video of the year are mad at him for walking into the ladies room earlier. I guess if you’ve seen the show – Miley says “he’s a doctor who likes to play doctor” – that’s funny.
Anyway, here are the noms:
Carrie Underwood — “So Small”
LeAnn Rimes — “Nothin’ Better To Do”
Martina McBride — “Anyway”
Miranda Lambert — “Famous in a Small Town”
Taylor Swift — “Our Song”
And the winner: Taylor Swift, who seems really, really shocked, even though she’s no stranger to winning awards. She made a beeline to hug Carrie and then stormed the stage to ask: “Are you sure? Are you serious?” She thanked the stylist who straightened her long hair ”’cause that’s really hard.” She’s a cute kid.
8:05: And another young cutie, Luke Bryan, plays us to commercial with “All My Friends Say.”
8:10: OK, I’m going to close my eyes because this isn’t happening: Snoop Dogg and Jason Aldean just walked out on stage together.
8:10 and 30 seconds: Nope, I blinked a couple of times and Snoop’s still there. The crowd is laughing incredulously and calling “Snooooppp.” He’s wearing a black duster and a black cowboy hat. Eeek. Sign of the apocalypse maybe? Jason asks him the obvious: What are you doing here. Snoop says he has a new country single coming and cracks that in his hit “Nothing But a G Thang,” the G stands for “Git her done, son.” Help me out here, is anyone else seeing this, or has the deadline pressure broken my grip on reality?
8:12: OK, Snoop is gone and Alan Jackson is on stage playing his latest boot scooter. I think my rising sense of hysteria has passed.
8:15: The announcer just said that our “next couple of presenters is actually a couple.” So here comes Tishomingo’s own neighboring farmers, Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert. They’re hand in hand and look like a cute couple. They’re here to introduce the collaborative video of the year winner, but first Miranda shows off a home video of her and Blake singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” in Santa hats. Blake looks jokingly embarrassed.
Here’s the real noms, since Blake says that home videos don’t count:
Bon Jovi featuring LeAnn Rimes — “Till We Ain’t Strangers Anymore”
Garth Brooks and Huey Lewis — “Workin’ For a Livin’”
Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson — “Because of You”
Tim McGraw featuring Faith Hill — “I Need You”
And the winner: Bon Jovi and LeAnn Rimes. The Jersey boys aren’t present; hopefully, they’re on their way to OKC to play the Ford Center tomorrow night. Nice zinger by LeAnn: “I’m sorry John’s not here; I had a lot of fun rolling around with him in bed.” Sassy. She then begins apologizing profusely to her significant other.
8:22: Billy Ray is back in his pop mode of his current “Hannah Montana” days, with a white unbuttoned shirt and his longish hair, untopped by that black cowboy hat, flowing. He and Miley, who has switched to a silky gown decorated in this year’s hot color, deep green, are singing the duet “Ready Set Don’t Go.” Upon hearing Miley, who seems to be putting some extra measure of country-ness in her performance, I just can’t see what all the fuss is about her. I guess you have to be an 11-year-old girl to get it, but she just doesn’t seem that special to me as far as performers go.
8:32: Billy Ray is reminding us again about the donations going to the winners’ charities of choice. And he’s thanking the troops for their service. I think it’s nice that the country music shows always remember to do that.
8:33: “Dancing with the Stars’” Julianne Huff and Sara Evans and deep-voiced crooner Josh Turner are making goofy banter, basically daring us to connect the dots between them. But thankfully, they’re not on stage for long. They’re just here to introduce Brad Paisley, who’s one of the funniest guys in country music. He’s performing “I’m Still a Guy,” and it’s a very witty little ditty.
8:36: Oh, nice. Brad just introduced Hank Williams Jr., and he’s turned his cool song over to a cool country dude. This is the kind of sweet surprise performance that makes these award shows sort of worth sitting through.
