The first-ever American Country Awards were handed out last night. Blue Fender Stratocaster guitars were the award, and Carrie Underwood got six of them, including Artist of the Year. Rascal Flatts were recognized for 10 years of success and great music, and the mystery of the evening was that the award for Best Male Artist got so lost in the shuffle that even the official list online didn't have it. Brad Paisley won it, by the way. Here's how it all shook out last night in the fan-voted awards:
Artist of the Year - Carrie Underwood
Artist of the Year, Duo or Group - Lady Antebellum
Artist of the Year, Breakthrough Artist - Easton Corbin
Artist of the Year, Male - Brad Paisley
Artist of the Year, Female - Carrie Underwood
Album of the Year - "Play On" by Carrie Underwood
Single of the Year, Male - "Why Don't We Just Dance" by Josh Turner
Single of the Year, Breakthrough Artist - "A Little More Country Than That" by Easton Corbin
Single of the Year - "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum
Single of the Year, Female Artist - "Cowboy Cassanova" by Carrie Underwood
Single of the Year, Duo or Group - "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum
Touring Headline Package of the Year - Carrie Underwood
Music Video of the Year - "Hillbilly Bone" by Blake Shelton with Trace Adkins
Music Video, Male - "Hillbilly Bone" by Blake Shelton with Trace Adkins
Music Video, Breakthrough Artist - "A Little More Country Than That" by Easton Corbin
Music Video, Female - "Cowboy Cassanova" by Carrie Underwood
Music Video, Duo or Group - "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum
The Kennedy Center Honors awards show taped last night in Washington DC. The show will air December 28th on CBS, and one of the honorees was Merle Haggard. Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Jamey Johnson, Kid Rock, Vince Gill and Brad Paisley were all on hand to celebrate The Hag in a three-song tribute. Also honored this year were Broadway composer Jerry Herman, choreographer Bill T. Jones, Paul McCartney and Oprah Winfrey.
Taylor Swift's fans are living up to her last name. Tickets to her stadium show in Massachussetts sold out in five minutes and two shows at LA's Staples Center sold out in two minutes each. Since there's such demand for tickets, she's added more shows to the world tour, which kicks off February 9th.
Good news for Willie Nelson, for a change. He is now only facing misdemeanor charges in his marijuana possession bust in Texas last month. The official weight of the pot was 4 ounces, not the originally reported 6 ounces. Willie won't face jail time and is looking at a maximum $4,000 fine.
Garth Brooks will be part of Larry King's long goodbye. His last show will air December 16th, and Garth will be a guest for an entire hour this Friday evening.
The CMA Country Christmas special will re-air on December 22nd on ABC. Hosted by Jennifer Nettles, it features beautiful renditions of classic Christmas songs by a host of Nashville's finest.
Darius Rucker will be part of Disney's Christmas Day Parade, airing Christmas Day on ABC.
Here's something you can watch now - Kix Brooks shaving off his mustache for a role in the movie "Thrift Store Cowboy."
Congrats to Rascal Flatts, who have their 11th #1 song with "Why Wait."
Keith Urban is on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
The tweet of the day is from Brad Paisley: "There's nothing like being done with touring and working on the next batch of songs in the studio. Especially this time of year."
