Blake Shelton accepts the award for male vocalist of the year from entertainer of the year Taylor Swift. — Reuters picLAS VEGAS, April 2 — It was a night for married couples at the Academy of Country Music Awards yesterday as husband and wife Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert won several honours and a couple of country music fans married during the show.
The show spanned the years of country music, with 22-year-old sensation Taylor Swift winning the top honour and entertainer of the year, and the audience paying tribute to bluegrass legend Earl Scruggs, who died last week in Nashville at age 88.
“I am so amazed that the fans keep doing such incredibly nice things for me,” Swift told reporters backstage about the award, which fans vote for. “I just want to hug them all the time and thank them for everything — it really blows my mind.”
But Shelton and Lambert, who married last year, were the big winners, taking home three trophies between them including best male vocalist for him and two trophies for her — female vocalist and album of the year for “Four the Record”.
Martina McBride and Pat Monahan perform “Marry Me” as Christina Davidson and Frank Tucci are married on stage (background). — Reuters picShelton, who co-hosted the programme, seemed genuinely surprised, saying he’d been waiting in the wings and hadn’t even been thinking of the award when his name was called. “I didn’t see that coming, at all,” he said. “It’s amazing.”
Accepting her trophy for “Four the Record”, Lambert called her albums her “babies”.
“That’s why I wake up in the morning,” she said.
Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson also walked off with two awards — single record of the year and vocal event of the year for their duet “Don’t You Wanna Stay”.
Lady Antebellum, fresh off their smash hit “Need You Now”, was named best vocal group — the fourth time it had won the award in recent years. The Eli Young Band took song of the year honours with “Crazy Girl”.
“I have dreamed about this moment my whole life,” Mike Eli said. He told aspiring artists: “Follow your dreams, believe in yourself and do it.”
Former “American Idol” contestant Scotty McCreery, 19, who recorded the hit single “Water Tower Town”, was named best new artist. Among honours announced backstage, video of the year went to Toby Keith for his popular party song, “Red Solo Cup”.
Keith had one of the night’s memorable performances singing the song in the packed MGM Grand Arena while members of the audience swayed to the music and held red cups in the air.
‘Marry me’
The Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted this year by Shelton and Reba McEntire, is among the biggest events in country music.
Towards the end of the show, two country music fans got married on stage, in what was billed as the first live wedding on a televised awards show.
Christina Davidson, 31, and Frank Tucci, 33, exchanged vows while Martina McBride and Train’s Pat Monahan sang a duet of the hit song, “Marry Me”.
Davidson lost her husband Paul in a drowning accident in 2009, and later founded a support group for young widows and widowers in New Jersey, where she met Tucci, whose wife lost her life to cancer.
The show featured numerous performances. Carrie Underwood started off the programme with her rocking song “Good Girl”, and Kenny Chesney and Tim McGraw belted out “Feel Like a Rock Star”.
Not to be outdone, Keith Urban put on an electric guitar show with “For You”, and in keeping with tradition, the Academy of Country Music invited stars from other musical genres to appear, including U2 singer Bono and the members of KISS.
But the old days of country were not forgotten, either. In perhaps the most poignant moment of the night, the star-filled audience gave a standing ovation for banjo picker Earl Scruggs, whose funeral was held in Nashville yesterday. — Reuters