8:42: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are back to introduce the Wide Open Country Video of the Year noms. Faith is nice enough to explain that this category is for the best video/song that stretches the boundaries of country music. According to the press sheet, it’s for the best video “from an artist outside the mainstream of country music.”
Here’s the noms:
Alison Krauss and Robert Plant — “Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)”
The Eagles — “How Long”
Jack Ingram — “Measure of a Man”
Willie Nelson — “Gravedigger”
And the belt buckle goes to a couple of awesome singers who aren’t the buckle types: Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. THAT IS AMAZING.
8:44 Alison looks gorgeous in her shimmering gown in shades of pink, and watching the lead singer of Led Zeppelin, now in his 50s, walk onto a country awards stage to accept a giant mounted belt buckle has got to be one of the most fun and weird things I’ve ever witnessed. He looks very cool but strangely dignified with his long curly graying hair, black turtleneck and taupe slacks. And his speech – in that out-of-place British accent - is very awesome, too: “At least I’d like to say how peculiar it is to be here, but it’s an honor to have made an album in Nashville and have it sound so good.” He’s thanking producer T. Bone Burnett and the people of Nashville and thanking Alison for getting him through his 50s. Coolest moment of the night for me so far.
8:49: Billy Ray starts joking about it being time to tell Miley about the birds and the bees. He says they’re too busy to do it any other time and he doesn’t want to wait until the Grammys. “Yeah, you probably won’t be there,” she quips. He’s taking these hits like a real man, and she’s managing to come across so far as cute and not too obnoxious. But it’s starting to wear a bit thin and veer toward bratty.
8:51: Anyway, the father-daughter act just introduced Reba McEntire, and she was getting loud cheers as they described her many roles – singer, actress, etc. She’s there to name the male video of the year, and she can’t resist a cheeky comment about all the beefcake involved in this particular category. Here are the musical hunks in question:
Brad Paisley — “Online”
Keith Urban — “I Told You So”
Kenny Chesney — “Don’t Blink”
Toby Keith — “High Maintenance Woman”
Trace Adkins — “I Got My Game On”
The winner: The man whose hair Donald Trump undoubtedly envies: Trace.
He’s giving one of the most humble speeches of the evening: “I’m having a good year. I’m having a good year. I’d like to thank Michael Saloman (the director) and Rodney Carrington for letting me do the music to their funny video.” He’s also thanking country radio for giving him his first three-week No. 1 hit of his lengthy career. He seems like a standup guy.
8:54: Billy Ray is telling the guys in the crowd they better be nice if they ever date this girl. Before you panic and assume the preteen girls of the world have co-opted the show and turned it into an episode of “Hannah Montana,” he’s not talking about his daughter. He’s introducing Taylor Swift, the young queen of the scathing breakup song. She’s young, but her love life has apparently been quite rocky, judging from her songwriting.
She’s doing a playful, not quite as sexed up version of Shania Twain, dressed in a short, flippy black dress with her long tresses tucked up in a top hat. At least she’s wearing cowboy boots. She lets her hair down as she gets into “Picture to Burn.” It’s an energetic performance, but I’ve heard her sing better live before.
8:56: Young Alabama talent Ashton Shepherd is taking us to commercial with her spirited performance of “Takin’ Off This Pain.”
9:03: Billy Ray takes another one on the chin as he introduces Rodney Carrington with the hope that the comic will be funny without making fun of him. Yeah, right. Carrington is dressed as circa 1992 Billy Ray, with the mullet, sleeveless plaid shirt and jeans. He’s there to introduce Toby Keith, with whom he co-wrote the movie “Beer for My Horses.” On the red carpet, they said it was finished and showed a clip, which included Toby wielding two handguns John Woo style. Very weird image. Anyway, Toby’s doing one of his rollicking honky tonky songs “She’s a Hottie.”
