NASHVILLE, TN. (Sony BMG) - Nashville's night of pride looked squarely at the RCA Label Group-Nashville and an amazing roster of artists who collectively captured six of the 11 key artist awards at the 38th Annual CMA Awards, held Tuesday night. The three-hour broadcast featured performances from an array of RLG's finest, including BNA superstar Kenny Chesney, who earned two of the night's biggest awards: Album of the Year (for his triple-Platinum collection, When the Sun Goes Down) and Entertainer of the Year.
Remarkably, these marked Chesney's first two CMA wins, and in accepting the trophy for Entertainer, he honored his peers and predecessors, while the work ethic that's made him one of the hottest concert tickets in any genre was very clear: "I love country music with all my heart. I take pride in doing what we're doing. I stay up at night on the road thinking of ways to make my show better, and a lot of guys taught me how to do that."
Each of RLG's winners also performed on the broadcast, including RCA powerhouse songstress Martina McBride, who took home her fourth Female Vocalist trophy and third consecutive win in that category. Arista Nashville duo Brooks & Dunn unveiled a new track from The Greatest Hits Collection II, "It's Getting Better All the Time," an appropriate theme for the evening as the duo not only hosted this year's show, but also notched their 12th career win as Vocal Duo of the Year.
Reaffirming that daring choices and compelling music can bring big rewards, multi-Platinum hitmaker Brad Paisley joined Chesney as a double winner when "Whiskey Lullaby," Paisley's powerful duet with Alison Krauss, won for Video and Musical Event of the Year. With his usual blend of both sincerity and humor, Paisley quipped, "It says a lot about the great people in our format out there that are playing our music when they'll take a chance on a double-suicide, drinkin' song."
Paisley and Krauss performed the duet on the telecast, which also featured chart-topping beauty and Female Vocalist nominee Sara Evans and her No 1 smash, "Suds in the Bucket." Guest Patty Loveless accompanied Arista Nashville superstar Alan Jackson on "Monday Morning Church," the latest single from Jackson's Platinum What I Do collection. The program's finale performance brought Jackson and Chesney back to the stage (along with George Strait and Toby Keith) to join music icon Jimmy Buffett for an all-star re-creation of their smash collaboration, "Hey Good Lookin'," from Buffett's RCA/Mailboat No 1 pop and country collection, License to Chill.
A complete list of RLG winners is as follows:
Entertainer of the Year:
Kenny Chesney
Female Vocalist of the Year:
Martina McBride
Vocal Duo of the Year:
Brooks & Dunn
Album of the Year:
When the Sun Goes Down - Kenny Chesney
Music Video of the Year:
(Award goes to artist and director)
"Whiskey Lullaby" - Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss
Musical Event of the Year:
Brad Paisley featuring Alison Krauss - "Whiskey Lullaby"
