The 50th Annual CMA Awards were held November 2 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Kenny Chesney was honored with the CMA’s Pinnacle Award and Dolly Parton was recognized for her career with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The show began with a montage of Country stars of past and present paying tribute to some of the most iconic songs with a lengthy medley.
Vince Gill paid tribute to the late Merle Haggard by performing a snippet of “Mama Tried,” joined by Haggard’s youngest son, Ben. His performance was followed by a salute to Buck Owens by Roy Clark and Brad Paisley (who appeared to be wearing the yellow rhinestone jacket Owens wore on his Carnegie Hall live album), Carrie Underwood singing “Stand By Your Man,” Paisley and Charley Pride singing “Kiss an Angel Good Morning,” Alabama’s “Mountain Music,” Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” Reba’s version of “Fancy,” Dwight Yoakam’s “Guitars, Cadillacs,” Clint Black’s “Killin’ Time,” Ricky Skaggs’ “Country Boy,” and Alan Jackson’s “Don’t Rock the Jukebox.”
The grand finale of the country music medley was an emotional one, as all of the performers gathered on stage to sing Randy Travis’ “Forever and Ever Amen.” Travis himself joined in on the last lines of the song, to thunderous applause from the audience
Here is a complete list of all the winners:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Garth Brooks
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Chris Stapleton
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Carrie Underwood
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Mr. Misunderstood
Eric Church
Producer: Jay Joyce, Arturo Buenahora, Jr.
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
“Die A Happy Man” – Thomas Rhett
Producer:Dann Huff, Jesse Frasure.
Mix Engineer: Justin Niebank
SONG OF THE YEAR
“Humble And Kind”
Songwriter – Lori McKenna
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Little Big Town
VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
Brothers Osborne
MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
“Different For Girls”
Dierks Bentley feat. Elle King
MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
“Fire Away” – Chris Stapleton
Directed by Tim Mattia
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Maren Morris
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
Dann Huff – Guitar
