Gabby Barrett, Dan + Shay win ACM awards at live show
NEW YORK — Carrie Underwood brought the Academy of Country Music Awards to church. Maren Morris won two honors, including song of the year. Miranda Lambert performed three times and held on to her record as the most decorated winner in ACM history. And Mickey Guyton, the first Black woman to host the awards show, gave a powerful, top-notch vocal performance.
Although female country stars didn’t compete for the night’s top prize — Luke Bryan was named entertainer of the year — they owned Sunday’s ACM Awards.
Munhall native Gabby Barrett captured the new female artist of the year award and for the third year in a row, Dan + Shay are bringing home the duo of the year award. The pair features McCandless native, North Allegheny High School and Carnegie Mellon University grad Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney.
Unfortunately for Dan + Shay, there was a technical malfunction. As they performed “Glad You Exist” from the Bluebird Cafe, the audio and video were clearly several seconds apart. While it was easily explained (which the duo did on Twitter), social media users accused them of lipsyncing.
Underwood’s performance stood out the most. She was joined by gospel legend CeCe Winans, and the dynamic duo blended their voices like angels onstage. Underwood performed songs from her recent gospel hymns album, “My Savior,” kicking off the set with “Amazing Grace” and “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” Then Winans joined in, matching her strong vocal performance.
Lambert performed three times, first alongside rock-pop singer Elle King for a fun, energetic performance of their new duet, “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home).” Lambert, who founded pet shelter nonprofit MuttNation, also performed alongside album of the year winner Chris Stapleton for “Maggie’s Song,” a tribute to Stapleton’s dog, who died 2019. Her final performance was with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall.
The performances that aired Sunday were pre-taped at various locations in Nashville, including the Grand Ole Opry House, the Ryman Auditorium and The Bluebird Cafe. Winners, wearing masks, accepted awards in real time in front of small audiences made up of medical and health care workers.
Bryan was set to perform Sunday but backed out of the show because he recently tested positive for the coronavirus.
“I’m so sorry I could not be there,” he said from Los Angeles. “And to all my fans out there and country radio, we miss touring. We’ve missed being on the road with everybody that makes me an entertainer.”