Since we know that y’all love country music and its coverage at Stylus, it seemed fitting to give a brief nod to the happenings at the 39th Annual Country Music Association Awards, which aired last night. For me - not the biggest country fan but with a steady eye on the general state of the genre - the biggest surprise of the night was Lee Ann Womack’s two wins for both Single and Album of the Year (”I May Hate Myself in the Morning” from There’s More Where That Came From).
Womack’s victories aren’t necessarily surprising because of her style - a delicately precise retro-traditionalism - but because neither the album nor the single faired especially well this year, sales-wise; Brad Paisley’s irritating Good Ol’ Boy persona seemed like a safer bet for sure, having scored a top 5 hit with the tedious, irresistable “Alcohol” and having already won an Entertainer of the Year Award. At any rate, the Womack album (and single) definitely deserve the attention; it’s one of the prettiest, most subtly affecting albums I’ve heard all year in any genre.
Still, Keith Urban, a well-tanned Australian with an open shirt and longish hair won the Entertainer of the Year Award, a bit of a WTF given the fact that the category hasn’t been altogether kind to the crossover bunch in the past several years *and* that Urban wasn’t quite as well-established Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, and Brad Paisley, who all wear cowboy hats and only untuck their shirts when they “get wild.” Go figure.
I’m getting tired of writing this post, but thankfully, there’s plenty of good information and commentary on the event elsewhere.
COURTESY OF THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE:
Thomas Inskeep’s CMA Awards preview on this very website.
Tom Breihan’s musings on Status Ain’t Hood.