Garth Brooks, Miranda Lambert win big at CMA Awards
Oklahoma native Garth Brooks and former Tishomingo resident Miranda Lambert added to their record-setting CMA Awards totals Wednesday at the Country Music Association’s 51st annual awards extravaganza.
Brooks, who was born in Tulsa and raised in Yukon, received the top prize, Entertainer of the Year, for the second straight year and sixth time in his career. He accepted the trophy from fellow Oklahoma native and Country Music Hall of Famer Reba McEntire, who he called “the entertainer of a lifetime.”
“We’re a family. All you guys down here on the front row, we can agree about one thing: Let’s all raise a toast … to the most important people on the road, that’s that band and crew that takes us everywhere all the time,” Brooks said as he accepted the prize. “The most important thing, other than God himself, are you: the people that allow us to be in the greatest music ever, country music.”
Garth last year set a record for most wins in the Country Music Association's top category when he earned his fifth Entertainer of the Year title.
This year marked the third time he’s won Entertainer of the Year in back-to-back years: 1991-92, 1997-98 and 2016-17.
Lambert scored a historic win in the Female Vocalist of the Year category. She won that title a record-setting six consecutive times from 2010 to 2015, but Checotah native Carrie Underwood — who called Lambert “the Thelma to my Louise” on the broadcast — took the prize in 2016.
Lambert went into Wednesday's show already possessing 12 career trophies, making her the most awarded female entertainer in CMA Awards history.
“More than any other year I’ve ever been a part of the CMAs, I feel truly like there’s a family in this room tonight. I feel like we’re bonded together and banded together more than we ever have been. And I feel like country music is winning right now,” Lambert said.
In memoriam
Underwood fought back tears as she crooned the hymn “Softly and Tenderly” during an segment that paid homage not just to people in the music industry who had died in the past year but also to the more than 50 people who were killed Oct. 1 at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, where a gunman fired into the crowd while country superstar Jason Aldean was performing.
Underwood and Brad Paisley, co-hosting the CMA Awards for the 10th straight year, also paid tribute to the people affected by the Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas, shootings as well as the hurricanes in Texas, Puerto Rico and Florida.
"This has been a year marked by tragedy, impacting countless lives, including so many in our country family," Underwood said.
"The way we see it, the best way to honor our fans is to play our music loud and proud. … Our music lifts people up,” Paisley added. "This year's show is dedicated to all those we've lost and all those still healing.”
Rascal Flatts — singer Gary LeVox, bassist Jay DeMarcus and guitarist Joe Don Rooney, who hails from Picher — and Dierks Bentley covered “My Town” in memory of Troy Gentry, one-half of the popular country duo Montgomery Gentry, who died in a September helicopter crash. Eddie Montgomery joined in the performance.
Vocal Duo of the Year and Video of the Year winners Brothers Osborne segued from their hit “It Ain’t My Fault” into a rollicking rendition of “Tulsa Time” in honor of hit-maker Don Williams, who also died in September.
Glen Campbell, who died in August, and Willie Nelson won Musical Event of the Year for the duet "Funny How Time Slips Away” from Campbell’s final album, “Adios,” released in June.
Other winners included: Little Big Town, Vocal Group of the Year; Chris Stapleton, Album of the Year for "From a Room: Volume 1,” as well as Male Vocalist of the Year; guitarist Mac McAnally, a ninth Musician of the Year; Jon Pardi, New Artist of the Year; Taylor Swift, Song of the Year for Little Big Town’s hit “Better Man;” and Keith Urban, Single of the Year for “Blue Ain’t Your Color.”