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A Commentary on the 39th Annual CMA Awards November, 2005
by Miss Lana
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From Madison Square Garden in New York City aired the 39th Annual Country My Ass Awards Show. This year was pretty boring, but there were some highlights in between the lowlights. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, the stars of the film, "Walk The Line", about Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, presented Lee Ann Womack with the Single of the Year Award for "I May Hate Myself in the Morning", written by Odie Blackmon. Lee Ann's acceptance speech leaned heavily towards promoting country music and how it tells a story and portrays people's lives. Hmmm, yeah, some country music does that, and she is hopefully moving back in that direction. I wasn't impressed with the song Big & Rich did about "gonna sing you a country song"...but surely that wasn't it (a country song, I mean). It just went Pop-Pop-Pop to my ears! Brad Paisley sang an acoustic solo, which takes a lot of guts to do on the CMA Awards. It was a spiritual song about death with some touching lyrics...a very nice performance. Rascal Flatts - They sang a song. I didn't get it. It sounded garbled to me, like a foreign language. Very 60'ish rock music....just don't know. Song of the Year went to "Whiskey Lullaby", written by Bill Anderson and Dallasite Jon Randall, performed by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss. Bill seemed very delighted about the win, quipping, "I'm supposed to be whispering, but I feel like shouting!" Toby Keith nabbed his one award of the night for Music Video of the Year with his "As Good As I Once Was", as predicted. STOP THE PRESSES! Garth Brooks is back performing to a crowd outdoors in New York City with a tribute to Chris LeDoux, who passed away on March 9, 2005, from cancer. The Chairman's Award of Merit was given to Chris LeDoux after Garth's performance. Garth and Wal*Mart have teamed up with an exclusive deal for a new CD...it'll be interesting to see what happens next with Garth's return to the music scene. Kris Kristofferson introduced Martina McBride who sang his song, "Help Me Make It Through The Night" with a sparse arrangement of guitar, bass and steel. This is one of the songs featured on her new "Timeless" CD, which is 18 classic country songs that she wanted to do and her record company agreed to let her do. This album also includes the classics, "You Ain't Woman Enough", "Satin Sheets", "Heartaches By The Number" just to mention a few. These are the songs I grew up with. I hope this album does well for her. Alan Jackson did a kick-butt country version of Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" complete with twin fiddles. Alan has won 16 CMA Awards and has been nominated 72 times...twice at this year's award show. Vocal Duo went to Brooks & Dunn...AGAIN! (sigh) Sugarland...nominated for the Horizon Award. Don't know them, this was my first time to hear them. Southern rock/pop sound, lots of bling but not much else. Lead singer has a twangy voice, but that's all the country I heard out of this group. Post review note: This band also won an American Music Award the following week after the Country My Ass Awards. Bon Jovi performed...uh, what's that?? And it wasn't country, but he tried. (heavy sigh) Faith Hill and hubby Tim McGraw did a love ballad. Tim wore a long gold lame scarf around his neck with a black suite to apparently compliment the black and gold dress Faith was sporting. OK, so I was looking at their clothes, what else was I supposed to do...the song lost my interest pretty quickly. That said, it was good to see most of the women wearing formal attire for this special night instead of baring their belly buttons and midriffs. (And yes, I realize there may be some male readers out there who totally disagree with that statement, but it's about the music, dammitt!) Vince Gill presented the Country Music Hall of Fame Award to DeFord Bailey, deemed the first African American country music star, who is noted for his work at the Grand Ole Opry (and for it being named) and also to "The Rhinestone Cowboy" Glen Campbell, whose speech was very humbling. Miranda Lambert, from Lindale, Texas, was also nominated for the Horizon Award. She sang her new hit, "Kerosene" off her most recent and first album by her new label, Sony. This isn't her countriest song but I would say, it's her most popular right now. And I can say is that I knew her back in 2002, when she most graciously performed at our benefit for Big Daddy Don Walser. Look at her now!! Her third place win in the TV show, Nashville Star, shot her to the forefront in a hurry, and I'm so excited for her. You go, girl! Click here to read a review on her new CD, Kerosene. We also have a review of her first CD, "Miranda Lambert". Keith Urban, without a doubt, is one of the hottest stars on the Nashville scene right now. His pop rock song was well performed with lots of bling, but also with talent and quite a bit of angst. He picked up the Male Vocalist of the Year award. Musician of the Year went to Jerry Douglas, and Vocal Group went to Rascal Flatts. No comment, except I would have picked Alison Krauss & Union Station for vocal duo. Ballads seemed to be the order of the night as Ronnie Dunn sang a nice gospel ballad while Kix unenthusiastically strummed an acoustic guitar. But there was a full band and a choir backing them up so Kix could've taken the night off. Redneck Diva Gretchen Wilson chose a ballad as well, and it was very nice. Several others chose ballads, so it was pretty much ballad or pop extravaganza except for about three or four performances. Dierks Bentley was awarded the Horizon Award, and Alabama was also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Elton John & Dolly Parton did a great version of John Lennon's "Imagine". I never pictured that duo but I knew they would surprise me...and they did. Here's the stinger...Entertainer of the Year...went to Keith Urban. The shoe-in was Kenny Chesney, who congratulated him warmly as Keith walked up to the stage. Keith seemed quite surprised, saying first, "I'm completely weirded out", and then thanked Kenny for teaching him "how to entertain" since they have been touring together recently. Something to ponder: Why are the music categories "Song of the Year", "Single of The Year", and "Album of the Year" awarded at the beginning of the show? It seems that these categories should follow the categories of "Female and Male Vocalists", "Duo" and "Group". They don't present "Best Picture of the Year" first at the Academy Awards! So does that mean that the "personalities" are perceived more important than "the music" in Gnashville? Maybe a clue as to what's part of the problem? Maybe not, because even Texas artists have their own personalities and styles that make them more or less popular among Texas music fans. Like I said, something to ponder. Country music in Nashville still has a long way to go to find the fork in the road where it went awry. But for those that seem to be headed back in that direction, I hope they can forge the way for more artists to "put the 'O' back in country", as goes the song by Shooter Jennings. That's a wrap...until next year.
Happy Trails, |
