Country Universe – A Country Music Blog

CMA 2012: Live Blog

Thursday, November 1st, 2012

Winners

Entertainer: Blake Shelton

Female Vocalist: Miranda Lambert

Male Vocalist: Blake Shelton

Vocal Group: Little Big Town

New Artist: Hunter Hayes

Vocal Duo: Thompson Square

Musician: Mac McAnally

Album: Eric Church, Chief

Single: Little Big Town, “Pontoon”

Song:  Miranda Lambert & Blake Shelton, “Over You”

Musical Event: Tim McGraw & Kenny Chesney, “Feel Like a Rock Star”

Video:  Toby Keith, “Red Solo Cup”

LIVE BLOG

9:59 I enjoyed Shelton’s acceptance speech, nodding to his “other” jobs but maintaining his commitment to the genre. And hey, at least it wasn’t Jason Aldean. Thanks SO much for sticking with us, everyone; we promise to iron out the technical difficulties come spring award season. -TS

9:57 Say what? -TS

9:57 Entertainer of the Year: Blake Shelton

9:56 Here we go. An always-glowing Reba McEntire and Tim Allen presenting Entertainer of the Year to … -TS

9:49 Willie Nelson starts singing “On the Road Again,” and it’s like a big sigh of country relief. -TS

9:40 This Willie tribute is pretty solid so far, methinks.  I’m liking Tim and Faith’s take on “Good Hearted Woman.” -BF

9:47 Faith Hill and Tim McGraw singing onstage together for the first time in a while. Very cute. -TS

9:46 Huge ditto to that last comment, Tara. -BF

9:45 I typically would not expect Hillary Scott to fare well on a Patsy Cline classic, but I daresay she acquitted herself nicely on that. -BF

9:43 If they stop winning every damn award, I think there’s still hope they’ll be inspired to step up their game, Ben. -TS

9:43 It’s lovely to hear Lady Antebellum singing a truly great song for once.  It makes me think of what could have been :( -BF

9:42 This is the soulful, organic Lady A I used to love. But Willie’s all like, who are these peeps? -TS

9:42 “If there’s a Mt. Rushmore for country music [Willie's] on it.”  Totally agree, Brad! -BF

9:36 It’s nice to hear Miranda say some kind words for her fellow nominees.  It almost feels like a subtle antidote to all the Carrie – Taylor – Miranda fanwar nonsense. -BF

9:34 Lambert says she doesn’t necessarily deserve the award. I tend to agree, but since this is the night of retroactive awards (Little Big Town), whatevs. Love that she personally acknowledged every single female in the category. -TS

9:34 Female Vocalist of the Year: Miranda Lambert

9:33 The ABC star cameos generally bug me, but at least they’ve mostly dialed back on that this year, and this one is somewhat country music-related. Panetierre needs to turn off the fake Southern drawl. -BF

9:33 The ladies of “Nashville” presenting the Female Vocalist of the Year award to … -TS

9:31 I would take “Wanted” over this as well. -BF

9:30 I don’t love “El Cerrito Place,” but I would have preferred to hear it over “Come Over.” -BF

9:28 Kenny Chesney singing his previous boring single. Reader poll: What’s better – “Come Over” or “Wanted”? I vote the latter. -TS

9:21 Repeat Male Vocalist of the Year win for a tipsy Blake Shelton. Expected. He had a solid year, I’ll admit. -TS

9:20 Male Vocalist of the Year: Blake Shelton

9:20 I would have liked to hear a little more of Vince, but Kelly nailed it.  Plus this actually has some country flair to it.  Is that a steel guitar I hear? This is definitely in the running for my favorite performance of the night. -BF

9:17 Hey, I can actually hear Kelly’s vocals! -BF

9:16 And K. Clarkson’s stylist is still MIA. But if those aren’t two of the greatest voices of our generation… -TS

9:15 I’m hoping that her Female Vocalist nod (unwarranted though it may be) will give Kelly a nudge toward finally making that country album. -BF

9:11 I almost forgot about the K. Clarkson / Vince Gill performance. Stoked, y’all. -TS

9:08 Oh my… I just about rocketed out of my chair when they announced the Little Big Town win! -BF

9:06 And Lady A goes down. Very happy for Little Big Town. -TS

9:06 Vocal Group of the Year: Little Big Town

9:06  Ben:  Not Lady A, not Lady A, not Lady A… -BF

9:05 Definitely one of my favorite Underwood singles in recent memory.  It’s just so COOL. -BF

9:05 Ouch. Underwood did not nail that falsetto. But the rest of the performance was solid, per usual. Kind of glad “Blown Away” has run its performance course. -TS

9:03 So far this is actually sounding better than I expected.  The vocals are coming through pretty well, but then again, this is Carrie we’re talking about. -BF

8:59 Side note – I’m still trying to decide how much I like “Nashville,” but this version of “Telescope” is stellar. -TS

8:56 I want to be excited about Carrie’s performance of “Blown Away,” but all I can think about is how lousy the sound is going to be. -BF

8:51 Kind of wish that could have stayed an acoustic performance. -BF

8:50 I really do think there’s something special about “Southern Comfort Zone.” This acoustic version drives that home for me. -TS