NEW YORK – Carrie Underwood brought the Academy of Country Music Awards to church. Maren Morris has won two honors, including Song of the Year. Miranda Lambert has performed three times and held her record as the most decorated winner in ACM history. And Mickey Guyton, the first black woman to present the award, delivered a powerful, excellent vocal performance.
Although female country stars are not competing for the top prize of the evening – Luke Bryan was named entertainer of the year – they hold Sunday’s ACM awards.
Underwood’s performance stood out the most. The gospel legend CeCe Winans joined her and the dynamic duo mixed their voices like angels on stage. Underwood performed songs from her recent gospel song album ‘My Savior’, which started the set with ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘Great Is Thy Faithfulness’. Then Winans joined in and matched her strong vocal performance.
Lambert has performed three times, first with rock-pop singer Elle King for a fun, energetic rendition of their new duet “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home).” Lambert, who founded MuttNation, a charity for pets, also performed alongside year-old Chris Stapleton’s album for ‘Maggie’s Song’, a tribute to Stapleton’s dog who died in 2019. Her last performance was with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall.
The shows, which aired Sunday, were pre-recorded at various venues in Nashville, Tennessee, including the Grand Ole Opry House, the Ryman Auditorium and The Bluebird Cafe. Winners, wearing masks, received real-time awards in front of small audiences made up of medical and health workers.
Bryan was scheduled to perform Sunday, but withdrew the program because he recently tested positive for the coronavirus.
“I’m sorry I could not be there,” he said from Los Angeles. ‘And to all my fans out there and the country radio we miss the tour. We missed being on the road with everyone who makes me an entertainer. My bus drivers, my group, my crew, what a challenging year. But for all the fans and everyone, we will be on our way again to doing what we love. “
Morris talked about the tax year without live music when his female artist of the year won.
‘Really just happy to be in a category with women who could not tour this year, but who brought so much country music’s heat into play this year. You have inspired me so far, and even in a year where no one could play programs, I have heard the best music from you over the past year. Thank you so much for inspiring me, ”she said.
The collaboration on stage was the theme of the awards program, and Morris and his husband Ryan Hurd sang along and ended with a kiss. A teary-eyed Morris won the song of the year for her Grammy-nominated hit “The Bones,” which topped the country music hit list for months last year.
Morris lost the single of the year, where all the nominated songs were performed by female artists. Carly Pearce and Lee Brice’s platinum duet, “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” won the award.
“We wrote this song about my story and I think it resonated with everyone,” Pearce said on stage and also thanked Busbee, who produced the song and died at the end of 2019. “This is the last song my producer worked on.”
Another soft moment arrived when Blanco Brown presented Old Group with the group of the year. It was Brown’s first public appearance Sunday after he was seriously injured in a car crash last year.
But the whole three-hour show did not go smoothly. Grammy-winning duo Dan + Shay performed their latest hit, “Glad You Exist”, but the pre-recorded moment was broadcast out of sync.
“Apparently there was an audio / video sync issue on the television broadcast,” the duo tweeted. “We’re sorry about that, but it’s happening, especially when it’s happening in different places.”
Another accident occurred when Martina McBride announced the winner of single of the year. McBride correctly announced ‘I Hope You’re Happy Now’, although Gabby Barrett’s ‘I Hope’ appeared on the TV screen.
Pearce and Brice’s “I Hope You’re Happy Now” also won a musical event of the year, while Barrett was named new female artist of the year. Rhett won Male Artist of the Year and Jimmie Allen was named New Male Artist of the Year.
These performances performed on Sunday, as did Alan Jackson, Lady A, Blake Shelton, Ashley McBryde, Brothers Osborne and Guyton, who presented an all-star performance of ‘Hold On’ during the program, which she co-wrote with Keith Urban offered. She recently had her first child and becomes the first black solo woman to be nominated for a Grammy this year.
Little Big Town also performed – but as a trio. The Grammy winners sang ‘Wine, Beer, Whiskey’ without the Phillip Sweet member, as he recently tested positive for COVID-19.
Sweet and Bryan were not the only country stars missing from the show. Morgan Wallen, whose latest album and singles have been hugely successful on both the country and pop charts, was not declared eligible by the ACMs after being caught on camera earlier this year by a racial uproar.