Miranda Lambert, Eric Church, Luke Combs, Maren Morris win big at 2020 CMA Awards
ANASHVILLE, Tennessee — lthough the coronavirus pandemic played last-minute havoc on the performance lineup, the Country Music Association handed out the 54th Annual CMA Awards Wednesday night on ABC.
As previously reported, Oklahoma native Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker co-hosted the awards show from Music City Center in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. McEntire and her boyfriend and fellow Oklahoman Rex Linn, an actor whose credits include “CSI: Miami,” “Young Sheldon” and “Better Call Saul,” made their red carpet debut before the awards show, according to People. As previously reported, McEntire revealed on her new romance with Linn last month on an episode of her new Spotify original
podcast, “Living & Learning with Reba McEntire.”
Eric Church, performing “Hell of a View,” was awarded the night's top honor of CMA Entertainer of the Year, a first for the hitmaker.
“You know what the win is? The win is we all were here tonight together as Country Music, in-person, live, not on Zoom. I believe this. It's going to be music that brings us out of this. That is the one thing that is going to save the entire world,” Church said in accepting the award.
Big winners
Maren Morris, performing “The Bones,” was the night's biggest winner, taking home three awards for CMA Single, Song and Female Vocalist of the Year. She paid tribute to Black women in country music in accepting her Female Vocalist trophy:
“Linda Martell. Yola. Mickey Guyton. Rissi Palmer. Brittney Spencer. Rhiannon Giddens. There are so many amazing Black women who pioneered and continue to pioneer this genre ... You've made this genre so, so beautiful. I hope you know that we see you,” Morris said.
Luke Combs, who performed “Cold As You,” took home two awards for CMA Album and Male Vocalist of the Year. Old Dominion won CMA Vocal Group of the Year, Dan + Shay accepted trophies for CMA Vocal Duo of the Year, and Morgan Wallen, performing “More Than My Hometown,” received CMA New Artist of the Year.
Winners announced prior to the live broadcast included former Tishomingo resident Miranda Lambert for CMA Music Video of the Year for the clip to her hit “Bluebird,” the uplifting song she cowrote with Natalie Hemby and Oklahoma native Luke Dick. Dick joined Lambert on the show for a performance of her new single “Settling Down.”
Other early winners were Carly Pearce and Lee Brice for CMA Musical Event of the Year, and Jenee Fleenor for CMA Musician of the Year.
Safety precautions
In response to the COVID19 pandemic, the CMA Awards audience featured several country music superstars seated at tables rather than in the usual shoulderto-shoulder awards show crowd configuration.
“We have worked tirelessly over the past few months to develop a safe environment that would allow us to deliver a show our fans have come to expect,” said Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer, in a statement. “We have followed all protocols established by the CDC, local health authorities and creative unions to ensure the safety of our staff, our crew and our artists at every turn. Every single person was tested prior to entering our footprint, with many individuals being tested repeatedly out of an abundance of caution. Our process enabled us to catch any positive test results immediately and before any of those individuals ever stepped foot into the venue. I am grateful for the grace and the patience shown to us during this process and to those individuals that were unable to join us tonight, you were greatly missed and we wish you and your families the very best.”
Still, the awards show was plagued with last-minute cancellations due to the pandemic. According to The Tennessean, nominated country group Rascal Flatts, which includes guitarist Joe Don Rooney of Picher, exited the CMA Awards at the 11th hour after an unidentified member of the band tested positive.
Trio Lady A and CMA Musician of the Year Fleenor also bowed out of the show at the last minute due to the pandemic, although Lady A's Charles Kelley still turned out to perform with Pearce.
As previously reported, positive COVID-19 tests forced Brice (Pearce's original duet partner) and Florida Georgia Line to cancel performances in the days leading up to the show.
Tributes
Jason Aldean, Brothers Osborne, Dierks Bentley and Ashley McBryde kicked off the night with a special collaboration honoring the late Charlie Daniels. Having felt the loss of many legends this year, the show also honored country greats KennyRogers and Oklahoma native Joe Diffie with tributes from Little Big Town and Jon Pardi, respectively.
Hosts McEntire and Rucker took the stage for a breathtaking collaboration of Mac Davis' “In the Ghetto,” a tribute to the country legend and threetime CMA Awards host.
You could also hear a pin drop when McBryde took the stage to perform “One Night Standards,” while Rucker brought the feel-good vibes with his chart-topping “Beers & Sunshine.”
Honoring Country Music Hall of Fame trailblazer and 1975 CMA Awards co-host Charley Pride with the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, Jimmie Allen took the stage for an emotional introduction followed by a surprise performance of “Kiss an Angel Good Morning” with Pride.
Old Dominion took viewers back to 1980, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the classic film “Urban Cowboy,” performing Johnny Lee's “Looking For Love.”
The 54th Annual CMA Awards also featured the world television premiere of Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber's No. 1 single “10,000 Hours,” captured remotely at Los Angeles' famed Hollywood Bowl. Also, performing off-site, Keith Urban treated viewers to an intimate performance of “God Whispered Your Name” from his native homeland, Australia, dedicating his performance to frontline workers. Ingrid Andress made her CMA Awards performance debut with a spectacular and tearful rendition of her top hit “More Hearts Than Mine.” Thomas Rhett, featuring McEntire and Chris Tomlin, filled the room with inspiration, while Chris Stapleton performed a stripped-back version of his latest single “Starting Over” with Morgane Stapleton. Pearce and Kelley performed a soulful rendition of “I Hope You're Happy Now.”
Rounding out the evening, Kelsea Ballerini, Gabby Barrett featuring Charlie Puth and Brothers Osborne all wowed the audience with one-of-akind performances.