9:11: Naomi Judd, looking really good, she’s aged very gracefully, takes the stage with Rossi Morreale, the host of the new CMT show “Can You Duet,” which is debuting after the awards show. So, they’re are promoting the fire out of it. Naomi is a judge on it, and she would definitely know about duets after all those years with Wynonna. They are wearing matching turquoise outfits. Apparently, matching outfits and acting cheesy are required to duet. Anyway, they are introducing the duo video of the year possibilities:
Big & Rich — “Lost In This Moment”
Brooks & Dunn — “Proud of the House We Built”
Montgomery Gentry — “What Do Ya Think About That”
Sugarland — “Stay”
The winner: Sugarland, who definitely got the biggest cheers, including mine. “Stay” was one of my favorite videos and songs nominated. Jennifer Nettles seems really excited, but doesn’t let the waterworks flow. Guess that’s just for the videos.
9:19: John Rich of Big & Rich is bringing out Cisco, Bobby Brown and other contestants from the show “Gone Country.” He’s trying to prove two things: Aloud, he’s showing them how to drive a country crowd crazy – introduce his tanness, Kenny Chesney. By the company he’s keeping, he’s proving without words that there’s an awful lot of not-very-country crossover in this country awards show.
9:20: Kenny Chesney’s singing “Never Wanted Nothing More.” This is probably not a very popular opinion, considering how many hits he’s had, but most all of his songs sound the same to me. That’s kind of why I’m rooting for him for video of the year: I think “Don’t Blink” is one of the most distinctive songs he’s done. But I really am hoping for another Sugarland win for their heartbreaking song and video “Stay.”
9:23: Billy Ray says the voting has closed for video of the year. We must be getting close.
9:27: As if to just emphasize the not-that-country tone of the night, Eagles Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit are here to name the video of the year winner. Timothy delivers some very canned comments about how the music business may be struggling but country seems to be doing fine. And then Walsh says, I’m not kidding, he actually utters “y’all” and proceeds to yammer- interestingly enough – about praising everyone there for keeping integrity and artistry alive in country music. Huh.
Anyway, here are the finalists for video of the year:
Brad Paisley (Director: Jason Alexander) — “Online”
Kenny Chesney (Director: Shaun Silva) — “Don’t Blink”
Sugarland (Director: Shaun Silva) — “Stay”
Taylor Swift (Director: Trey Fanjoy) — “Our Song”
The winner: Taylor Swift, and she’s having a hair-pulling (her own, not someone else’s, this isn’t a catfight or anything) and hugging celebration. Timothy forgot to recognize the director, but Trey Fanjoy is helping the stunned Swift onto the stage, where she thanks MySpace and all the fans who have started fan sites for her. She also announces that she’s donating her charity money for the win to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Good cause.
9:31: Billy Ray is telling Miley, his “baby doll,” that he could really get into this take his daughter to work thing. Yuk, yuk, yuck. I’m really tired of celebrity banter.
9:32: But the show isn’t over yet, and that’s a good thing because I was beginning to worry that Carrie Underwood got shut out in more ways than one. But nope, she’s on stage now, closing out the showing singing her No. 1 hit – she has yet to have another variety of hit, as Lance Smith pointed out on the red carpet – “All-American Girl.” It’s a sweet song, and she looks very fresh and pretty in her short, silvery, sassy dress with the wide pink band at the waist. But I liked her red carpet dress, a short, purple, off-one-shoulder gown by Badgley Mischka, better.
9:35: OK, so I guess it’s over, because we’re going into CMT’s all-new series “Can You Duet”! Just as we’ve been hearing for the past two hours.
Naturally, since this is an awards show, they went a bit long. But compared to the Oscars, this is nothing. I think they end the Oscars when the host begins to cry for mercy backstage.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this live blog of the CMT Music Awards. I’m going to add some pictures to the blog since it looks like AP is really starting to move some from tonight’s show. But first I’m going to write my story for the paper. So check out The Oklahoman tomorrow, and check back here for some photos in a few minutes.
Thanks for visiting BAM’s Blog! Good night and drive safely.
-BAM
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I remember when country was country. I miss those days. I guess we’ll have to deal with new country for years to come.